How crowdsourcing using Ushahidi can contribute ?
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<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">The Background:</h3>
<p>Ushahidi (Swahili for "testimony" or "witness") created a website in the aftermath of Kenya's disputed 2007 presidential election that collected eyewitness reports of violence sent in by email and text-message and placed them on a Google map.</p>
<p>The organization uses the concept of crowdsourcing for social activism and public accountability, serving as an initial model for what has been coined as 'activist mapping' - the combination of social activism, citizen journalism and geospatial information. Ushahidi offers products that enable local observers to submit reports using their mobile phones or the internet, while simultaneously creating a temporal and geospatial archive of events.</p>
<p>Ushahidi has been used for...</p>
<p><br />1. Help in the relief efforts in Haiti , following the devastating earthquake in 2010 .</p>
<p>2. Mapping violence against Children Turkey . It was created with a view to monitor violence against children in Turkey as an early warning tool to address problems before they escalate in certain parts of the country. -<a href="http://www.cocukhaklariizleme.org/harita">www.cocukhaklariizleme.org/harita</a></p>
<p>3. Monitor corruption in Egypt .The aim of the initiative is to seek Egypt to become bribery-free, corruption-free and safe. - <a href="http://zabatak.com">http://zabatak.com</a></p>
<p>4. Create a crime map in Atlanta - <a href="http://crime.mapatl.com/">http://crime.mapatl.com/</a></p>
<p>5. BBC used ushahidi to show the disruption caused by tube strikes in London. <a href="http://tubestrike.crowdmap.com/main">http://tubestrike.crowdmap.com/main</a>.</p>
<p>6. Al Jazeera used it to monitor news in Gaza - <a href="http://labs.aljazeera.net/warongaza">http://labs.aljazeera.net/warongaza</a>.</p>
<p>7. Monitor power cuts in India - <a href="http://fmi.me/powercut">http://fmi.me/powercut</a></p>
<p> <br />and the list goes on ... <br />Even the United nations has asked Ushahidi to create a deployment in Libya to monitor human rights amid the escalating violence .</p>
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">How does Ushahidi work :</h3>
<p>We will not go into this as there is already a brilliant article at - <a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/crowdmap-disaster-information-citizen-reports-ushahidi/">http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/crowdmap-disaster-information-citizen-reports-ushahidi/</a> .</p>
<p>It is concise and clear and hence wont take much time to read and it is beautifully written .</p>
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">How can you report ?</h3>
<p>1. Using the form on the main page and submitting a report to us. We encourage you to send us videos(Youtube links etc.) or photos or web links using the form which may provide extra information about your report .</p>
<p>2. Using Twitter - By using the hastags #oliveindia when you tweet to report an issue .</p>
<p>3. Sending an email to olivewaveind@gmail.com . Please give as much information as possible in the mail .</p>
<p>4. Using the video messaging facility (Eyejot) provided on the India page at Olivewave- http://www.olivewave.com</p>
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">What we plan to do with the data :</h3>
<p>1. Setup data analyzing and sorting tools like the "Swiftriver" application to get a meaningful picture from the unorganised raw data .</p>
<p>2. Develop modeling systems using analytical tools to sift throught the data and generate prediction models etc.</p>
<p>3. To collaborate with both government and non-government organisations and aid them through the reports generated .</p>
<p>Most importantly , Ushahidi provides you with a tool to create a social impact by bringing visibilty to issues on a scale that was not possible previously.</p>
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