This is my presentation from a talk I gave at the Vietnam Journalists Association, sponsored by the US State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors on Crowdmapping in Hanoi, Vietnam from April 3-5, 2013.
This document discusses best practices for live mobile journalism. It covers three main themes: events and rolling journalism, mobile journalism kit and infrastructure, and verification, ethics and law. It provides tips for live reporting like using hashtags, engaging multiple senses and media, quoting sources, and tweeting when things change. It also discusses choosing streaming platforms, building mobile kits with the right hardware and software, establishing systems and habits, and verifying information from multiple sources while maintaining transparency and adhering to privacy and broadcast laws.
This document discusses social media and provides definitions, examples of popular social media tools, and tips for using some key platforms. It defines social media as the democratization of information where people can publish content and engage in conversations. Examples of social media tools mentioned include blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and virtual worlds. Key advice includes talking to people, having conversations on social media, and sharing information and links to demonstrate expertise and vision.
This document summarizes key principles of journalism according to Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. It discusses that journalism's first obligation is to the truth by pursuing practical facts and verifying them to provide context to citizens. It also notes that journalism's first loyalty is to citizens by representing different groups and putting the public interest above other concerns like business interests or personal views. The document provides examples of how journalism should be transparent about sources and methods so audiences can assess the information for themselves.
The document discusses how social media and the internet have enabled revolutions by empowering citizens to share information in real-time without censorship. It provides examples of the 2009 Iranian election protests and the Arab Spring uprisings, noting that access to uncensored information online inspired resistance and support for democracy both domestically and abroad. While the internet itself did not cause these events, it provided people with a powerful new tool to organize and spread their message when they wanted to enact change.
Social media has transformed journalism by allowing for new forms of interactivity, distributed reporting, and engagement between journalists and audiences. Journalism is now a networked process where news events are negotiated in cyber-newsrooms that bring together reporters, sources, and local/national audiences. Citizen contributors and pro-am journalists now play a role in influencing the narrative, content, and impact of news stories. However, accuracy must still be a priority, and journalists must work to corroborate information and verify facts from social media.
Social media allows people to interact, share information, and create and exchange content using mobile and web technologies. It connects individuals and communities globally on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, and Slideshare. Social media is how the world's population interacts and shares information virtually today.
This document discusses online tools for storytelling, curation, and narrative. It focuses on Storify, which allows users to curate social media content into stories. Storify is well-suited for stories involving social movements, breaking news, memes, dialogue, and weather by gathering diverse user-generated content in real-time. Curation requires choosing what is most important, like an exhibit curator. Arranging curated elements involves narrative choices about beginning, middle, end and voice, like writers make in storytelling. Storify projects involve identifying a topic, gathering elements, and organizing them into a coherent story.
Government agencies can better leverage the web in 2011 by freeing their data and content to allow third parties to help disseminate information, build useful applications, and create jobs. Location-based apps and services are growing areas that could benefit from open government geospatial data. Live video feeds from agencies can also help get their messages out to broader audiences.
This document discusses best practices for live mobile journalism. It covers three main themes: events and rolling journalism, mobile journalism kit and infrastructure, and verification, ethics and law. It provides tips for live reporting like using hashtags, engaging multiple senses and media, quoting sources, and tweeting when things change. It also discusses choosing streaming platforms, building mobile kits with the right hardware and software, establishing systems and habits, and verifying information from multiple sources while maintaining transparency and adhering to privacy and broadcast laws.
This document discusses social media and provides definitions, examples of popular social media tools, and tips for using some key platforms. It defines social media as the democratization of information where people can publish content and engage in conversations. Examples of social media tools mentioned include blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and virtual worlds. Key advice includes talking to people, having conversations on social media, and sharing information and links to demonstrate expertise and vision.
This document summarizes key principles of journalism according to Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. It discusses that journalism's first obligation is to the truth by pursuing practical facts and verifying them to provide context to citizens. It also notes that journalism's first loyalty is to citizens by representing different groups and putting the public interest above other concerns like business interests or personal views. The document provides examples of how journalism should be transparent about sources and methods so audiences can assess the information for themselves.
The document discusses how social media and the internet have enabled revolutions by empowering citizens to share information in real-time without censorship. It provides examples of the 2009 Iranian election protests and the Arab Spring uprisings, noting that access to uncensored information online inspired resistance and support for democracy both domestically and abroad. While the internet itself did not cause these events, it provided people with a powerful new tool to organize and spread their message when they wanted to enact change.
Social media has transformed journalism by allowing for new forms of interactivity, distributed reporting, and engagement between journalists and audiences. Journalism is now a networked process where news events are negotiated in cyber-newsrooms that bring together reporters, sources, and local/national audiences. Citizen contributors and pro-am journalists now play a role in influencing the narrative, content, and impact of news stories. However, accuracy must still be a priority, and journalists must work to corroborate information and verify facts from social media.
Social media allows people to interact, share information, and create and exchange content using mobile and web technologies. It connects individuals and communities globally on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn, and Slideshare. Social media is how the world's population interacts and shares information virtually today.
This document discusses online tools for storytelling, curation, and narrative. It focuses on Storify, which allows users to curate social media content into stories. Storify is well-suited for stories involving social movements, breaking news, memes, dialogue, and weather by gathering diverse user-generated content in real-time. Curation requires choosing what is most important, like an exhibit curator. Arranging curated elements involves narrative choices about beginning, middle, end and voice, like writers make in storytelling. Storify projects involve identifying a topic, gathering elements, and organizing them into a coherent story.
Government agencies can better leverage the web in 2011 by freeing their data and content to allow third parties to help disseminate information, build useful applications, and create jobs. Location-based apps and services are growing areas that could benefit from open government geospatial data. Live video feeds from agencies can also help get their messages out to broader audiences.
The document discusses the strategic value of social media for students in a university setting. It notes that students use social media for convenience, connection with others, legitimacy, relevance, and creation. However, it can also be a distraction. Students value social media for searching, collaborating, speed, fun, and sharing current news. The document contrasts "visitors" who use social media casually versus "residents" who integrate it deeply into their studies.
This document summarizes lessons learned from coordinating data collection efforts during the humanitarian response to crises in Japan and Libya in 2011. It identifies three levels of data that need to be coordinated: common operational datasets, community indicator data, and crisis-specific data. It notes the need for open data profiles at the local level and for GIS practitioners to enhance crisis mapping. Challenges included language barriers, coordination difficulties, and a lack of crisis information sharing from local governments. Improved planning, recruitment, communication and use of project management tools were recommended for future efforts.
