Project name:
CultureShock
One-line project summary:
CultureShock is a cultural wiki developed to avoid mass culture shocks, appropriation, stereotypes and to raise cultural understanding.
Present your project.
In this era of modernization, cultural aspects are gradually becoming oblivious. Stereotypes, cultural appropriation, lack of empathy, racism are on the rise. To empower the study of culture and avoiding the above mentioned mishaps we propose a complete cultural global wiki CultureShock. We will invite applications for delegation from every country, from where we will choose the most promising ones as our cultural researchers. They will be circulating researches and submitting reports on each and every aspects of their culture. We shall credit and certify them for their efforts and register them as our cultural delegates. Through this, we expect the rise of understanding and empathy across multifarious cultures. This can also be the go-to platform for study of culture in general or during moving in a locality. We aim to elevate mutual understandings, peace and amity among people.
Submit a video.
What specific problem are you solving?
Our objective is not limited to certain groups or communities but will impact globally. If we observe the lack of cultural empathy among people of different cultures, we can understand the problems. 17% of Americans oppose interracial marriages. Stereotypes and cultural ignorance are on the rise. Divine religions are termed as barbaric cults, pleasant festivals are termed as stupidity while a cultural man is termed as nomad. Above all the ignorance about global culture is the mother of every problem we aim to solve including misrepresentation, misinterpretation and racism towards people of different cultures. The culture wiki called CultureShock will impact in reducing these mishaps. Awareness of culture can counter effect these problems and thus we can have a society with cultural understandings.
What is your project?
CultureShock, in the simplest term, is an accurate wiki for culture. Let us walk through the process step by step. Firstly, the content before the launch was gained from chosen youth delegates of a country and that event is currently finished. We launched an application and a website both of which works similar. To know about culture of any region, you just enter the app, select location and immediately the described cultural specs will be shown. People will also find a search bar through which they can access any cultural terms and specifications. Our voluntary cultural delegates will be updating the apps when necessary. Consequently, the user can suggest changes which needs to be reviewed by the delegate to work. The database and its enrichment is a continuous process. The app comes with an anti-shock guide filled with advice to avoid culture shocks e.g. not to wear shorts in Thai temples or consume alcohol publicly in Saudi Arabia.
Who does your project serve, and in what ways is the project impacting their lives?
Through the project we want to globally impact millions in understanding culture and developing mutual understanding. We cater to the tourist who aims to remain culturally appropriate, the immigrant who wants to get acquainted before moving to a new place, the student choosing a region to study, those needing organized cultural information in their courses and above all, anyone and everyone curious about culture. The identity, dreams and aspirations of every country is woven into its culture; understanding culture will bring in better political understandings and peace in the long term. We aim to increase mutual understanding, peace and amity while decreasing communication gap, anarchy and mutual hatred through enlightening people on culture.
Which dimension of The Elevate Prize does your project most closely address?
Elevating understanding of and between people through changing people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviorsExplain how your project relates to The Elevate Prize and your selected dimension.
Ignorance has been dubbed the number one reason behind stereotypes. Our attitude and its expression towards certain groups we are unaware of cannot be expected to be always jolly. CultureShock aims to elevate mutual understanding between people of different culture and religion. We want to eliminate racism and lack of political empathy through enlightening cultural knowledge to upgrade people's beliefs and behaviors led by ignorance.
How did you come up with your project?
During my visit to the United States of America; I came across things called 'stereotypes', a term I was previously unaware of. Being in a restaurant with the friends of my cousin; they asked me if I can eat something without curry since I was Indian. I was not offended the least and replied that my favorite food was burger. But as I kept moving in life, the plethora of stereotypes were observed.There were cultural misrepresentation as well. I have been ask by my classmates, why do we worship a black cubical house or a guy called Muhammad (pbuh) while Islam is a monotheistic religion. I have seen the same in all culture towards their foreign counterparts. The east dubs the west as uncivilized, barbaric, obscene while the west associates poverty, ignorance and close-mindedness with the east. One day while searching for the lore of Minecraft, I came across something called "Gamepedia". It was dubbed the Wikipedia for games. I could find everything there. I could access organized data instead of running all over the scrambled internet. "Well I have a plan," I told it to the co-developer of the application Kayeef Ifaz "Let's make a Culturepedia named CultureShock."
