Haiti crowdsourced information about the crisis from local residents via text messages to be translated and mapped within 3 days, helping relief organizations respond to emergencies quickly. Over 170 volunteers and 10,000 Haitian diaspora volunteers assisted with translation, geolocation, and verifying reports which were sent to relief organizations, with one report of an orphanage being out of water getting a response within 10 minutes. The system enhanced Ushahidi's ability to filter and refine crowdsourced information to provide accurate, weighted results to relief workers in Haiti.

1. Haiti
crowdsourcing a real-time crisis

4. Fixing the engine while flying...

6. Translation New Functionality
to 3 languages building on the fly
in 3 days “Action Taken”

7. FROM
PEOPLE
IN NEED
TO
PEOPLE
WHO
HELP

8. FROM
PEOPLE sms to 4636
IN NEED translation
geolocation
structured
approval
mapped
TO
categorized PEOPLE
WHO
report
HELP

9. How do you make this happen in just
10 minutes
or less?

10. “In Ha iti? Text 4636 with your
loca tion and need. Report
emergencies and missing persons.”

12. 170 situation room volunteers

14. 10,000 Haitian diaspora volunteers

15. Local Knowledge

16. Local Knowledge
(12:52:55) (Dalila): I need Thomassin Apo please
(12:53:02) (Apo): wait
(12:54:53) (Apo): Kenscoff Route: Lat: 18.495746829274168,
Long:-72.31849193572998
(12:57:25) (Apo): This Area after Petion-Ville and Pelerin 5 is not on
Google Map. We have no streets name
(12:58:05) (Dalila): @Apo I thank you for ur help
(12:58:24) (Apo): you are welcome
(12:58:53) (Apo): I know this place like my pocket
(12:59:14) (Dalila): thank God u was here

17. Red Cross
United Nations Foundation
Plan International
Charity Water
Clinton Foundation
US State Department
International Medical Corps
AIDG
USAID
FEMA
US Coast Guard Task Force
US Marine Corps
UNDP
SOUTHCOM

21. Amount of Information Produced by Eyewitnesses
The Response Effort’s Processing Capacity
wasted
crisis data
Hot Flash
(no news)

22. Swift River:
enhancing Ushahidi’s ability to find the truth
CROWDSOURCED
INFORMATION

23. Swift River:
enhancing Ushahidi’s ability to find the truth
CROWDSOURCED CROWDSOURCED
INFORMATION FILTER

24. Swift River:
enhancing Ushahidi’s ability to find the truth
CROWDSOURCED CROWDSOURCED REFINED
INFORMATION FILTER RESULTS

25. Swift River:
enhancing Ushahidi’s ability to find the truth
CROWDSOURCED CROWDSOURCED REFINED WEIGHTED
INFORMATION FILTER RESULTS RESULTS

28. Reports of emergencies are going straight back to
the orgs on the ground, translated and with geo-
coords where possible – people in Haiti were
responding to this one this morning (19 jan)
within 10 minutes of us receiving it
January
19
Foyer de Sion out of water / responders dispatched.
Both reports refer to an orphanage out of water.
Report 1070 states a source of help is on the way
and the delivery of water is confirmed by our
rockstar (literally) volunteer in Montreal.
UN Ops Center was just here. In the past couple of
minutes we've found a school that sent an
emergency text for a live entrapment of kids and
the SAR teams could not find it. SAR team now
dispatched to the right location to five decimal
places.

29. Reports of emergencies are going straight back to
the orgs on the ground, translated and with geo-
coords where possible – people in Haiti were
responding to this one this morning (19 jan)
within 10 minutes of us receiving it
January
19
Foyer de Sion out of water / responders dispatched.
Both reports refer to an orphanage out of water.
Report 1070 states a source of help is on the way
and the delivery of water is confirmed by our
rockstar (literally) volunteer in Montreal.
UN Ops Center was just here. In the past couple of
minutes we've found a school that sent an
emergency text for a live entrapment of kids and
the SAR teams could not find it. SAR team now
dispatched to the right location to five decimal
places.

30. Thank You