They started getting people from all over the world to help map all the information coming in about the situations on the ground in Haiti. He then said Google Maps didn’t have half of the capital of Haiti so they used Open Street Map. Then he showed an animation of the process of creating the map, very impressive.
They got Mission 4636, because they contacted Digi-Cell for a free SMS code so people could text Ushahidi. They then got a whole bunch of people to help translate the messages from Creole to English, so they got over 1200 volunteers. I liked that they looked at the correlation of text messages and damage caused by the earthquake, and there is a strong correlation.
I extremely enjoyed how he used case studies to see how things were done during the aftermath and the response to what happened in Haiti. Then he touched on some of the studies that were done by other people after the Haiti earthquake. One very interesting one was the locations of cell phones right before the earthquake compared to after to see the movement of the cell phones as crowds move. Overall I have to say that this presentation was my favorite in the series. I liked the whole initiative thing the group took to start helping out with Haiti. It was definitely a humanitarian effort for sure, it was caring for people you will most likely never meet. However, they had a huge impact on the whole humanitarian community because even the UN made references to the maps Ushahidi was using. THE UN PEOPLE, the UN ended up using the techniques and technologies that were used by non-profit organizations in future disasters. Imagine that people the UN stepped out of their old comfort zone to help people and holy smokes it worked.
This impressed me, this being Ushahidi, by far the coolest thing ever. Check out this video that illustrates the mapping project/process that was possible by yours truly Ushahidi.
Check this out! Sorry the video is not embeded but watch this.
This was all done because of some initiative people in a living room took. Awesome what people can accomplish in so little time.
Evan,
ReplyDeleteI agree-- Meier's presentation was one of the stronger ones and his approach and motivations were captivating. I think what's so strong about his story is how inspirational it is. As he mentioned, this global project started in the living room with some college kids who really wanted to creative some way to help aggregate the mess of information that was out there. It makes you wonder why we couldn't start something just as effective and grand. And I guess this is where our semester project plays a role--we college kids may not have all the time on our hands, but we certainly have more than those who are employed. And we may arguably have more creativity; especially in a university environment, you get to interact and share ideas with people who are so far removed from each other's disciplines and therefore have different perspectives. The resources we also have at our fingertips is helpful as well. And like you mentioned, it's really awesome how the UN has started shifting towards more technology, in part due to Ushahidi's successful techniques. It was not some grand multilateral mega-institution that changed their mind; it was a small project idea that started taking hold in a living room. If ever there are doubts of the power of individuals and innovative ideas making waves, Meier's story is one to tell.
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ReplyDeleteThe whole start up process of Ushadidi was pretty impressive. I am kind of curious about the details behind how they actually went about recruiting those initial volunteers from around the world. It is encouraging to see that there are many who are willing to donate their time to try and make a difference. Even though the Ushahidi platform had a very limited role, if any, in impacting decisions made by humanitarian organizations, Ushahidi’s technology is definitely leading the way for further innovation. However, as with any emerging technology, it is not only important to try and fully understand its intended use, but also what may be some unintended uses. The later is important in order to try and avoid or minimize a technology’s misuse. Professor Tapia did make an important point when asking about whether or not there had been much consideration for how this mapping technology could be used by groups or individuals to cause harm rather than save lives. For instance, would there be a major disadvantage to putting more controls on software. Maybe an individual or group would have to get permission from Ushahidi prior to having the ability to use the software. It may not be possible to prevent such software from being used for “bad” purposes, but there are definitely ways of trying to minimize such issues. I was a little surprised to hear that they do not quite understand the ways in which their software is being used. I guess that is the result of making it open source. The way Mr. Meier described the importance of the Ushahidi platform being open source, makes it seem like its greatest strength, but also its greatest weakness.
ReplyDeleteI too thought that the ways communications have evolved since World War 1 have been astounding; from too large radios, to having radio apps on smart phones!
ReplyDeleteWhen you stated that “the director of FEMA said Ushahidi was the most comprehensive map available” I felt that this was a huge honor for Ushahidi and Open Street Map to be considered more comprehensive than even Google Maps.
Mission 4636 was definitely a huge success in the Haiti aftermath, and it was mostly accomplished through the 1.200 volunteers who translated the texts sent to 4636 from Creole to English.
Previously, I was unaware that you could create a map showing the movement of cell phones pre and post earthquake. Now knowing that such tracking can be used, this proved to be very useful in terms of seeing where people were migrating to in order to get them the supplies and care they needed.
I believe that the creation of Ushahidi truly shows how individuals can impact each other’s lives without ever meeting, or knowing the people whose lives you’re changing.
I also agree that creating Ushahidi impacted not only the Hatian people, but people who live and work within the humanitarian community. Ushahidi expanded the techniques and technologies used to help people in need.
And I also loved your movie!
Evan, as usual your weekly blog post was a very interesting read. One of the things that stuck out the most for me was the animation process of the maps being generated. This gave me a strong sense of okay this is what they do and this is how virtual mapping works. I also thought it was very interesting that the new technologies that were used in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti were developed in this speaker’s living room of his house. In this creation open street maps were used off Google because half of the maps were not there.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on this point that the case studies he used during the lecture were brilliant. The case study on the cell phone locations before and after the earthquake in Haiti was very interesting as well. I like to hear about a lot of applications when hearing these speakers because to be honest that is what our major is all about. We don’t just want to hear about facts about their companies that we can just get off their websites, we want to hear about things going wrong or right in the real world. These are they people that we as SRA majors will become in a few short years and we should be given good examples of things we will be doing in the Intelligence community and other communities as well.
Evan, once again you proved to have a great blog post this week. I thought this speaking was really cool and the maps he portrayed were awesome. The video you also had about the speaker was very helpful in describing other topics that the speaker explained last Monday night. Overall, keep up the good work buddy your posts are always enjoyable to watch, great job man.
I agree with you that the UN stepped out of their comfort zone (maybe by necessity) and it worked wonders for them in this particular instance. They did not really have an option what with their officials and headquarters on the ground being affected by the disaster. People in general really stepped up and showed off the best humanity had to offer in this instance and one major way they did that was in the form of crisis mapping by Ushaidi.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that it was a bunch of concerned citizens that started up in a college dorm room trying to do whatever they could to help is truly amazing to me. The impact they made is just brilliant. They were working twenty hour days just trying to gather as much information as possible to help aid the Humanitarian relief. Then they got the SMS on board as you said. Shortly thereafter thousands from the Haitian diaspora offered their services to translate text messages and that to me is when this truly became about the everyday person doing the extraordinary.
It was very nice of Dr. Patrick Meier to take time out of his busy schedule and try and neatly wrap together all that we have heard from the other guest speakers. He did a very good job of trying to show the interconnectedness that can pop up between those not associated with Humanitarian relief and the impact they can have in a positive way on the outcome of situations such as these.
Hopefully there will be more of an opportunity for the everyday person to leave their mark as Humanitarian aid continues to evolve in the social networking age.