Why are you passionate about your project?
I am taking this project into consideration not based on any negative aspects; hatred, enmity or anger. As a guy from Indian subcontinent, I have been through stereotypes, even though, they never made their way under my skin. Rather what motivates me more is me considering myself as an advocate of peace. I have never experienced a war in my lifetime but I have heard great deals of the liberation war of Bangladesh from my parents. I personally take great interest in studying wars; not because I enjoy atrocities but rather, I study the lessons not to be repeated to avoid them.I have observed that wars arise when one party fails to understand and respect the core values and beliefs of the other. I want to close this empathy gap; where people understand the emotions and motivations of each other. This will broaden their minds considering humanity as a whole instead of assuming they are fighting aliens. It is because the world is never black and white. It is always colored with cultures.
Why are you well-positioned to deliver this project?
I believe that no one is absolutely well-positioned for this task, it will need hundreds of people validating the project. I have collected over 200 researchers across the globe and organized them into completing reports on their respective countries. I have assessed and integrated some of them in to the beta version of the application available at Google Play Store that can be found through this link. I have learnt app-development in advanced levels both in Java and Swift over years. Our team mate Parthib has won the FBAPPS challenge through his application while Tanvir is amazing in UI/UX designing. The branding and marketing are looked over by me, Safwan and Kayeef. I believe it requires sheer leadership to guide 200 delegates in to successfully completing reports with no plagiarism. It requires a lot of guidance to keep volunteer's spirit intact. Still I had to write over a 1000 festivals. I believe I am fit because I am a hard worker and a smart worker, working at the same time being relentless. This is the first app launched by me through years of practice and thus is significant for me beyond words.
Provide an example of your ability to overcome adversity.
As a teenager I was ambitious and inspired. As soon as psychological diseases entered, a mishap took place. OCD, Asperger's Syndrome, Bipolarity and Depression started what is in simple words the downward curve of my life. My grades dropped, my confidence was shattered. I was too afraid to go to school and I could barely study. Every breath was a burden and I attempted suicide (not proud the least). In 2019, I made a New Year resolution to change my life from then onward. I started fighting my inner demons and started to inspire myself. I would read hundreds of self help books. I would work on improving my skills. I outworked the competition by 2020. I learnt web and app development full stack, robotics and advanced Machine Learning. I started two startups both of which ended up significantly successful. My grades resurfaced up to some extent. I started a non-profit called 3Wishes. Above all, everyday was harder with the diseases. But that ultimately taught me perseverance and developed my character from a psychologically unsound teenager to an entrepreneur, innovator and social activist.
Describe a past experience that demonstrates your leadership ability.
Let me state the most recent and relevant leadership experience to CultureShock. Writing a report on the lifestyle, clothing, food, festivals etc of nearly 200 countries is not easy and would take months for me to complete. Again, there were tons of culture I barely knew and would have to depend on Wikipedia for collecting information. I decided to lead a group of volunteers. First I created a common interest. Every volunteer (called delegates of the country) would be mention in the credit sections of the app while receiving a certification from my company APT for their hard work. I personally motivated 100+ people while many went along loving the initiative. Mapping out all country was a continuous process. Next I had to create sample reports and organize rules for them to follow. I had to check for plagiarism as well. I kept them motivated and answered all queries eventually. Not only did I lead a group of 200 people into submitting the application, I was thanked by almost everybody for this interesting and amazing experience. I think the greatest leaders create an army who doesn't only trust him but enjoys being led by him and that's what I did.
How long have you been working on your project?
A little above 2 months
Where are you headquartered?
Dhaka, BangladeshWhat type of organization is your project?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar modelsDescribe what makes your project innovative.
CultureShock may look pale at the first place being a database application. But our ultimate models and current condition disagrees with it. Firstly, the reports were written with utmost intensive research by the citizens of a country on their very own culture. Secondly, the anti shock guide was coined by us and refers to an array of guidance to avoid culture shocks. This guide was constructed by multiple citizens first hand from each country. The app is designed and organized in a way to make one feel culture and not only read articles about it. In that case, let me share the first sentence I used to guide my delegates on report writing , "Assume that you are writing a mail to your pen friend. Now integrate every cultural aspects in the mail." Lastly, we want to be established as a cultural threshold. We will create CultureShock original cultural documentaries, have blogs, live broadcast cultural performances etc. in our upcoming premium version.
