Talk:Ushahidi

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Ushahidi marks one of the first examples of using combined mobile devices, social networking tools and Web 2.0 technology for the purpose of affecting social change and/or documenting acts of political violence. It combines technology and knowledge regarding mobile devices, networking tools, and wireless systems in Kenya, as well as the cultural knowledge to provide incentives for locals to report - it represents a paradigm shift for social activism and political accountability in regions where citizens may not be able to express themselves freely. It also provides a model for bringing political violence and conflict to the world stage - think of the potential if this capability had been present during the Rwandan genocide. It is significant enough that O'Reilly Media asked the creators to speak at the 2008 Where 2.0 conference about activist mapping, and the Center for Interactive Journalism has recognized Ushahidi as an important citizen journalism tool. The Ushahidi method has been expanded to report on xenophobia in South Africa, United for Africa.

Notability concerns

I know there are some folks at Harvard and elsewhere working on a case study of Ushahidi and its role in responding to the most recent Kenyan elections. Once this is available, the site will certainly meet notability criteria. Until that time, it should be enough to say that just b/c all English language readers don't know about it doesn't mean it's not notable in Kenya. Aaronshaw (talk) 13:11, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Aaronshaw, I've added links to a few of the publications on Ushahidi. Among them the one by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative that you referenced. I'm not sure if I followed the correct protocol to do this though. Whiteafrican —Preceding undated comment added 12:49, 4 June 2009 (UTC).

recent article

• http://www.smh.com.au/technology/bearing-witness-to-disasters-in-an-electronic-world-20100820-138x8.html Prezbo (talk) 02:53, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

name

related to shaheed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.78.106.200 (talk) 16:40, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Probably, but in a heavily Bantu-ized form... AnonMoos (talk) 19:51, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

POV? Explanation?

The beginning of the article is word by word like the Video from the Website. So, this seems to be POV. Furthermore i do not really understand what this project really is and they do .... --Itu (talk) 03:30, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Ushahidi is a non-profit software company that designs open-source mapping software to document and distribute information about crises, elections, disasters, and any other deployment users want to set up. What the project "really is" is an NGO that designs software. The thousands of deployments of that software are separate and usually not initiated by Ushahidi itself. (Information-meister (talk) 01:24, 25 October 2011 (UTC))

Additions Proposal

I have changed "Crowdmap: CI" to Crowdmap Checkin. The meaning of the acronym was not self-evident.

Also, it should be noted that Crowdmap Checkin was not developed as an alternative to foursquare or Gowalla as the sentence "a geosocial add-on to Crowdmap that allows users to create a white-label alternative to sites like Foursquare and Gowalla." suggests. It was developed as an add-on to the original Crowdmap website to expedite data entry, not to compete with existing checkin web 2.0 software. Crowdmap's and Ushiahidi's focus remains social engagement. Hence the quote "checkins with a purpose."

Ushahidi, Crowdmap, and SwiftRiver should be included as tools in the Citizen journalism page.

Use statistics should be included for major Ushahidi deployments. See my addition to the UHP section of the article. Use stats give an impression of the project's scope and help to establish notability.

It is questionable whether or not prominent Crowdmap deployments should be considered as separate from prominent Ushahidid deployments. The only difference is that Crowdmap doesn't necessitate downloading the software on an independent server. (Information-meister (talk) 01:46, 25 October 2011 (UTC))