Ushahidi – technology that saves lives

Sometimes I feel technology is just making my life more complicated. It is tiresome learning how to use a new mobile phone. The digibox is again acting irregularly. And the work phone wakes me up from my sweetest dreams at 6 a.m. Sunday morning reminding me of the planning day on Monday. (The person who invented that function must hate humankind.)

But then there is new technology that saves lives, puts the above mentioned grievances in perspective and reminds us that technology exists for the purpose of helping us.

Imagine a way for people all over the world to tell the story of what was happening to them or around them during a disaster or emergency situation. It would have to be easy to use, accessible to anyone and deployable worldwide.

The way already exists: Ushahidi.

Ushahidi, which means "testimony" in Swahili, is a platform that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Its roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis. The original website was used to map incidents of violence and peace efforts throughout the country based on reports submitted via the web and mobile phones.

Anybody can contribute information, a simple text message from a mobile phone, a photo or a video from a smart phone, or a report submitted online. Twitter works, too. Ushahidi can gather information from any device with a digital data connection. After information is submitted, it is posted in near real time to an interactive map that can be viewed on any computer or smart phone.  Ushahidi is open source and anyone can improve it or use the service.

Ushahidi has been used in humanitarian response situations such as the earthquake in Haiti and the floods in Pakistan. http://pakreport.org/ushahidi/ In Haiti, Ushahidi helped to save lives of people trapped under collapsed buildings by quickly delivering the information about their locations to the rescuers. See the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huQpn0D0eK4 

During the first phase of a humanitarian situation, it is vital to get exact information of what has happened, what kinds of assistance people need and where are the people who need assistance. And here lies the beauty of Ushahidi. If people on the location of the emergency can send information to the aid agencies, and that information can be accessed by all, a lot of time is saved and help can reach people much faster.

It was used to gather information of what was happening during the Arab spring. It was used to gather reports globally about the swine flu, too. Ushahidi has been utilized in several elections, and it is going to be utilized e.g. during Liberian elections this year.

http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2011/09/14/sms-and-liberia-a-love-story/ 

Often people seem to think that with computers, internet and web communications, things just magically happen. However, that is certainly not the case. A lot of tapping the keyboard, time and thinking is needed there! Therefore, let us not forget the people behind Ushahidi. http://www.ushahidi.com/about-us

The non-profit organization is comprised of individuals with a wide span of experience ranging from human rights work to software development, with a strong team of volunteer developers primarily in Africa, and also in Europe, South America and the U.S.

This was the third technology-blog of my series (here are first and second).

Have a sunny autumn!

Ulla