Submitted by Tobias Eigen on 19 January, 2010 - 18:13
Our hearts and minds are with the people of Haiti in these crucial days after the earthquake. No matter where you are in the world, you can help. Below is a message from Erik Hersman of @ushahidi with a very good opportunity to volunteer online to help map and integrate info from Haiti for use by people in need and those who can provide relief.
Last Wednesday started out pretty normal for me. Then it stopped. The US-based members of the Ushahidi team informed me of the earthquake in Haiti, and then the madness began… 6 days later, what’s happened?
Ushahidi is heavily involved in mapping and integrating crowdsourced information from Haiti into an aggregated map that is being used by both people on the ground who need help and those who can provide relief. Teams of volunteers in Kenya, Uganda and the US have been working to solidify the platform and make this effort work. Keep up-to-date in our Situation Room and our blog.
Though it’s not a completely accurate description of what we’re doing, it’s close: We’re running what’s basically the 911 system for Haiti through a local shortcode on the Digicel network 4636. More on the 4636 number and campaign.
How you can help
Pass this message on, try to get it to people, media and organizations IN Haiti:
“In Haiti? Text 4636 (International:447624802524) on Digicel with your location and need. Report emergencies and missing persons.”
Help with open mapping of Haiti campaign through OpenStreetMap, CrisisMapping Network and CrisisCommons via the “Drawing Together” campaign.
Other links you should know about
Missing persons index
In-Haiti relief organization registry
Twitter Tracker/Filter
Crowdsourced facial recognition
OpenStreetMap Haiti
Crisis Commons Haiti
ICT4Peace – useful links wiki
It turns out this little experiment that started two years ago to crowdsource information from the public in Kenya during the post-election violence might have a future after all… 
Thanks for your support, and for your help.
Crossposted from WhiteAfrican.com: http://bit.ly/6Tzmrg
Comments
Dear Tobias and All Members,
Thanks immensely for your excellent and timely posting on Haiti! I have many "links" there, including both the personal and professional, so I have been working around the clock--as have so many--doing networking and in some way trying to be helpful.
As your post highlights, Ushahidi has adapted its platform and services to be of immense value in this situation of natural disaster. I know the creator of Ushahidi, who I met online while she was a student in the USA, especially interested in the plight of African--esp Kenyan (as she is herself)--women when it comes to land inheritance.
She is still very interested in working with women and women's groups in particular who might use this resource to address conflict and advance peace and relief efforts, development challenges, and any variations that would aggregate knowledge and advance solutions.
The creation of Ushahidi ushered in a new era in crisis-response using ICTs, I think, and the platform has now extended its use from the post-election crisis in Kenya in 2008 to a variety of other countries and settings.
I have been contacted by Ushahidi reps to spread word of this resource far and wide, and thanks to Kabissa and other simpatico settings, this will be easy! For people--esp women's groups-- in Kenya who want to use this resource, please contact rebecca@ushahidi.com, and internationally, contact Juliana Rotich at juliana@ushahidi.com.
I will pass along the info you have posted here, and please keep me linked in and informed as you can, about your efforts and those of your team.
With greatest blessings and bon courage to all! Janet
Dear Tobias,
I was going through all the urls tonight that you had posted with your comment, and one of them is not correct: it looks like one name ran into another when you were typing or copying them (see below). This will hopefully be corrected, because a lot of people might want to access this very info.
Thanks immensely for such a rich resource (now, if only we could get rich providing same :))). Janet
[COMMENT EDITED BY TOBIAS: I removed the broken link to orgs and updated it in the post. THanks for pointing this out!]
Thank you, Janet, for your hard work on Haiti. The magnitude of the disaster is mindboggling, and it is heartwarming to see the level of response from around the world on all levels.
I was interested in hearing your perspectives on @Ushahidi and its origins - it is a remarkable story emanating from Kenya. It is good to see that Ushahidi is being considered for use by women's groups. It would be good to share opportunities around this on Kabissa.
Best wishes,
Tobias
Dear Tobias and All,
Thanks so much for your kind words, and your own hard work! I would love to share the Ushahidi opportunity more widely...could you give me some pointers on that (ie I am not familiar enough with the various Kabissa channels that might be used...if emails could blush, this would be red :)).
It would be great if there could be a special mailing, too, or some other way to convey the news. Let me know how I can be helpful!!
With all best wishes and appreciation, Janet
Hi Janet,
:-) No need to blush. There are two particularly good ways to use Kabissa to promote organizations and initiatives like @Ushahidi sites that can be of broad interest to Kabissa members:
This year we want to reawaken the Kabissa newsletter, which has been dormant since last Spring. This will help to reach the people who don't have time to participate in all the individual threads that are going on.
Meanwhile, the Special Mailings service we've offered in the past is becoming less relevant because of the way the community blog works with email notifications - though if there is a specific, timely opportunity that is targeted at a subset of organizations in our database (e.g. Kenya or East Africa, or just Environment or Human Rights - or any search results from http://kabissa.org/connect/search) then we would be glad to consider sending it out via a Special Mailing.
You are already being so helpful - many thanks. Let's keep the collaboration going and find more ways to support each other and empower African civil society.
Best wishes,
Tobias
The work of Ushahidi is wonderful ... but just wondering whether what I am doing with Community Analytics (CA) could be integrated or added on to what is already done by Ushahidi. Like Ushahidi the CA system builds on text messages ... but aims to get dataflows about socio-economic progress and performance in a location ... community / neighborhood / block / building. The ultimate aim of the system is to track resources that are mobilized in various organizations ... track them to other organizations ... and then to specific locations where the amount of resource may be compared with what is actually accomplished. The loss of resources in most emergency situations is enormous ... and the fact of weak accounting and accountability makes scams, ripoffs and misappropriation easy. With the technology now available we can force transparency and get much improved accountability. What steps are appropriate to help?
Want to help Haiti? You can! Just go to the link below and choose from the virtual volunteering tasks that are so simple anyone can do them. All you need is an Internet connection.
http://wiki.crisiscommons.org/wiki/Simple_Tasks_Anyone_Can_Do
In solidarity,
Tobias
The quake that striked Haiti was such a huge catastrohe that shocked the whole world and of the devastation and loss it brought to the place and people of Haiti moved us. I couldn't help but cry over seeing their loss and I wanted so much to reach out. I may have little to share but it's not quantity of what you give that counts at a times like this but its the act that matters..
I could only offer my prayers and my greatest gratitude to people like you who always have the genuine care for others in need..
^_^
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