Crisis Information Management: A Primer, presentation by Sanjana Hattotuwa, Special Advisor, ICT4Peace Foundation. Prepared for ISCRAM Summer School 2011 - http://www.iscram.org/live/summerschool2011.
This document discusses new media and transportation, covering tradition, trends, and the future. Under tradition, it defines social media and provides a history of its evolution. Trends in transportation include using social media for public comment on projects, sharing traffic information, and providing real-time updates. Agencies are also trending toward using social media for public involvement in project development and commenting. The future may bring more accessibility, transparency and accountability as "everyone is a reporter" through tools like hashtags and uploading information to the web.
This document discusses how Peircean pragmatism can be used to understand social movements in digital contexts. It provides examples of Avaaz and Wikileaks, noting they both encourage social mobilization online but through different semiotic processes. For Avaaz, the interpretant is more affective while for Wikileaks it is more energetic, driving behavioral changes. It analyzes the demographics, interoperability, and types of actions associated with each platform.
This document is a teacher in-service presentation about managing social media in the classroom. It defines social media as content created by people using accessible publishing technologies, transforming one-way communication into dialogue. It discusses major social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and how they democratize information by allowing people to publish content. It also covers how students use social media tools like blogs, forums, gaming, photos and video sharing. The presentation aims to educate teachers on engaging with students' social media use for educational purposes.
This document discusses the concept of "affective news" and "electronic elsewheres" in the context of networked social systems. It defines affective news as collaboratively constructed news that blends facts, opinions, and sentiments in ambient online environments. These affective news streams can sustain "electronic elsewheres" that allow disconnected citizens and journalists to reconnect digitally. The document also discusses how mobile and liminal spaces influence affective news and digital storytelling on networked systems.
The document discusses the evolution of media from traditional mainstream media to modern blogs. It notes that blogs have become very popular and influential due to their ability to be commercially successful, feature talented writers, provide immediate content, and be inexpensive to start. Blogs are seen as more diverse, interactive, and able to uncover hidden experts compared to traditional media. The dominance of blogs is argued to fit with societal goals and allow for a more level playing field in media.
This document discusses the potential and challenges of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) for peacebuilding efforts, particularly in Sri Lanka. It notes several systemic problems in Sri Lanka that limit the effectiveness of ICT4peace initiatives, including inadequate local language content and infrastructure issues. It also emphasizes that technology alone cannot guarantee better peace processes and that context is important to consider. The document provides several examples from around the world of how ICTs have been used in peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts.
This document discusses how social media can magnify the impact of speeches by enabling research before writing, facilitating backchannel discussions during speeches, and sharing content like podcasts and transcripts after speeches. It provides examples of how LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube can be used at different stages. Contact information is included for Ian Griffin, an executive communications expert speaking at the Ragan Speechwriters Conference on using social media to amplify speeches.
Social Zombies II: Your Friends Need More BrainsTom Eston
In Social Zombies II: Your Friends Need More Brains, Tom Eston, Kevin Johnson and Robin Wood continue the Zombie invasion from "Social Zombies: Your Friends want to eat Your Brains" presented at DEFCON 17. This presentation will further examine the risks of social networks and then present new techniques and tools that can be used to exploit these issues. This presentation begins by discussing new twists on existing privacy concerns that are caused by the trust mass that is social networks. We use this privacy confusion to exploit members and their companies during our penetration tests. The presentation then discusses social network botnets and bot programs. Both the delivery of malware through social networks and the use of these social networks as command and control channels will be examined. Tom, Kevin and Robin next explore the use of browser-based bots and their delivery through custom social network applications and show new ways social network applications can be used for malware delivery. Finally, the information available through the social network APIs is explored using third-party applications designed for penetration testing. This allows for complete coverage of the targets and their information. This was presented at Shmoocon 2010 on February 6, 2010.
3340 Digital Story Telling October 7 2008Neil Foote
This document discusses digital storytelling tools and the importance of interaction and involvement in digital media. It highlights that digital media allows for a multidirectional flow of information, enhancing learning. Traditional storytelling focuses on text and photos with periodic updates, while digital media allows for immediacy, non-linear presentations, and richer content. The five "I"s of digital storytelling are identified as interactivity, involvement, immediacy, integration, and in-depth. Strategic uses of interactivity by news organizations are also described.
This document discusses the evolution of knowledge and how it is created, accessed, and used. It notes that throughout history, from cave paintings to modern technology like smartphones and social media, humans have constantly sought to gain and share knowledge through various tools. Looking to the future, it speculates that knowledge will become increasingly personalized, ubiquitous, and accessible through new technologies like virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, portable devices, and knowledge stored directly in the brain or blood. It encourages readers to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible and to use emerging tools to continue advancing knowledge.
This document discusses the evolution of knowledge and how it is accessed and shared. It notes that throughout history, from cave paintings to modern technology, humans have strived to communicate experiences, beliefs, and learnings. New tools have emerged for creating, accessing, and using knowledge, from books and newspapers to smartphones, tablets, websites and social media. The possibilities for knowledge are seen as limitless, with potential future technologies including downloading information directly to the brain, virtual classrooms and portals, and personalized artificial intelligence. The overall message is that the desire for knowledge, and how it is obtained, shared and used will continue to change and advance with emerging technologies.
This document provides an overview of a series of seminars on digital humanities and data narratives to be held in Pisa, Italy from February to April 2017. It includes the schedule, with dates and times, and topics to be covered each day. The topics are divided into "digital" and "human" categories, with "digital" covering technical subjects like algorithms, platforms, and laws, and "human" focusing on questions, storytelling, and research. Readings and links are also provided for additional resources on several topics, such as information architecture, user experience design, and futures thinking.
The document discusses the evolution of the humanitarian data ecosystem from 2004-2015. It covers early stages of hand-scraping data and using SMS to later stages incorporating more data standards, analysis tools, and stable data stores. It also discusses the roles of both humans and machines in data generation and processing as well as challenges around data volume, velocity, and veracity. Key technologies discussed include Ushahidi, Sahana, CrisisCommons, and the use of data stores and visualizations to help local communities.
This document provides an overview of crisis information management and the role of social media. It discusses how social media has transformed from one-way communication to enable many-to-many dialogues. Citizens can now generate and share content, becoming producers rather than just consumers of information. New technologies have made it possible to report from closed countries and share first-hand accounts from events. However, challenges remain around verifying information and addressing biases. The document also examines how crisis mapping can both complement and collaborate with UN systems to strengthen situational awareness.
