FreeRice
Encyclopedia
Freerice is a website where users play various educational, multiple-choice games in order to fight world hunger
. For every question the user answers correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated. The categories include English vocabulary (the game the site began with), multiplication tables, pre-algebra, chemical symbols (basic or intermediate), English grammar, basic foreign language vocabulary for English speakers (French, German, Italian, and Spanish), geography (flags of the world, world capitals and country identification), the identification of famous artwork, and literature (popular books). As you answer questions, your total score is displayed as a mound of rice and the amount.
On 20 November 2007, the WFP launched a campaign to "feed a child for Thanksgiving," encouraging internet users "to take time out from traditionally the busiest online shopping period of the year and help the hungry by playing phenomenally successful web-based vocab game, FreeRice."
For a brief while, the amount of rice donated per correct answer was increased to 20 grains, though this was reduced to 10 grains of rice per answer within a few months.
In March 2009 the FreeRice website was donated to the UN World Food Programme.
's World Food Programme
(WFP), starting with Bangladesh. Freerice's partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. The most common countries receiving rice are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Bhutan, Uganda, and Nepal, even though Freerice can travel all over the world (as of early 2008). By this time, the site's creator had given over US$
213,000 to the WFP which encourages people to visit freerice.com.
program, users had earned enough points for one billion grains of rice. The United Nation's World Food Programme stated that this amount could feed 50,000 people for one day, since it takes 400 grams or about 19,200 grains of rice to feed one adult for a day. Using this calculation, enough rice was donated in 2008 to feed over 6,000 people daily for each day of that year. Since its inception, as of October 15, 2010, Freerice players had earned sufficient rice to feed over 4.32 million people for one day.
However, donated rice comes from the advertisements from sponsors. Therefore, abuse of scripts could lead to catastrophe, as advertisers prefer that actual people view their advertisements. Knowing the existence of the bots, Freerice updated their FAQ explaining the potential damage of botting.
Total All Dates: 93,926,271,930
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
. For every question the user answers correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated. The categories include English vocabulary (the game the site began with), multiplication tables, pre-algebra, chemical symbols (basic or intermediate), English grammar, basic foreign language vocabulary for English speakers (French, German, Italian, and Spanish), geography (flags of the world, world capitals and country identification), the identification of famous artwork, and literature (popular books). As you answer questions, your total score is displayed as a mound of rice and the amount.
History
The website went live on October 7, 2007 with 830 grains of rice donated on its first day. The second word in its name was originally capitalized as "FreeRice."On 20 November 2007, the WFP launched a campaign to "feed a child for Thanksgiving," encouraging internet users "to take time out from traditionally the busiest online shopping period of the year and help the hungry by playing phenomenally successful web-based vocab game, FreeRice."
For a brief while, the amount of rice donated per correct answer was increased to 20 grains, though this was reduced to 10 grains of rice per answer within a few months.
In March 2009 the FreeRice website was donated to the UN World Food Programme.
Freerice 2.0 launch
In September 2010, the UN World Food Program launched a new version of the game with social networking, groups, rankings and achievements. As part of the launch, the site dropped the second capitalization in its name, going from "FreeRice" to "Freerice."Freerice Language Versions
In 2011, Freerice launched new language versions of the website in Spanish, French, Italian and Chinese, allowing users to play the popular game across a number of subjects in their own language for the first time.Subjects
Although English vocabulary is the original and default subject, players may choose from different subjects, including mathematics, chemistry, geography, art, and foreign languages (French, Spanish, Italian, and German). The maximum level of difficulty varies between subjects. English vocabulary, being the original subject, has the largest dictionary of questions.Sustenance
In exchange for advertisements on the website, various sponsors donate the money necessary to pay for the rice and other costs to run Freerice. The donations are distributed by the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
's World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
(WFP), starting with Bangladesh. Freerice's partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. The most common countries receiving rice are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Bhutan, Uganda, and Nepal, even though Freerice can travel all over the world (as of early 2008). By this time, the site's creator had given over US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
213,000 to the WFP which encourages people to visit freerice.com.
Effectiveness
In its first ten months of operation, Freerice donated over 42 billion grains of rice. One month after the inception of the viral marketingViral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
program, users had earned enough points for one billion grains of rice. The United Nation's World Food Programme stated that this amount could feed 50,000 people for one day, since it takes 400 grams or about 19,200 grains of rice to feed one adult for a day. Using this calculation, enough rice was donated in 2008 to feed over 6,000 people daily for each day of that year. Since its inception, as of October 15, 2010, Freerice players had earned sufficient rice to feed over 4.32 million people for one day.
Scripts
Since Freerice became well-known through Digg.com and other news sources, many programming-adept users created scripts to automatically play the game for them.However, donated rice comes from the advertisements from sponsors. Therefore, abuse of scripts could lead to catastrophe, as advertisers prefer that actual people view their advertisements. Knowing the existence of the bots, Freerice updated their FAQ explaining the potential damage of botting.
Awards
- Digital Communications Award 2011 - Best Corporate Game
- TIME Magazine - 50 Best Websites 2011
- 15th Annual Webby Awards - Honoree
- 2010 Parent's Choice Awards - Online Learning
- TIME Magazine - 50 Best Websites 2008 -
- Yahoo!Yahoo!Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
Pick of the Year 2007 – Charity Category – Winner - Berkman Award to Freerice.com creator, John Breen. He was recognized with a Berkman Award on May 16, 2008 for creating Freerice.com. At the Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s tenth anniversary gala dinner, recipients of the Berkman Awards were chosen for their outstanding contributions to the Internet’s impact on society over the past decade.
