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Ushahidi
Ushahidi is an open source software application that collates and maps data using user-generated reports. It uses the concept of crowdsourcing serving as an initial model for what has been coined as "activist mapping" – the combination of social activism, citizen journalism and geographic information. Ushahidi allows local observers to submit reports using their mobile phones or the Internet, creating an archive of events with geographic and time-date information. The Ushahidi platform is often used for crisis response, human rights reporting, and election monitoring. Ushahidi ( Swahili for "testimony", closely related to shahidi which means "witness") was created in the aftermath of Kenya's disputed 2007 presidential election that collected eyewitness reports of violence reported by email and text message and placed them on a Google Maps interface. The Ushahidi platform has been used by the United Nations Department of Field Services and Peacekeeping, in response to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Juliana Rotich
Juliana Rotich is a Kenyan information technology professional, who has developed web tools for crowdsourcing crisis information and coverage of topics related to the environment. She is the co-founder of iHub, a collective tech space in Nairobi, Kenya, and of Ushahidi, open-source software for collecting and mapping information. She is a TED Senior Fellow. She is a trustee of Bankinter Foundation for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Spain, as well as a member of Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Board. She was the head of East Africa Country Cluster for BASF from May to December 2018. Background and education Rotich was born in 1977 in Kenya. After attending elementary and secondary school locally, she was admitted to the University of Missouri–Kansas City, in the United States. She graduated from there with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. She is an MIT Media Lab Fellow. Career In 1999 Rotich started working at Sprint Nextel Corporation. In 2005 she left and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ory Okolloh
300px, Okolloh in 2006 Ory Okolloh (or Ory Okolloh Mwangi) is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. She is a partner at Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, a pan-African investment firm based in Lagos, Nigeria, with offices in Nairobi. She previously served as the managing director at Omidyar Network, and as the policy manager for Africa with Google. Education Okolloh earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005 with a Juris Doctor. Career In 2006, Okolloh co-founded the parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo (Swahili: "Patriot"). The site sought to increase government accountability by systematically recording bills, speeches, MPs, and standing orders. When Kenya was engulfed in violence following a disputed presidential election in 2007, Okolloh co-created Ushahidi (Swahili: "Witness"), a website and tool that collected and recorded eyewitness reports of violence using text messages and Google ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Erik Hersman
Erik Hersman (born 1975) is a technologist, blogger and commentator who specialises in the impact and application of technology throughout Africa. Raised in Sudan and Kenya, he is a graduate of Kenya's Rift Valley Academy and Florida State University, he runs the websites ''WhiteAfrican'' and ''AfriGadget,'' the latter being a multi-author website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity. ''AfriGadget'' was named one of '' Time's'' "Top 50 Sites of 2008". He is co-founder of '' Ushahidi'' ("testimony" in Swahili), a crowdsourcing website created to map incidents of violence during the 2007–08 Kenyan crisis. ''Ushahidi'' has since been used for reporting violence in Madagascar and election monitoring in Afghanistan. In December 2009, the Omidyar Network announced an investment of $1.4 million to support the continued growth of the platform. In 2008 Hersman was named a Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow. In the summer of 2009 he was awarded a TED Fellow Fellowship, and the fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
FrontlineSMS
FrontlineSMS is a free open source software used by a variety of organizations to distribute and collect information via text messaging (SMS). The software works without an internet connection and with a cell phone and computer. History The software was originally developed in 2005 by Ken Banks for conservationists to keep in touch with communities in Kruger National Park in South Africa. The 2.0 release is a deep redesign and is the first version to install a browser-based interface to the Java FrontlineSMS backend. Usage FrontlineSMS enables users to connect a range of mobile devices to a computer to send and receive SMS text messages. The software works without an internet connection by connecting a device such as a cell phone or GSM modem with a local phone number. FrontlineSMS can send and receive messages, group contacts, respond to messages, and trigger other events. If internet access is available, FrontlineSMS can be connected to online SMS services and set up to feed in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (abbreviated OSM) is a free, Open Database License, open geographic database, map database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveying, surveys, trace from Aerial photography, aerial photo imagery or satellite imagery, and import from other freely licensed geodata sources. OpenStreetMap is Free content, freely licensed under the Open Database License and is commonly used to make electronic maps, inform turn-by-turn navigation, and assist in humanitarian aid and Data and information visualization, data visualisation. OpenStreetMap uses its own data model to store geographical features which can then be exported into other GIS file formats. The OpenStreetMap website itself is an Web mapping, online map, geodata search engine, and editor. OpenStreetMap was created by Steve Coast in response to the Ordnance Survey, the United Kingdom's national mapping agency, failing to release its data to the pub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