1) Social media uses internet technologies to transform one-way broadcast media into two-way dialogues, allowing people to be both content consumers and producers.
2) Creating social justice involves establishing a society based on principles of equality, solidarity, and human rights that recognizes everyone's dignity.
3) New media foundations like blogs, social networks, mobiles, and broadband have increased access and lowered costs, allowing two-way communication, citizen news generation and dissemination, and people as content producers.
Speaker: Marybeth O’Leary, External Affairs Specialist, FEMA Region 10
What if you could collect real-time, first-person information about a disaster that included pictures and
video? Learning to use social networking sites to augment situational awareness and information
collection could improve disaster response by your agency. Find out how the use of #hashtags,
aggregators and targeted searches can give you a wider picture than what is available through traditional
media monitoring. In addition, online surveys show that respondents have voiced their expectation that
agencies will respond directly to social media requests for assistance. Response and redirection of these
requests can avert a public relations nightmare. Will the use of social media help or hinder your response
to those affected by a disaster. In some cases a tweet for help has resulted in an avalanche of calls to 911
by Twitter followers.
The document discusses analyzing non-textual and new media sources to identify meaningful networks and gain perspective. It focuses on analyzing near real-time sharing of information on social media, especially propaganda videos from Jabhat al-Nusra on YouTube and Twitter. The document also examines open source relational data on important jihadist Twitter accounts and tracking how information sharing networks develop over time by combining different data sources like transactional data and co-citation networks. The final point emphasizes deriving insight from emergent aggregated human behavior by triangulating mixed data sources and working in interdisciplinary teams.
The document discusses the strategic value of social media for students in a university setting. It notes that students use social media for convenience, connection with others, legitimacy, relevance, and creation. However, it can also be a distraction. Students value social media for searching, collaborating, speed, fun, and sharing current news. The document contrasts "visitors" who use social media casually versus "residents" who integrate it deeply into their studies.
This document summarizes lessons learned from coordinating data collection efforts during the humanitarian response to crises in Japan and Libya in 2011. It identifies three levels of data that need to be coordinated: common operational datasets, community indicator data, and crisis-specific data. It notes the need for open data profiles at the local level and for GIS practitioners to enhance crisis mapping. Challenges included language barriers, coordination difficulties, and a lack of crisis information sharing from local governments. Improved planning, recruitment, communication and use of project management tools were recommended for future efforts.
Crisis Information Management: A Primer, presentation by Sanjana Hattotuwa, Special Advisor, ICT4Peace Foundation. Prepared for ISCRAM Summer School 2011 - http://www.iscram.org/live/summerschool2011.
This document discusses new media and transportation, covering tradition, trends, and the future. Under tradition, it defines social media and provides a history of its evolution. Trends in transportation include using social media for public comment on projects, sharing traffic information, and providing real-time updates. Agencies are also trending toward using social media for public involvement in project development and commenting. The future may bring more accessibility, transparency and accountability as "everyone is a reporter" through tools like hashtags and uploading information to the web.
This document discusses how Peircean pragmatism can be used to understand social movements in digital contexts. It provides examples of Avaaz and Wikileaks, noting they both encourage social mobilization online but through different semiotic processes. For Avaaz, the interpretant is more affective while for Wikileaks it is more energetic, driving behavioral changes. It analyzes the demographics, interoperability, and types of actions associated with each platform.
This document is a teacher in-service presentation about managing social media in the classroom. It defines social media as content created by people using accessible publishing technologies, transforming one-way communication into dialogue. It discusses major social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and how they democratize information by allowing people to publish content. It also covers how students use social media tools like blogs, forums, gaming, photos and video sharing. The presentation aims to educate teachers on engaging with students' social media use for educational purposes.
This document discusses the concept of "affective news" and "electronic elsewheres" in the context of networked social systems. It defines affective news as collaboratively constructed news that blends facts, opinions, and sentiments in ambient online environments. These affective news streams can sustain "electronic elsewheres" that allow disconnected citizens and journalists to reconnect digitally. The document also discusses how mobile and liminal spaces influence affective news and digital storytelling on networked systems.
The document discusses the evolution of media from traditional mainstream media to modern blogs. It notes that blogs have become very popular and influential due to their ability to be commercially successful, feature talented writers, provide immediate content, and be inexpensive to start. Blogs are seen as more diverse, interactive, and able to uncover hidden experts compared to traditional media. The dominance of blogs is argued to fit with societal goals and allow for a more level playing field in media.
This document discusses the potential and challenges of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) for peacebuilding efforts, particularly in Sri Lanka. It notes several systemic problems in Sri Lanka that limit the effectiveness of ICT4peace initiatives, including inadequate local language content and infrastructure issues. It also emphasizes that technology alone cannot guarantee better peace processes and that context is important to consider. The document provides several examples from around the world of how ICTs have been used in peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts.
This document discusses how social media can magnify the impact of speeches by enabling research before writing, facilitating backchannel discussions during speeches, and sharing content like podcasts and transcripts after speeches. It provides examples of how LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube can be used at different stages. Contact information is included for Ian Griffin, an executive communications expert speaking at the Ragan Speechwriters Conference on using social media to amplify speeches.
Social Zombies II: Your Friends Need More BrainsTom Eston
In Social Zombies II: Your Friends Need More Brains, Tom Eston, Kevin Johnson and Robin Wood continue the Zombie invasion from "Social Zombies: Your Friends want to eat Your Brains" presented at DEFCON 17. This presentation will further examine the risks of social networks and then present new techniques and tools that can be used to exploit these issues. This presentation begins by discussing new twists on existing privacy concerns that are caused by the trust mass that is social networks. We use this privacy confusion to exploit members and their companies during our penetration tests. The presentation then discusses social network botnets and bot programs. Both the delivery of malware through social networks and the use of these social networks as command and control channels will be examined. Tom, Kevin and Robin next explore the use of browser-based bots and their delivery through custom social network applications and show new ways social network applications can be used for malware delivery. Finally, the information available through the social network APIs is explored using third-party applications designed for penetration testing. This allows for complete coverage of the targets and their information. This was presented at Shmoocon 2010 on February 6, 2010.
