Ushahidi: mobile crisis reporting

crowdsourcing crisis information

mobile.crisis.reporting.

(c)Yasuyoshi Chiba

Our Goals
Create a way for everyday Kenyans to report incidents of violence that they saw using the tools they had (mobile phones)
Create an archive of news and reports around those same events
Show where the majority of the violence was happening

Protesters gathered in groups and attempted to walk into the town centre; police fired live shots and tear gas canisters to disperse them. Three protesters were seriously injured and one shot dead. Police battled youths who set fire to roadblocks; the police shot indiscriminately, “targeting anyone on sight”; one man was shot in the stomach as he stood in front of his house. A 13-year old boy was laid to rest next to his uncle´s house; the burial was attended by hundreds of residents who wailed and lit up bonfires. January 17

“ User-generated content, on average, is a lot less interesting than professional content. But there are a lot more people creating their own content for fun than those doing so for a living, and in aggregate, that content is at least as interesting.”
- Ethan Zuckerman

UshahidiHistorical Benchmarks Apr 2008 – Deployed Ushahidi to South Africa May 2008 – Won the NetSquared mashup challenge June 2008 - Began gathering developers for the open source rebuild Sep 2008 - We get a new website Sep 2008 – Featured in Technoloy Review magazine Aug 2008 - Integration with FrontlineSMS and iPhone application designed July 2008 – Receive initial funding from Humanity United July 2008 - Ushahidi v2 development starts July 2008 – Started the CrisisMappers group Jan 2008 - Initial deployment in the Kenya crisis

UshahidiHistorical Benchmarks Nov 2008 – Founding member of the Open Mobile Consortium Nov 2008 – Deployed alpha version into DR Congo Nov 2008 – Translation features launched May 2009 – MacArthur Funds Ushahidi Dec 2008 - Top 3 USAID mobile challenge finalist Dec 2008 – Won a WeMedia GameChangers Award Dec 2008 – Featured in Forbes magazine and the BBC print/radio/TV Nov 2008 - PeaceHeroes uses Ushahidi to find people who helped do positive things during and after the post-election violence in Kenya Oct 2008 - Launched our alpha software, Ushahidi Engine v0.1 (“eldoret”)

if it works in Africa, it will work anywhere

the default device

FrontlineSMS+Ushahidi SMS => Cloud

Lessons
Mapping accuracy and value of geo-location
Data poisoning - Antagonists using the tool
Verification is difficult, but can be achieved with hyperlocal involvement + NGO’s
Create a feedback loop - SMS & RSS alerts to mobiles and emails
Offline , online and mobile strategy

What are we trying to achieve?

Ensuring that others don’t have to start from scratch, like we did.

Map Timeline SMS Alerts RSS Email Output Methods Ushahidi Crisis Mapping Engine News Media Citizen Generated NGO data Government Public APIs Flickr YouTube Twitter Data Types Input Methods SMS Email Web form API RSS MMS twitter Direct input

IT talent

Free Platform Open Source

2 Hours after the earthquake

4 Hours after the earthquake

1 week after the earthquake

CNN video

“ The technology community has set up interactive maps to help us identify needs and target resources. ” 10 days after the earthquake

US State Department Red Cross FEMA OFDA US Marine Corps US Coast Guard SOUTHCOM UNDP WFP Int’ Medical Corps AIDG USAID

Way Forward...
Growing the community that supports Ushahidi
> Tech features & Dev. – Smartphones (Android, Iphone S60, winmobile) J2ME
Geo-RSS
Freedom Fone integration - Audio =>SMS
SwiftRiver

Thank You

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Ushahidi: mobile crisis reporting

by COOPERACION 2.0 2009 on Mar 01, 2010

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Ushahidi: mobile crisis reporting — Presentation Transcript