What is your theory of change?
Through APT, we only develop apps that connect people's emotions and aspirations. We have certain frameworks of impacting in different terms through CultureShock. Firstly, let's talk about short terms. A tourist can easily avoid culture shocks, immigrant can move in a country skipping all the awkwardness, students going for abroad study will end up being more confident. Besides, we aim to pioneer independent app development of the country. Almost all apps in Bangladesh are regarding a pre-existing business service. We aim to create apps that have functionality and are independent of corporate influences. Our aim is not necessarily to be the only big thing in national independent app production but to pioneer the field. Among long term impacts, we believe the app will ultimately increase peace and amity. It can be integrated with the education system to create more compassionate and unbiased generation. It aims to be used in politics by making groups understand certain aspects of each other and ultimately value them without chaos.
Select the key characteristics of the community you are impacting.
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your project address?
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
How many people does your project currently serve? How many will it serve in one year? In five years?
It has not been a week since the launch of the application, even the marketing has not properly started. We already have over hundreds of downloads. Within 1 year, we will upgrade the application to act as a cultural platform instead of only a static application. We aim to create some affiliate marketing and cultural video blogging promotions. By 2021 (1 year) we project to have nearly 10,000 users based on the confidence exerted on the marketing team. By 5 years, we will start CultureShock original documentaries and integrate with school teaching methods that will ultimately boost as much as a million users in the platform as per our estimation.
What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?
Culture breeds discipline, peace and understanding. CultureShock aims to be the cultural threshold for the world. In 1 year, we will create constant delegate chains who will be updating our reports regularly. We will collaborate with video bloggers for a virtual experience in the culture. We will live broadcast festival performances.We also aim to create a forum for culture with the community. Within 5 years, this app aims to act as an educational media of culture across hundreds of schools. It will be upgraded as the ultimate tool against racism and cultural misrepresentation. We will create our very own cultural documentary original and will in turn make our way into television as a show on cultures.
What barriers currently exist for you to accomplish your goals in the next year and in the next five years?
First barrier that may affect the spread of CultureShock is the extreme popularity of Wikipedia. Since there is already a wiki of the world, people might be less interested in a separate one for culture. Next comes the rising trends of avoiding cultural aspects in teenagers. In addition to that, the server costs may in turn exceed our budget in the long term if we simply depend on ad revenues. We are adding a feature called correction request using which people can request certain changes that they expect in the culture. We are aware of the possible backlash that we may receive in case the collected data by the delegates, in some way, becomes racist or biased to a culture or misrepresent it in any way. In such situations, we will become the very thing we aim to work against.
How do you plan to overcome these barriers?
Our very first goal was to capitalize the shortcomings of Wikipedia as it is not and will never be the threshold for any certain aspect. We used the techniques often similar to Gamepedia and made our content as organized and narrow to a domain as possible. We made the data interactive and extracted key points and increased partial accessibility. We are unscrambled and personally verify data before they are updated by chosen delegates. Next, we will also use the trends of avoiding culture as our marketing principle. As culture is moving towards oblivion, we will represent the bringing of culture at fingertips to be one of the sole hopes for parents and teachers to educate their wards and students with cultural aspects and eradicate racism. We decided not to depend on ad revenues for long as we will also add paid services like video blogging, live cultural festivals, documentaries etc. The domain will have a spectral shift as we move to schools and television. Lastly, the information comes through multiple steps of verification which will only continue to increase and be formalized in the upcoming future ensuring no racism or misrepresentation. Our policies will be such that if any misrepresentation is reported and was not corrected within 24 hours, the application is liable for it.
What organizations do you currently partner with, if any? How are you working with them?
Currently, we are not partnering with any organization but we will soon in the future.
What is your business model?
Customer Segments:
Tourists, immigrants, cultural enthusiasts, overseas students, educational institutions.