3340 Digital Story Telling October 7 2008Neil Foote
This document discusses digital storytelling tools and the importance of interaction and involvement in digital media. It highlights that digital media allows for a multidirectional flow of information, enhancing learning. Traditional storytelling focuses on text and photos with periodic updates, while digital media allows for immediacy, non-linear presentations, and richer content. The five "I"s of digital storytelling are identified as interactivity, involvement, immediacy, integration, and in-depth. Strategic uses of interactivity by news organizations are also described.
This document discusses the evolution of knowledge and how it is created, accessed, and used. It notes that throughout history, from cave paintings to modern technology like smartphones and social media, humans have constantly sought to gain and share knowledge through various tools. Looking to the future, it speculates that knowledge will become increasingly personalized, ubiquitous, and accessible through new technologies like virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, portable devices, and knowledge stored directly in the brain or blood. It encourages readers to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible and to use emerging tools to continue advancing knowledge.
This document discusses the evolution of knowledge and how it is accessed and shared. It notes that throughout history, from cave paintings to modern technology, humans have strived to communicate experiences, beliefs, and learnings. New tools have emerged for creating, accessing, and using knowledge, from books and newspapers to smartphones, tablets, websites and social media. The possibilities for knowledge are seen as limitless, with potential future technologies including downloading information directly to the brain, virtual classrooms and portals, and personalized artificial intelligence. The overall message is that the desire for knowledge, and how it is obtained, shared and used will continue to change and advance with emerging technologies.
This document provides an overview of a series of seminars on digital humanities and data narratives to be held in Pisa, Italy from February to April 2017. It includes the schedule, with dates and times, and topics to be covered each day. The topics are divided into "digital" and "human" categories, with "digital" covering technical subjects like algorithms, platforms, and laws, and "human" focusing on questions, storytelling, and research. Readings and links are also provided for additional resources on several topics, such as information architecture, user experience design, and futures thinking.
The document discusses the evolution of the humanitarian data ecosystem from 2004-2015. It covers early stages of hand-scraping data and using SMS to later stages incorporating more data standards, analysis tools, and stable data stores. It also discusses the roles of both humans and machines in data generation and processing as well as challenges around data volume, velocity, and veracity. Key technologies discussed include Ushahidi, Sahana, CrisisCommons, and the use of data stores and visualizations to help local communities.
This document provides an overview of crisis information management and the role of social media. It discusses how social media has transformed from one-way communication to enable many-to-many dialogues. Citizens can now generate and share content, becoming producers rather than just consumers of information. New technologies have made it possible to report from closed countries and share first-hand accounts from events. However, challenges remain around verifying information and addressing biases. The document also examines how crisis mapping can both complement and collaborate with UN systems to strengthen situational awareness.
1) Social media uses internet technologies to transform one-way broadcast media into two-way dialogues, allowing people to be both content consumers and producers.
2) Creating social justice involves establishing a society based on principles of equality, solidarity, and human rights that recognizes everyone's dignity.
3) New media foundations like blogs, social networks, mobiles, and broadband have increased access and lowered costs, allowing two-way communication, citizen news generation and dissemination, and people as content producers.
Speaker: Marybeth O’Leary, External Affairs Specialist, FEMA Region 10
What if you could collect real-time, first-person information about a disaster that included pictures and
video? Learning to use social networking sites to augment situational awareness and information
collection could improve disaster response by your agency. Find out how the use of #hashtags,
aggregators and targeted searches can give you a wider picture than what is available through traditional
media monitoring. In addition, online surveys show that respondents have voiced their expectation that
agencies will respond directly to social media requests for assistance. Response and redirection of these
requests can avert a public relations nightmare. Will the use of social media help or hinder your response
to those affected by a disaster. In some cases a tweet for help has resulted in an avalanche of calls to 911
by Twitter followers.
The document discusses analyzing non-textual and new media sources to identify meaningful networks and gain perspective. It focuses on analyzing near real-time sharing of information on social media, especially propaganda videos from Jabhat al-Nusra on YouTube and Twitter. The document also examines open source relational data on important jihadist Twitter accounts and tracking how information sharing networks develop over time by combining different data sources like transactional data and co-citation networks. The final point emphasizes deriving insight from emergent aggregated human behavior by triangulating mixed data sources and working in interdisciplinary teams.
This panel discussion focused on the reliability and liability of crowdsourced and volunteer information in disaster management. It discussed various volunteer technology communities and tools for crowdsourcing mapping data during disasters. Concerns were raised about the verifiability and reliability of crowd-mapped data, specifically regarding who is submitting data and the quality. Approaches to improve reliability through validation, training, source cross-checking and automated tools were presented. Legal risks to volunteers, emergency managers relying on crowdsourced data, and the public making decisions based on unverified data were highlighted as issues to address.
Soliciting contributions from large crowds has been proven to deliver better results than from experts alone, and has also saved time and money for businesses. Learn why crowdsourcing is so valuable to businesses, the various types of crowdsourcing, who is doing it right and what these businesses have in common. Full webinar at:
How to leverage social media data for crowdsourcing business insights
This document discusses effective ways for non-profits to raise their profile and awareness. It suggests focusing marketing efforts on specific target audiences and determining the desired outcome of increased awareness. It then lists several strategies like fundraising events, campaigning, national and local public relations activities, and viral marketing. Specific campaign examples are provided from Costa Rica and Spain. Factors that make campaigns spread virally, like being fun and showing how individuals can make a difference, are outlined. National media strategies include public opinion research and controversial stories, while local media should focus on positive human interest stories and local impacts.
This document discusses some challenges with determining the credibility of information found online. It provides examples of satirical headlines from The Onion being shared on Facebook without users realizing they are satire. It also discusses how companies like BP have been accused of editing their Wikipedia page to present a biased view. The document advocates evaluating sources using criteria like the CRAAP test and consulting academic databases and libraries for research.
During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, there were multiple lessons provided to the world. In this talk, I set the stage for the discussion, highlight the issues we faced (and still face), I speak to an effort that contributed to help address one of those issues, then speak to future challenges and our responsibilities going forward.
Do Users Really Generate Content? Tips and Tools for Building Engaged Online ...Laura Norvig
This document summarizes a presentation on cultivating user-generated content through online communities. The presentation covered listening to online conversations, curating and highlighting user content, and a case study of a summer challenge campaign by KaBOOM! that successfully engaged users to map and review playgrounds. Tips included finding where user interests meet organizational goals, providing high-touch support, and giving solutions rather than restricting users.
This document discusses tools and tactics for digital activism and advocacy. It outlines various digital tools like blogs, websites, social media and more. It also discusses how to use these tools through tactics like mobilizing people, amplifying personal stories, using humor and memes. A key model discussed is the "4 C's" of digital activism - content, collaboration, community and collective intelligence. The document provides examples of groups that have used digital media successfully for activism and advocacy.