Monthly count
2007 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Month | Monthly grains of rice donated | Overall grains of rice donated |
| October 2007 | 537,163,380 | 537,163,380 |
| November 2007 | 4,768,969,790 | 5,306,133,170 |
| December 2007 | 6,948,988,060 | 12,255,121,230 |
2008 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Month | Monthly grains of rice donated | Overall grains of rice donated |
| January 2008 | 4,551,581,980 | 16,806,703,210 |
| February 2008 | 3,893,361,180 | 20,700,064,390 |
| March 2008 | 4,109,191,320 | 24,809,255,710 |
| April 2008 | 5,614,647,060 | 30,423,902,770 |
| May 2008 | 4,657,641,260 | 35,081,544,030 |
| June 2008 | 3,043,677,360 | 38,125,221,390 |
| July 2008 | 2,046,077,880 | 40,171,299,270 |
| August 2008 | 1,918,976,960 | 42,090,276,230 |
| September 2008 | 3,149,870,660 | 45,240,146,890 |
| October 2008 | 3,739,408,120 | 48,979,555,010 |
| November 2008 | 3,678,546,760 | 52,658,101,770 |
| December 2008 | 3,539,642,160 | 56,197,743,930 |
2009 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Month | Monthly grains of rice donated | Overall grains of rice donated |
| January 2009 | 2,416,239,520 | 58,613,983,450 |
| February 2009 | 1,663,509,530 | 60,277,492,980 |
| March 2009 | 1,830,287,650 | 62,107,780,630 |
| April 2009 | 1,478,963,720 | 63,586,744,350 |
| May 2009 | 1,403,545,670 | 64,990,290,020 |
| June 2009 | 929,906,500 | 65,920,196,520 |
| July 2009 | 652,730,310 | 66,572,926,830 |
| August 2009 | 787,320,460 | 67,360,247,290 |
| September 2009 | 1,310,200,000 | 68,670,447,290 |
| October 2009 | 1,611,699,490 | 70,282,146,780 |
| November 2009 | 1,426,271,040 | 71,708,417,820 |
| December 2009 | 1,262,727,060 | 72,971,144,880 |
2010 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Month | Monthly grains of rice donated | Overall grains of rice donated |
| January 2010 | 1,451,006,720 | 74,422,151,600 |
| February 2010 | 1,281,469,630 | 75,703,621,230 |
| March 2010 | 1,474,236,720 | 77,177,857,950 |
| April 2010 | 1,257,599,650 | 78,435,457,600 |
| May 2010 | 1,273,109,000 (+1,410) | 78,562,768,500 (+1,410) |
| June 2010 | 690,482,290 (+5,800) | 79,253,250,790 (+7,210) |
| July 2010 | 441,562,950 (+20,430) | 80,840,611,840 (+27,640) |
| August 2010 | 605,922,360 (+18,155,100) | 81,446,534,200 (+18,182,740) |
| September 2010 | 671,694,660 (+476,215,490) | 82,118,228,860 (+494,398,230) |
| October 2010 | 1,240,673,400 | 83,853,300,490 |
| November 2010 | 1,210,463,170 | 85,063,763,660 |
| December 2010 | 1,106,244,500 | 86,170,008,160 |
FreeRice and Freerice 2.0 kept separate totals before October 2010. The above, where noted, displays the amounts from the original followed in parenthesis by those from 2.0. Both totals have since been merged. |
||
2011 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Month | Monthly grains of rice donated | Overall grains of rice donated |
| January 2011 | 1,081,862,010 | 87,251,870,170 |
| February 2011 | 1,145,741,650 | 88,397,611,820 |
| March 2011 | 1,191,406,110 | 89,589,017,930 |
| April 2011 | 1,287,749,600 | 90,876,767,530 |
| May 2011 | 1,182,438,930 | 92,059,206,460 |
| June 2011 | 680,929,280 | 92,740,135,740 |
| July 2011 | 308,028,170 | 93,048,163,910 |
| August 2011 | 227,231,370 | 93,275,395,280 |
| September 2011 | 235,987,700 | 93,511,382,980 |
| October 2011 | 260,421,860 | 93,771,804,840 |
| November 2011 | - | - |
| December 2011 | - | - |
Total All Dates: 93,926,271,930
Milestones
- October 7, 2007 – Freerice launches with 830 grains of rice donated on its first day
- November 10, 2007 – Freerice breaks the one-day 100,000,000-grain milestone with 122,377,240 donated grains
- November 28, 2007 – With continued sponsor support, Freerice doubles the number of grains donated for each correct definition from 10 to 20
- December 17, 2007 – Freerice breaks the one-day 300,000,000-grain milestone with 358,559,540 donated grains
- December 19, 2007 – 10 billion grains donated in total
- April 2, 2008 – 25 billion grains donated in total
- November 11, 2008 – 50 billion grains donated in total
- September 2010 – a new version of the game was launched with social networking and group functionality
- January 2011 - 85 billion grains donated in total
- June 2011 - A Spanish version is launched
- September 2011 - A French version and Italian version are launched
- October 2011 - A Chinese version is launched