Ushahidi
Encyclopedia
Ushahidi, Inc. is a non-profit software company that develops free and open source software (LGPL) for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping.

Ushahidi (Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

 for "testimony" or "witness") created a website (http://legacy.ushahidi.com) in the aftermath of Kenya's disputed 2007 presidential election (see 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis
2007–2008 Kenyan crisis
The 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis refers to a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that erupted in Kenya after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election held on December 27, 2007. Supporters of Kibaki's opponent, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic...

) that collected eyewitness reports of violence sent in by email and text-message and placed them on a Google map.

The organization uses the concept of crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....

 for social activism and public accountability, serving as an initial model for what has been coined as 'activist mapping' - the combination of social activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

, citizen journalism
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information...

 and geospatial
Geospatial
Geospatial analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other informational techniques to geographically based data. Such analysis employs spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets, including geographic information systems and...

 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.

Ushahidi

The Ushahidi platform is built on the Kohana web framework, a fork of the CodeIgniter framework. It includes built-in support for Nexmo wholesale SMS API and Clickatell SMS gateways. Furthermore, the official Ushahidi-hosted websites use the commercial service.
Ushahidi provides the option of using OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. Two major driving forces behind the establishment and growth of OSM have been restrictions on use or availability of map information across much of the world and the advent of inexpensive portable GPS devices.The...

 maps in its user interface, but requires the Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...

 API for geocoding
Geocoding
Geocoding is the process of finding associated geographic coordinates from other geographic data, such as street addresses, or zip codes...

. Ushahidi is often set up using a local SMS gateway created by a local FrontlineSMS
FrontlineSMS
FrontlineSMS is a free open source software used by a variety of organizations to distribute and collect information via text messages . The software can work without an internet connection and with only a cell phone and computer...

 set-up. This video provides a good overview on how the platform is being used around the world.

SwiftRiver

SwiftRiver is a suite of intelligence and real-time data gathering products that complement Ushahidi's mapping and visualization products. Often referred to as the SwiftRiver Initiative the goal of the project is "to democratize access to the tools for making sense of information".

SwiftRiver is a free and open source platform that helps people make sense of a lot of information in a short amount of time. It was born out of the need to understand and act upon a wave of massive amounts of crisis data that tends to overwhelm in the first 24 hours of a disaster. There has been a great deal of interest in Swift for other industries such as newsrooms, political analysts and marketers as an open source alternative to more expensive, proprietary intelligence software platforms. The SwiftRiver platform offers applications which combine natural language/artificial intelligence process, data-mining for SMS and Twitter, and verification algorithms for different sources of information.

SwiftRiver has three primary functions: 1. to structure unstructured data 2. conditional filtering and prioritization of real-time content and 3. adding context (ex. location)

SwiftRiver is commonly mistaken to be an application, when in fact it is a platform consisting of APIs. There are several applications powered by Swift, most notably Sweeper which was designed specifically as a complimentary product to Ushahidi's mapping products.

Crowdmap

Crowdmap is designed and built by the team behind Ushahidi, a platform that was originally built to crowdsource crisis information. As the platform has evolved, so have its uses. Crowdmap now allows users to set up their own deployments of Ushahidi without having to install it on a web server. Since its release in 2010, prominent deployments of Crowdmap have documented the global "Occupy" protests and the 2011 London anti-cuts protest.

On December 31, 2010 the Ushahidi team announced Crowdmap: Checkins, a geosocial add-on to Crowdmap that allows users to create a white-label alternative to sites like Foursquare and Gowalla
Gowalla
Gowalla is a location-based social network. Users 'check in' at Spots in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile application or through the mobile website. As a reward users will sometimes receive virtual "items" from check-ins. Items have developed to become a promotional tool for...

. Rather than filling out submission forms online, checkins allow Crowdmap users to expedite data entry to their deployment, focussing first on location and adding more detailled information later. Ushahidi describes the effort as "checkins with a purpose."

Beginnings in Kenya

Ushahidi.com (Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

 for "testimony" or "witness") is a website created in the aftermath of Kenya's disputed 2007 presidential election (see 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis
2007–2008 Kenyan crisis
The 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis refers to a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that erupted in Kenya after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election held on December 27, 2007. Supporters of Kibaki's opponent, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic...

) that collected eyewitness reports of violence sent in by email and text-message and placed them on a Google map. It is also the name of the open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 software developed for that site, which has since been improved, released freely, and used for a number of similar projects around the globe.

The Kenyan site was developed and run by several bloggers and software developers, all current or former residents of Kenya: Erik Hersman
Erik Hersman
Raised in Sudan and Kenya and a graduate of Kenya's Rift Valley Academy, Erik Hersman is a widely respected technologist, blogger and commentator who specialises in the impact and application of technology throughout Africa. He runs two popular websites - and , a multi-author website dedicated to...