Don't get fooled again: Best Practices for Online Verification gatehouseGateHouseMedia
Craig Silverman, founder of the Regret the Error blog, shares his take on which media outlets got it wrong and which ones got it right – and why – during coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, with tips and takeaways for newsrooms on verification of digital information. Silverman (craig@craigsilverman.ca) is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Regret the Error, a blog that reports on media errors and corrections, and trends regarding accuracy and verification.
Privacy, Security and Motivation of CrowdsUshahidi
Ushahidi is an open-source platform for crowdsourcing and mapping data. It was created in 2008 during unrest in Kenya to allow citizens to report incidents via SMS. Ushahidi has since been used in major crises around the world. As data collected grows, organizations face challenges in managing real-time data and discovering credible information. The SwiftRiver initiative aims to help organizations address these issues. Effective crowdsourcing relies on existing social networks and building trust through transparency, consent, and protecting privacy and identity while verifying reported data. Motivating participation includes making it easy with low risk of failure while offering social benefits.
The International Conference of Crisis Mappers (ICCM) is the leading humanitarian technology event of the year, bringing together the most important humanitarian, human rights, development and media organizations with the world's best technology companies, software developers and academics. As thus one of the few neutral spaces where such important conversations can take place, the annual ICCM conference brings together a wide range of diverse actors for important conversations that lead to concrete new projects and deliverables across a variety of diverse domains. As a community of practice, the ICCM thus helps facilitate new projects and catalyzes innovation in the area of humanitarian technology.
This document discusses how terrorist organizations use the internet and social media. It outlines that the internet provides an ideal platform for terrorism due to easy and anonymous communication, low costs, and ability to spread information quickly to vast audiences. It describes how terrorists utilize various online facilities like email, social media, video sharing sites for purposes like propaganda, recruitment, fundraising, and sharing tactical information. The document warns that the internet enables new threats like online radicalization and internet-based training for terrorists.
Scraping the Social Graph with Ushahidi and SwiftRiverUshahidi
This document discusses Ushahidi, an open-source platform for crowdsourcing and visualizing data on maps. It was created in 2008 to allow Kenyans to report incidents via SMS during an election crisis. Ushahidi has since been used to monitor many global crises. The challenge is effectively managing the large amounts of real-time data. The SwiftRiver initiative aims to help discover credible information from public reports. It uses algorithms and a global trust database to augment but not define human decision making.
Driving Business Innovation: Latest Generative AI Advancements & Success StorySafe Software
Are you ready to revolutionize how you handle data? Join us for a webinar where we’ll bring you up to speed with the latest advancements in Generative AI technology and discover how leveraging FME with tools from giants like Google Gemini, Amazon, and Microsoft OpenAI can supercharge your workflow efficiency.
During the hour, we’ll take you through:
Guest Speaker Segment with Hannah Barrington: Dive into the world of dynamic real estate marketing with Hannah, the Marketing Manager at Workspace Group. Hear firsthand how their team generates engaging descriptions for thousands of office units by integrating diverse data sources—from PDF floorplans to web pages—using FME transformers, like OpenAIVisionConnector and AnthropicVisionConnector. This use case will show you how GenAI can streamline content creation for marketing across the board.
Ollama Use Case: Learn how Scenario Specialist Dmitri Bagh has utilized Ollama within FME to input data, create custom models, and enhance security protocols. This segment will include demos to illustrate the full capabilities of FME in AI-driven processes.
Custom AI Models: Discover how to leverage FME to build personalized AI models using your data. Whether it’s populating a model with local data for added security or integrating public AI tools, find out how FME facilitates a versatile and secure approach to AI.
We’ll wrap up with a live Q&A session where you can engage with our experts on your specific use cases, and learn more about optimizing your data workflows with AI.
This webinar is ideal for professionals seeking to harness the power of AI within their data management systems while ensuring high levels of customization and security. Whether you're a novice or an expert, gain actionable insights and strategies to elevate your data processes. Join us to see how FME and AI can revolutionize how you work with data!
A Comprehensive Guide to DeFi Development Services in 2024Intelisync
DeFi represents a paradigm shift in the financial industry. Instead of relying on traditional, centralized institutions like banks, DeFi leverages blockchain technology to create a decentralized network of financial services. This means that financial transactions can occur directly between parties, without intermediaries, using smart contracts on platforms like Ethereum.
In 2024, we are witnessing an explosion of new DeFi projects and protocols, each pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in finance.
In summary, DeFi in 2024 is not just a trend; it’s a revolution that democratizes finance, enhances security and transparency, and fosters continuous innovation. As we proceed through this presentation, we'll explore the various components and services of DeFi in detail, shedding light on how they are transforming the financial landscape.
At Intelisync, we specialize in providing comprehensive DeFi development services tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients. From smart contract development to dApp creation and security audits, we ensure that your DeFi project is built with innovation, security, and scalability in mind. Trust Intelisync to guide you through the intricate landscape of decentralized finance and unlock the full potential of blockchain technology.
Ready to take your DeFi project to the next level? Partner with Intelisync for expert DeFi development services today!
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Chris Jones, Director of Product Management at BrainChip , presents the “Temporal Event Neural Networks: A More Efficient Alternative to the Transformer” tutorial at the May 2024 Embedded Vision Summit.
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Integration with BrainChip’s Akida neuromorphic hardware IP further enhances TENNs’ capabilities, enabling the realization of highly capable, portable and passively cooled edge devices. This presentation delves into the technical innovations underlying TENNs, presents real-world benchmarks, and elucidates how this cutting-edge approach is positioned to revolutionize edge AI across diverse applications.
Generating privacy-protected synthetic data using Secludy and MilvusZilliz
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Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift
Overview
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Key Topics Covered
1. Introduction to Anomaly Detection
- Understand the fundamentals of anomaly detection and its importance in identifying unusual behavior or failures in systems.
2. Understanding Edge (IoT)
- Learn about edge computing and IoT, and how they enable real-time data processing and decision-making at the source.
3. What is ArgoCD?
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4. Deployment Using ArgoCD for Edge Devices
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5. Introduction to Apache Kafka and S3
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6. Viewing Kafka Messages in the Data Lake
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7. What is Prometheus?
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8. Monitoring Application Metrics with Prometheus
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10. Configuring Camel K Integrations for Data Pipelines
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11. What is a Jupyter Notebook?
