Idea Lab

NextDrop's Dashboards Look Great, But Mobile Content Would Be Better

by Ari Olmos
2011 Knight News Challenge Winner

One year ago, when we were just a team of graduate students with a big idea, our teammate Thejo Kote came to Hubli, India and demoed a web-based dashboard to the executive engineer and commissioner here. The dashboard uses Google Maps to show the status of valves and other system components in real time, using information provided via voice or SMS. Building that dashboard marked a turning point for NextDrop, which informs residents in India about the availability of piped water in order to help them lead more productive, less stressful lives. It was our first real "pivot," as we...

• January 11, 2012
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NextDrop Makes a Leap of Faith

by Ari Olmos
2011 Knight News Challenge Winner

Starting a social enterprise is hard. As a startup, you face tremendous uncertainty. Your business is full of leaps of faith, fundamental ideas about your company that you hold but can't yet prove. Paramount among these is the following: Customers will like the service we're providing and will be willing to pay for it. NextDrop informs residents in India about the availability of piped water in order to help them lead more productive, less stressful lives. After three months of providing text message updates to residents in Hubli, using information sourced from utility employees who operate local valves, we believe...

• December 5, 2011
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NextDrop Tackles Water Availability Issues in Urban India

by Ari Olmos
2011 Knight News Challenge Winner

In Western countries, we take it for granted that we have access to clean water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At our fingertips is water that is plentiful enough to run our washing machines, warm enough for a hot shower, and safe enough to drink. In much of the developing world, however, this simply isn't the case. In 90 percent of South Asian cities and one-third of African and Latin American cities, water is provided intermittently. The 200 million residents of urban India receive piped water for only a few hours at a time, and they have...

• August 22, 2011
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