2007–2008 Kenyan Crisis
The 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis was a violent political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Kenya. The crisis erupted after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the 2007 presidential election. Supporters of Kibaki's main opponent in that election, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement, alleged electoral manipulation. This position was widely confirmed by international observers, as being perpetrated by both parties in the election. Even the head of the electoral commission himself confirmed that he did not know who had won the elections despite announcing the incumbent as president. In part due to the ethnic and geographic diversity of Kenyan politics, no singular narrative can explain the reaction of opposition supporters to the announcement of Kibaki's swearing-in, which was done on December 30, 2007, at night. The opposition announced a mass protest against the official results, and the violence was largely stoked by the police. Raila Oding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
HARASSmap
HARASSmap is a mobile and online technology non-profit that uses interactive mapping to try to reduce the social acceptability of sexual harassment throughout Egypt. History As of 2005, HARASSmap co-founder Rebecca Chiao began investigating the prevalence of sexual harassment in the daily life of Egyptian women and eventually, with the help of friends and volunteers, launched a campaign that would eventually be adopted by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights. While these efforts were aimed towards changing sexual harassment legislation within the Egyptian government to better criminalize offences, there was a push for more urgent action. In a 2008 study conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, researchers found that out of the 1,010 women they surveyed, 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women in Egypt said they had experienced sexual harassment. Deciding it was time for some on-the-ground action, Chiao and HARASSmap co-founder Engy Ghozlan decided to harnes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Geospatial
Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position). It is also called geospatial data and information, georeferenced data and information, as well as geodata and geoinformation. Location information (known by the many names mentioned here) is stored in a geographic information system (GIS). There are also many different types of geodata, including vector graphics, vector files, raster graphics, raster files, geographic databases, web files, and multi-temporal data. Spatial data or spatial information is broader class of data whose geometry is relevant but it is not necessarily georeferenced, such as in computer-aided design (CAD), see geometric modeling. Fields of study Geographic data and information are the subject of a number of overlapping fields of study, mainly: * Geocomputation * Geographic info ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digital platforms to attract and divide work between participants to achieve a cumulative result. Crowdsourcing is not limited to online activity, however, and there are various historical examples of crowdsourcing. The word crowdsourcing is a portmanteau of "crowd" and "outsourcing". In contrast to outsourcing, crowdsourcing usually involves less specific and more public groups of participants. Advantages of using crowdsourcing include lowered costs, improved speed, improved quality, increased flexibility, and/or increased scalability of the work, as well as promoting diversity. Crowdsourcing methods include competitions, virtual labor markets, open online collaboration and data donation. Some forms of crowdsourcing, such as in "idea competiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Harvard Kennedy School
The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's degrees in public policy, public administration, and international development, four doctoral degrees, and various executive education programs. It conducts research in subjects relating to politics, government, international affairs, and economics. HKS has an endowment of $1.7 billion. It is a member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), a global consortium of schools that trains leaders in international affairs. The primary campus of Harvard Kennedy School is on John F. Kennedy Street in Cambridge. The main buildings overlook the Charles River and are southwest of Harvard Yard and Harvard Square, on the site of a former MBTA Red Line train yard. The School is adjacent to the public riverfront John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Nairobi
Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper had a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census. Nairobi is home of the Parliament Buildings (Kenya), Kenyan Parliament Buildings and hosts thousands of Kenyan businesses and international companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). Nairobi is an established hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest stock exchanges in Africa and the second-oldest exchange on the continent. It is Africa's fourth-largest stock exchange in terms of trading volume, capable of making 10 million trades a day. It also contains the Nairobi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