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12. Jupyter Notebooks with Code Examples
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5th LF Energy Power Grid Model Meet-up SlidesDanBrown980551
5th Power Grid Model Meet-up
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Power Grid Model
The global energy transition is placing new and unprecedented demands on Distribution System Operators (DSOs). Alongside upgrades to grid capacity, processes such as digitization, capacity optimization, and congestion management are becoming vital for delivering reliable services.
Power Grid Model is an open source project from Linux Foundation Energy and provides a calculation engine that is increasingly essential for DSOs. It offers a standards-based foundation enabling real-time power systems analysis, simulations of electrical power grids, and sophisticated what-if analysis. In addition, it enables in-depth studies and analysis of the electrical power grid’s behavior and performance. This comprehensive model incorporates essential factors such as power generation capacity, electrical losses, voltage levels, power flows, and system stability.
Power Grid Model is currently being applied in a wide variety of use cases, including grid planning, expansion, reliability, and congestion studies. It can also help in analyzing the impact of renewable energy integration, assessing the effects of disturbances or faults, and developing strategies for grid control and optimization.
What to expect
For the upcoming meetup we are organizing, we have an exciting lineup of activities planned:
-Insightful presentations covering two practical applications of the Power Grid Model.
-An update on the latest advancements in Power Grid -Model technology during the first and second quarters of 2024.
-An interactive brainstorming session to discuss and propose new feature requests.
-An opportunity to connect with fellow Power Grid Model enthusiasts and users.
Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing.pdfssuserfac0301
Read Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing to gain insights on AI adoption in the manufacturing industry, such as:
1. How quickly AI is being implemented in manufacturing.
2. Which barriers stand in the way of AI adoption.
3. How data quality and governance form the backbone of AI.
4. Organizational processes and structures that may inhibit effective AI adoption.
6. Ideas and approaches to help build your organization's AI strategy.
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I develop the Ruby programming language, RubyGems, and Bundler, which are package managers for Ruby. Today, I will introduce how to enhance the security of your application using open-source software (OSS) examples from Ruby and RubyGems.
The first topic is CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). I have published CVEs many times. But what exactly is a CVE? I'll provide a basic understanding of CVEs and explain how to detect and handle vulnerabilities in OSS.
Next, let's discuss package managers. Package managers play a critical role in the OSS ecosystem. I'll explain how to manage library dependencies in your application.
I'll share insights into how the Ruby and RubyGems core team works to keep our ecosystem safe. By the end of this talk, you'll have a better understanding of how to safeguard your code.
Energy Efficient Video Encoding for Cloud and Edge Computing Instances
Crowdmapping & Verification Hanoi Workshop
1. Crowdmapping with Ushahidi
Reports and Verification
Reports and Verification
Brian Herbert
Director of Crowdmap
@brianherbert
Disaster Preparedness and Influenza Workshop
Hanoi, Vietnam April 2013
2. Sir Francis Galton
• Elitist, believing strongly that
some people were both
mentally and physically
superior to others.
• Thought we should make
“enhanced” humans by
essentially speeding up
evolution.
5. Sir Francis Galton
"The result seems more
creditable to the
trustworthiness of a
democratic judgment
than might have been
expected."
6.
7. Crowdsourcing Before
Crowdsourcing
• Open entry contests
• Refining reference materials
• Surveying for research
• Solving math problems
• Compiling reviews and guides
9. The Ushahidi Platform
• A tool developed in the heat of the
moment, during a major man made crisis
• Quickly became an open source project
with a developer community made up of
hundreds of individuals
• A tool that spans virtually all platforms
from SMS, smartphone, web and social
media
10. The Ushahidi Platform
• A tool developed in the heat of the
moment, during a major man made crisis
• Quickly became an open source project
with a developer community made up of
hundreds of individuals
• A tool that spans virtually all platforms
from SMS, smartphone, web and social
media
14. Crowdmap
• Crowdmap is the free, hosted Ushahidi in
the cloud.
• Set up in minutes.
• Get your own subdomain like
mymap.crowdmap.com
• SSL Encrypted
30. Dr. Meier’s Case Studies
on Verifying Information
http://irevolution.net/2011/11/29/information-foren
31. Andy Carvin and the Arab Spring
• Primarily used Twitter
• Burden of proof on original source
• Disproved reports of Israeli mortars being
used
• Used traditional journalism techniques to
verify information, just publicly
32. Kyrgyzstan Rumors
• Skype was used to verify information
• 2,000+ people using the chatroom
• Connections with telecom to check
geolocation of SMS
33. BBC
• User-Generated Content Hub
• Actively scour the web
• Communicate with posters directly
• Verify claims with local news sources
34. Standby Volunteer Task Force
• First major deployment was a UN map in Libya
• Two step process:
• Authentication of source as valid
• Triangulation of content as valid
• Social media profiles should be complete and
traceable across the web
• Double check content
Before we really dive into this presentation, I would like to tell you a story about a scientist over one hundred years ago.
This scientist, Sir Francis Galton was a bit of a polymath, as scientists were in those days. He studied everything from anthropology to meteorology and statistics. He was on the forefront of human sciences like applying statistics to genetic traits and collecting genealogical information in a scientific manner. Through all of his research, he concluded that some people were both mentally and physically superior to others. This led to him to found the field of Eugenics, a science that attempts to “improve” the human race through selective breeding, taking two individuals who have desirable traits and having them reproduce to create a superior individual. It’s this line of thinking that lead to some pretty inhuman and brutal policies in much of the world, including eugenics programs in the US, Nazi Germany and Japan. His main idea is the masses are stupid, uneducated, they don’t have the brains, skills or abilities to help themselves. They must be saved by a superior class of individuals.
In 1906, Sir Francis Galton went to the county fair, the West of England Fat Stock and Poultry Exhibition. I’m not sure if there is anything similar in Vietnam but this is a gathering of people from all over the region. They bring their most impressive livestock like huge hogs, fat hens and all sorts of other farm animals. It’s good fun and a spectacle for everyone. Why would a scientist like Sir Francis Galton, who at the time was 85 years old, be interested in the fair? He was most interested in seeing his science in action. The idea is that this livestock was a product of selective breeding. Farmers picked the best of the best and bread them to produce the most meat, milk the most milk or lay the most eggs.