, Juliana Rotich, Ory Okolloh
Ory Okolloh
thumb|right|300px|Ory Okolloh in 2006Ory Okolloh is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. She currently holds the position of Policy Manager for Africa with Google. In 2006 she co-founded the parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo . The site sought to increase government accountability by...

 and David Kobia. The site was initially proposed by Okolloh, developed cheaply, and put online within a few days. International media, government sources, NGOs, and Kenyan journalists and bloggers were used to verify eyewitness testimony. The site was later also used to facilitate donations from abroad.

On December 23, 2010, Ushahidi co-founder and Executive Director Ory Okolloh
Ory Okolloh
thumb|right|300px|Ory Okolloh in 2006Ory Okolloh is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. She currently holds the position of Policy Manager for Africa with Google. In 2006 she co-founded the parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo . The site sought to increase government accountability by...

 announced that she was stepping down from her role to become Manager of Policy for Africa at Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

.

Post-Kenya crisis uses

Soon after its initial use in Kenya, the Ushahidi software was used to create a similar site to track anti-immigrant violence in South Africa, UnitedforAfrica.co.sa in May 2008. The software has since been used to map violence in eastern Congo, beginning in November 2008. Usahdi is used in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia in June 2009 to track pharmacy stockout
Stockout
A stockout, or out-of-stock event is an event that causes inventory to be exhausted. Reorder points are often specified in such a way as to reduce the likelihood of stockouts during replenishment, due to the vendor's lead time, which cause interruptions to sales or deliveries.Stockouts are...

s in several East African countries. Finally, it was used to monitor elections in Mexico and India, among other projects. It was also used by Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...

 to collect eyewitness reports during the 2008-2009 Gaza War.

The post election violence in Kenya was the subject of a Harvard Humanitarian Institute study and mentioned in a Berkman Center report.

Haiti

In 2010, due to the earthquake in Haiti
2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...

, Patrick Meier
Patrick Meier
Patrick Meier is a Swiss figure skater. He is a multiple Swiss national champion.Meier began skating at the age of six. He represented Switzerland at the European Figure Skating Championships, the World Figure Skating Championships, and the 1998 Winter Olympics, where he placed 22nd...

 launched a joint effort between Ushahidi, The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University, UN OCHA
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs , is a United Nations body formed in December 1991 by General Assembly Resolution 46/182...

/Colombia and the International Network of Crisis Mappers (CM*Net) started the Haiti implementation. A few hours later many humanitarian/tech workers joined this initiative. Nearly 40000 independent reports were sent to the Ushahidi Haiti Project of which nearly 4000 distinct events were plotted.

Chile

Only a month after the Haiti earthquake, the 2010 earthquake
2010 Chile earthquake
The 2010 Chile earthquake occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February 2010, at 03:34 local time , having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking lasting for about three minutes. It ranks as the sixth largest earthquake ever to be recorded by a...

 in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 prompted Patrick Meier
Patrick Meier
Patrick Meier is a Swiss figure skater. He is a multiple Swiss national champion.Meier began skating at the age of six. He represented Switzerland at the European Figure Skating Championships, the World Figure Skating Championships, and the 1998 Winter Olympics, where he placed 22nd...

 to launch Ushahidi-Chile within hours of the initial quake. The Chile site is currently co-managed with Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the US, supported by the Chilean diaspora.

Washington, D.C.

In the wake of winter storms
First North American blizzard of 2010
The February 5–6, 2010 North American blizzard also known as "Snowmaggedon" was a winter storm and severe weather event that tracked from the U.S. states of California to Arizona through northern Mexico, the American Southwest, the Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions...

, the Washington Post and the web development company PICnet used the software to create a site mapping blocked roads and other information.

Russia

Ushahidi was used in Russia to set up a "map of help" for voluntary workers needed after the wildfires
2010 Russian wildfires
The 2010 Russian wildfires were several hundred wildfires that broke out across Russia, primarily in the west, starting in late July 2010, due to record temperatures and drought in the region...

.

2011

Christchurch
Using Ushahidi, the Christchurch Recovery Map
Christchurch Recovery Map
The Christchurch Recovery Map, also known as eq.org.nz, was a short-lived website providing crowdsourced information about the Christchurch Earthquake of 22 February 2011. The site aggregated information via email, tweets with an #eqnz hashtag, SMS and a locally-hosted web form...

 website was launched less than 24 hours after the 22 February earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. The site maps locations of services such as food, water, toilets, fuel, ATMs, and medical care. Information is gathered via Twitter messages using the #eqnz hashtag, SMS messages and email. The site was founded by a group of web professionals, and maintained by volunteers.

Middle East
This software allowed pro-democracy demonstrators across the Middle-East to organize and communicate what was happening around them in early 2011 On Tuesday, March 2, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) requested that the The Standby Volunteer Task Force be activated for Libya. The Task Force’s Tech Team set up a password protected Ushahidi platform almost immediately and several days later launched a public version at OCHA’s request. This allowed users to contribute relevant information about ground conditions as they occurred.

India
TelecomMap.com uses Ushahidi to map 3G network quality and Wi-Fi hotspots.

Japan
Ushahidi is used in Japan to help through multiple tragedies. The Japan Recovery Map website is in Japanese.

Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

 used Ushahidi to map the Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 floods in January.

External links

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