Value Proposition:
- Database of all Culture
- Platform against misrepresentation of culture
- Cultural Documentaries
- Video blogging permit
- Festival broadcast
- Educational resources in culture
Customer Relationships:
Digital, Non-personal
Channels:
App, Websites, Seminars
Key Activities:
Continuous data collection and update, Broadcasting Live events, Creating Documentaries, Channeling traffic to video bloggers.
Key Resources:
App, Delegates, Social Media Groups, Partnered Video Bloggers
Key Partners:
Delegates, Bloggers, Cultural Organizations, Travel Agencies, Schools
Revenue Streams:
- Ad Revenues
- Paid Plans
- Collaborations with Video Bloggers
- Affiliate Marketing
Cost Structures:
- Server fees
- Hosting
- Wages
What is your path to financial sustainability?
We will have a primary application that we have already launched. Facebook currently displays ads on the app. Ad revenues is currently playing the most significant part and is enough to sustain all costs from hosting to marketing. We will soon have a paid app titled 'CultureShock Plus' which will include:
- Cultural video blogs
- AI based Cultural Bias indicator
- All festival calendar
- Live broadcast of festivals
Next, we will create a Paid Plan which will come with:
- CultureShock Original Documentaries
- Advanced AI based Cultural Bias
- CultureShock interviews
- Expert lectures on culture
- Exclusive Reality Show
We also aim to sustain financial0ly by:
- Providing references to cultural and travelling Youtube channels for highly interested ones.
- Seminars and Workshops.
If you have raised funds for your project or are generating revenue, please provide details.
We have been launched before few days and thus the revenue streams could not be specifically stated.
If you seek to raise funds for your project, please provide details.
We are aiming to reach our threshold of 10,000 individuals before we request funds in exchange of equity. That would be the beginning of CultureShock Plus and we aim to raise about 30,000 dollars over 10% of the company. This is termed as phase 2 by us. When we have our estimated reach of 1 million users, we will start phase 3 which include paid plans and when we will seek 300,000 US Dollars in exchange of 15% of the company. We are interested in collecting funds on equity but if situation calls for it, we shall consider debt as well.
What are your estimated expenses for 2020?
Our estimated expenses within 2020 include:
Constant costs:
- Hosting: 200$
- Domain: 29$
Variable Costs:
- Marketing:
- Social Media : 50$
- Physical : 1000$
- YouTube : 500$ (Mutual representation decreased expenses)
2. Wages:
- Developer : 2000$ (Most developers are co-founders)
- Delegates : 0$ (Volunteers)
- Internal Vloggers: 1000$
Total: 4779$
Why are you applying for The Elevate Prize?
Seed Funds:
Even though we launched the platform and maybe able to run it for now but every phase will require seed funds up to 310,000$ as said before.
Globalization:
The application is a global threshold of culture. All our activities are to preserve global culture through reports, shows and documentaries. We hope the award will help us enter global markets
Prize:
To make it ultimately to television shows and in-app purchase status and to sustain the wages that will spring as we continue to grow we need the prize money to help us grow faster.
Guidance:
Professional mentoring is always beneficial and we aim to proceed equipped with intensive knowledge.
Exposure:
This award can be a very notable process of exposure for the venture.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
What organizations would you like to partner with, and how would you like to partner with them?
For delegation we will need one organization trusted with culture from every country. For example, Bangla Academy or Chayanat from Bangladesh, British Council from UK etc. We aim to ultimately integrate in education and reach even cultural studies in MIT, Harvard, Oxford etc.
Please explain in more detail here.
- Verification: We want more official and expert culture bodies to act as a verification source for reports of delegates.
- Exposure: Vloggers and social media influencers will contribute to the exposure
- Integration: We want to be integrated in the education system and tourism industry.
Solution Team
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Adib Ahnaf APT Inc.
-
SZ
Safwan Zaeem APT Inc.
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Your bio:
I am Adib Ahnaf, a young innovator and entrepreneur whose works impacted thousands in Bangladesh. I have origins from Northern Bangladesh and I reside in Dhaka. I have innovated some national patents like fire fighting drones. I have assisted the growth of multiple companies. I own the largest drone manufacturing company in Bangladesh Rotor Solution Ltd. and the largest freelancing platform called Shomonnoy, creating working opportunities for millions. I am currently in my high school and has been dubbed as a prodigy by various platforms. My aim is to ultimately create a better future before my life comes to an end.