It was here that Galton came across a competition. A man was selling tickets to guess the weight of an ox. For a small amount, anybody could buy a slip of paper, write how much they thought a bull weighed and enter for consideration. The person with the closest estimate would be awarded a hefty cash prize. All in all, 800 people entered the competition. These people had a wide range of backgrounds from the obvious butchers and ranchers who have some experience in estimating weight and the majority of others being inexperienced, caretakers, shop owners, regular individuals. These people had no experience judging the weight of livestock. As it turns out, this is an interesting experiment in democracy and a prime example of crowdsourcing. Galton didn’t exactly trust democracy. When there is only a small group of individuals who have the capacity to lead, make intelligent decisions and move society forward, how could the unintelligent group come up with the answer? Galton wanted to verify his thinking and asked the contest organizers if he could have the tickets that people filled out after the tallying was complete. The organizers obliged and handed over the tickets. Galton was making the assumption that the collective guess of this group of mostly “dumb” individuals would be way off. He applied different statistical measures to this sample and the collective guess came out to be 1,197 lbs. What was the actual weight of the ox? 1,198 lbs. The collective made an almost perfect assumption of the weight. This, one of the first scientific looks at crowdsourcing, showed that the power of many, regardless of intelligence, can produce valid results.
Sir Francis Galton changed his tone a bit after this experiment. It showed evidence that there is something to collective wisdom, that the sum of a group may be more powerful than any one individual. He said, “The result seems more creditable to the trustworthiness of a democratic judgement than might have been expected.”
Now, I can’t take credit for researching this well known anecdote. If you’re interested in that story and finding out a bit more about crowdsourcing, I would recommend picking up “The Wisdom of Crowds” which is conveniently translated into Vietnamese. It really does serve as a great introduction to crowdsourcing in general and crowdmapping, which I want to cover a bit more this hour.
As we can see from the example of Sir Francis Galton, crowdsourcing isn’t anything new. In fact, it’s been used to solve all sorts of problems before there was ever a term for it. We have seen this in open entry contests, where brands and governments have thrown out a challenge for the masses to solve. An early example of this is Planter Peanuts, a peanut brand in the US, asked the public to design it’s logo. Perhaps a better example is The Longitude Prize. In the 1700’s, sailors could calculate their Latitude (how far north/south) easily by measuring where the sun was in the sky at noon time. Figuring out longitude (how far east/west) was still incredibly difficult. So, the British government offered money to anyone who could help solve this challenging problem. The Oxford English Dictionary covered a breadth of material that was too difficult for their staff to cull over, fact check and provide context to. They utilized an army of volunteers to go over all the books to add rich information and historical context to help better define all the words in the English language. There were mistakes but overall, it was a huge achievement. A number of research projects in the 20th century had people collecting information about their lives to study human habits. Another amazing project that seems to be before it’s time was to essentially use mathematicians as a distributed computing machine. In 1938, these people were paid to work on difficult math problems to create huge tables of solutions to complex math problems. This reference material materialized as the Handbook of Mathematical Functions, which invariably saved future mathematicians and engineers countless hours of mundane problem solving. Finally, something I really enjoy are the Lonely Planet Guides. It’s a series of travel guides that cover the planet. In the 70s, they collected and published recommendations and travel advice from travelers all over the globe. The Zagat Survey also did something similar, they collected reviews and scored restaurants in the late 70s.
Wikipedia is the quintessential example of crowdsourcing. People from all over the world come together to modify articles. Websites like Threadless utilize crowdvoting to select user submitted tshirt designs for purchase. Amazon Mechanical Turks is the prime example of “turksourcing” where individuals perform very small pieces of a larger puzzle to solve problems. Kickstarter kicked off a crowdfunding revolution, where anybody can contribute money to make a project happen. Ushahidi began to popularize crowdmapping, an easy way to collect information and visualize that on a map
The Ushahidi Platform is a tool that was originally developed overnight, during a major man made crisis to map violence. It quickly gained recognition as a valuable tool and was open sourced and was set up to work with SMS, smartphones and social media.
This was all made by Africans for a problem happing in Kenya.
This is a screenshot of what the very first deployment of Ushahidi looked like in the height of election violence in January, 2008. The two top presidential candidates were both accusing each other of election fraud, causing all sorts of problems on the ground where members of different tribes were attacking each other. A few bloggers got together and set this up. With this map, people were able to submit a report to the system via SMS or the web, showing what they were seeing. They were actually providing their “ushahidi”, which means testimony or witness in the Swahili language. In fact, this is how I got involved and came to work with Ushahidi. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya and left the year before the violence broke out. I was able to use this tool to get the most up to date information of what was happening on the ground. Traditional media proved to be almost worthless in getting out the most up to date information.
Since Ushahidi became open source, we’ve seen it adopted all over the globe, from tracking blizzards to natural disasters like floods, giving citizens a voice in their local communities, tracking health issues and major disasters like the Haiti earthquake. I want to show a video that touches on some of the efforts of the team behind one of the more popular Ushahidi maps a few years ago when Port-au-Prince in Haiti was hit by a massive earthquake. You will see another project mentioned called Open Street Map that I will touch on later. Apologies for the lack of Vietnamese translations, it’s only a few minutes long.
Crowdmap is the free, hosted version of Ushahidi that virtually anyone can use to start their own map with little mapping experience. We’ll be walking through that together a bit later. Anyone can come to Crowdmap.com and register their own map, which only takes a few minutes. You do sacrifice some customization by hosting your map on our servers but the tradeoff is you don’t have to worry about the nuts and bolts of running a website. 100% of Crowdmap is fully encrypted, meaning someone trying to see the data going from Crowdmap to you or your users is very difficult to decipher.
How does Ushahidi and Crowdmap help us tracking health? We do have one great example of an Ushahidi map that tracked one of the worst outbreaks of our time. On April 1st, 2010, there was the great...
Zombie Outbreak! The Ushahidi community quickly scrambled to form the Zombie Volunteer Task Force whose mission was to track the spread of the Zombie infection.
It all started in a hospital in Uganda where an infected patient at a hospital in Kampala turned into a man eating zombie and things quickly went downhill from there. It quickly spread throughout the western world, probably thanks to an unsuspecting aid worker bringing the virus to Europe and the United States.
I checked zombiereports.com before coming here and found that Vietnam was spared from the outbreak. It looks like there was only single infection reported in the Philippines. In all seriousness, this was our April Fool’s joke a couple years ago but it’s proven to be a good example showing a crowdsourced map for health. Even the CDC used the zombie example in some of their health campaigns.
