ICT4D refers to using information and communication technologies for development purposes. Crowdsourcing involves outsourcing tasks to a large group of people through an open call. It has several advantages for development projects, including engaging affected populations and triangulating information to verify reports. Crowdsourcing methods can be unbounded, bounded, or combined. Successful crowdsourcing requires defining the issue, crowd, tools, analysis, action, and monitoring. Examples of ICT4D and crowdsourcing projects discussed include a text messaging health project in Kenya, crisis mapping in Sudan, and using Twitter to share voicemails from Egypt during an internet blackout.

1. ICT4D and CROWDSOURCING USE OF ICT4D IN PARTECIPATORY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS SIPA, Columbia University January 2011 Anahi Ayala Iacucci - anahi@crisismappers.net

2. Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4Dev) is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the fields of socioeconomic development, international development and human rights. What is ICT4 D?

3. What is CROWDSOURCING? CROWDSOURCING: The act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee to a large group of people or community (a crowd), through an open call for action. Jeff Howe coined the term in June 2006 explaining that because technological advances have allowed for cheap consumer electronics, the gap between professionals and amateurs has been diminished.

4. ADVANTAGES OF USING CROWDSOURCING Information in development related projects is as important as food and water Local communities know what is going on on the ground in real time *and* before professional responders The ability to collect information is limited by the availability of sources of information: more sources, more information Affected population get engaged in the process because they have an interest in the outcome Crowdsourcing is relatively cheaper than the use of selected monitoring teams Crowdsourcing allow for triangulation of information permitting verification and accountability

5. TYPOLOGIES OF CROWDSOURCING METHODS Unbounded crowd-sourcing: potentially all the people can report. This system allows for an unlimited number of information to come in, but lack in reliability of information. Bounded crowd-sourcing: the reporting is done by a specific trusted group. This system allows for verified information to come in but is subjected to the limitation of the limited source. Combined bounded and unbounded crowd-sourcing: information are collected by a specific group of people, but also by the crowd. Reliable sources and unreliable sources are combines. This system allows for: increase in overall reporting Increase in the ability to validate reports from unknown sources

7. CROWD

8. TOOLS

9. ANALYSIS

10. ACTION

12. CROWDFEEDING CROWDFEEDING: the need for the crowd to share information with the crowd, ie, not top-down, or bottom-up, but information from the crowd, for the crowd; horizontal communication. The act of sharing information out to a large group of people or community, through an open sharing system. In the same time for the international community it means to share all available information with all stakeholders to allow better decisions to be taken and better actions to be implemented.

13. WHY CROWDFEEDING? Local populations are the first responders on the ground so the more they know, the better they respond Information increase resilience and is the base for preparedness The Crowd is always there Information sharing is the base for a coordinated meaningful response Local population normally knows what to do and has local copying mechanisms

14. HOW TO USE CROWDSOURCING AND WHAT TO BE AWARE OF

16. CROWDSOURCING AND CROWDFEEDING PROJECTS NEED TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION

17. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO START WITH A SMALL PROJECT AND THEN SCALE UP THAN THE CONTRARY

18. NEVER CHOOSE A TOOL AND THEN DECIDE WHAT TO USE IT FOR

21. EXAMPLES OF ICT4D AND CROWDSOURCING PROJECT

22. Kenya: The TextHealth Project

23. U-Shahid Deployment

24. Egypt: Speak2Tweet On the 2nd of Feb., in response to the continued blackout of the Internet in Egypt, Google and Twitter announced that they had set up phone numbers in Egypt for protesters to call into, that would then automatically be turned into voicemail messages, that would then be tweeted out on the account @Speak2Tweet. The immediate point of this system is not to help organize within Egypt, but hopefully to offer a way for Egyptians to literally speak to the rest of the world. To further this aim, a number of volunteers outside of Egypt have decided to collaborate online to get those voicemails – which are mainly in Arabic – translated into English.

25. Zambia: climate change and resilience

26. Sudan: crisis mapping in repressive regimes

27. THANK YOU! Anahi Ayala Iacucci anahi@crisismappers.net