One of our first real attempts at using Ushahidi for tracking something health related was to track the H1N1 Swine Flu outbreak in Spring, 2009. This was a mix of media monitoring and crowdsourcing information. It created a pretty rich map showing regions at a high level that were experiencing issues.
Stop Stockouts was another map, this time done by a community member who was tracking pharmacies and hospitals that were running out of medications. This map was to show what places were most often having these stockouts and needed more attention.
KANCO, the Kenya AIDs NGOs Consortium, was using the platform to map HIV and AIDS organizations around Kenya as a directory and to better provide support to them.
There are a number of other projects that have used these tools like the Honduras Health Map tracking health issues in Honduras. The Rescotes en Sanidad map in Spain, talking about public health in Barcelona. The Qiantang River Water Map in China, tracking pollution and water sanitation and it’s impact on health in China.
So now that we have a little background in crowdsourcing and mapping, let’s step through the way information can flow into your map.
All information flows from various channels into your admin panel. These sources can be reports directly on the homepage of your map, news sources, SMS, smart phones, Twitter and email. We’ll cover a lot of this when we have our hands on session so instead of showing you how to hook all of this up yet, I’ll get into some of the higher level concepts of what reports are.
When a visitor comes to your map, they will be presented with a map. The approved reports in your map are represented here with red circles on the map. They are also categorized and can be filtered using the selector on the right hand side.
Visitors also have the option to view your reports by a listing with some options to filter content on the right hand side, like showing only reports with photos or only reports within a radius of a point.
An individual report will look something like this, with a map to find nearby reports, links to images, report text and commenting. Now is a good time to mention that reports on your map have two very important properties.
All reports must have approval or verification tied to them. If you have a report and you want to keep it private either because you’re still working on it or it’s not good enough for your map, you can keep it unapproved. If it’s unapproved, only administrators will be able to access it from the admin section of the site. Reports must also be verified or unverified. This doesn’t impact whether or not visitors can see the report. However, the reports will have this little badge. If it’s verified, it will be green, saying it’s verified. If it’s not verified, it will be red, mentioning it’s unverified. Sometimes it’s important to show people unverified information depending on the situation.
One of the most common questions I’m asked when talking about these crowdsourced projects is how to verify that all information on a map is 100% correct. Crowdsourcing, by it’s very nature isn’t prone to being 100% correct. The idea is get a bigger picture idea of what’s happening. That’s why we have the “verified/unverified” property for all reports. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide how you want to do verification. Think of Ushahidi as a hammer, it’s a tool. We’re not going to tell you how to hold it. Maps are used for a wide range of uses from mapping natural disasters to mapping cheeseburgers so the level of intensity and the methods necessary to verify information is going to vary greatly.
I’m going to borrow heavily from my old colleague, Patrick Meier and his study on different ways social media has been verified across five different projects. We’ll be looking at four of them. If you follow the link above you will find the study in case you wish to dive into this a bit deeper.
During the Arab Spring, Andy Carvin of National Public Radio in the US gained notoriety for his approach in gathering information. He was monitoring Twitter for reports and doing his best to find the valid bits of information to be shared with his wider audience. He would find an interesting piece of information and then respond directly to the original poster asking for clarifying information. He would also get information from other trusted sources and the crowd in general by tweeting out questions like, “How unusual is this?” and seeing if anyone else could provide context. Carvin was able to use this method to verify that photos of mortars used by Gaddafi were not made and supplied by Israel when the wider media continued reporting that Israeli armaments were being used.
In mid-2010, areas of Kyrgyzstan were experiencing widespread violence. Rumors were being passed around about the number of dead or displaced so it was very difficult to verify anything. A local group started a Skype chat, which are generally invite only. The group ballooned to over 2,000 people who were all linked to each other through invitations to join, so nobody here was anonymous. If a report came in, they could easily ask in the chat room for someone in or close to a given area could verify the information. Another resource they used was the local telecom. If someone was sending reports of violence via SMS, they would simply ask the telecom if the SMS message was coming from the area they claimed to be reporting from. Most of the time, they were in a different place entirely.
The BBC has an entire team devoted to verifying social media reports. They actively monitor sources to find interesting information. One of their primary sources is comment sections on their own websites. They utilize some of the same techniques as Carvin did during the Arab Spring. Also, they utilize the resources of the BBC, like contacting the Persian Service when getting reports out of Iran.
The Standby Volunteer Task Force is a group of trained crowdsourcers and crowdmappers that support projects in need through setting up maps, SMS, social media workflows, media monitoring, the works. Their methods utilize a two step process. If the reporter is a trusted reporter or source, then they may mark their reports as valid, again, depending on the situation. If the source isn’t trusted or known, they will use techniques to verify that the source is legitimate. The first step is checking if the profile of that user is complete with a profile picture, bio, historical usage. Next, verifiers search around the Internet for the same username or name of the user to see if there are other profiles matching the same description. Finally, they check the users followers to see if they seem legitimate. Finally, content is checked to see if it seems odd, if images attached appear to be in the location they say they’re in, if the weather in that region seems appropriate and so on.
I would just like to reiterate that verification is not 100% perfect. The idea here is to get a bigger picture and to possibly do deeper dives on individual pieces of content or reports into your map.
Ushahidi isn’t alone in crowdmapping. Without the help of other open source communities, Ushahidi and Crowdmap wouldn’t be where it is today.
We see a lot of combined uses of different tools to create these mapping projects. What you see here is the Voice of Kibera map. Map Kibera, a part of the same project, was a project to train citizens living in Kibera, one of the larger slums in Africa, to map their community. Before this, Kibera was a blank, grey void on the map. If you didn’t know about it already, you would think they simply didn’t exist. They didn’t exist on Google Maps, they didn’t exist on any accessible mapping service on the Internet.
So, the community mapped their neighborhood, creating points of interest that were most important to the people who lived there. On their map, you’ll find churches and mosques, public toilets, schools, clinics and local businesses. Kibera was now literally on the map. With this detailed map, that Voice of Kibera map was able to be born.
This site, run by many of the same community members, have been able to do their own citizen reporting on what matters most. People can submit information to them using an SMS shortcode about virtually anything from emergencies to where to find the next football match. It’s really cool to see all of this come together.
The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team is a volunteer organization that works with OpenStreetMap, the same tool that was used to Map Kibera. They run trainings and mapping projects in areas that have very little map coverage utilizing crowdsourcing. Without their help, a lot of maps wouldn’t be very useful.
Thank you so much for letting me give you this introduction to crowdsourcing and some of the things we do with Ushahidi and Crowdmap.