In a December 2009 Global Voices article titled “ICT4D: Past mistakes, future wisdom,” Aparna Ray points out that many technology for development projects have “started with a bang and later died with a whimper.” According to a recent article in the Financial Times, such is the fate of a multimillion dollar World Bank plan to supply Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan, with computers and Internet access.

Read the full article »

We’re hoping to get a discussion going over at Global Voices that not only highlights the tremendous power of the Internet and other digital tools, but also explores the challenges and difficulties of using these tools for political development and civic engagement. I welcome your comments here and on the original post.

Read the full post at Global Voices Online »

I helped put out the liveblog for that summit, including the coverage of a session called When the World Listens, about the power of citizen media. Juliana Rotich, Program Director for Ushahidi, spoke during the session about the organization’s role in documenting the post-election violence in Kenya in late 2007 and early 2008.

At the time, the founders of Ushahidi were deciding what to do now that the Kenyan crisis had ebbed. Juliana said the next step would be to create a downloadable tool that could be used by anyone in the world.

Flash forward to this Saturday, when I worked with the rest of The Morningside Post team to host a conference on Policy Making in the Digital Age at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Patrick Meier, SIPA alum and Director of Crisis Mapping and Strategic Partnerships at Ushahidi, came and spoke about “Usha-Haiti,” the instance of Ushahidi developed to respond to the massive earthquake in Haiti in January.

As Patrick writes on the Ushahidi blog, at 7:00am — just a few hours before he spoke at SIPA — he heard that an earthquake of even higher magnitude had just hit Chile. Before leaving for New York, Patrick had already launched the Ushahidi team into action, cloning the earthquake-specific Haiti site and beginning to customize it for Chile.

While speaking at SIPA, Patrick described the Ushahidi Situation Room at Tufts, where student volunteers have been working around the clock to map reports from Haiti. By the time Patrick left Columbia’s campus on Saturday afternoon, a group of students who had attended the conference had already created a Facebook group and begun organizing potential volunteers through a Google group.

Yesterday, Patrick announced that SIPA would be taking the lead Ushahidi – Chile. New York now has its very own Ushahidi Situation Room, and I’m headed to campus in a few hours for a training so I can help out.

I’m trying to figure out how to describe this circle of events. “It’s a small world” doesn’t seem to apply, since it is, in fact, a very big world — from Budapest to Port-au-Prince to New York to Santiago covers a lot of area, and I haven’t even mentioned how some of the students heading the SIPA Sit Room are also putting together an instance of Ushahidi for Iraq.

I’m amazed at how much has happened in this field in two years. After the Global Voices Summit in 2008, I came home and raved to friends and coworkers about Ushahidi, and they looked at me and said, “Usha-what?” Now people are coming up to me in the hallways and asking me if I’ve heard of this new Chile crisis mapping project that’s happening at SIPA.

My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones in both Haiti and Chile, and I hope that what the SIPA Sit Room does over the coming days and weeks can help.

My favorite part of the interview? When Mikel explains how Map Kibera is translating online data into real-world action. A hint: “paper’s cool.”

The full case study went up today, along with a podcast of our chat. Check it out, and make sure to browse through the full list of projects around the world that use online tools to push for civic engagement and government transparency.

To: SIPA Student Groups

While on patrol this morning Post 15 PSO Patterson noticed three animals in front of Lewisohn Hall. Sgt. Galan responded and spotted one animal and identified it as a coyote. Sgt. Gillis contacted 911 and NYPD responded. NYPD spotted one of the animals and confirmed it was a coyote. The one coyote that was seen by NYPD and Sgt. Galan went behind the CEPSR build and it is believed exited the campus. An additional sighting by facilities was called in to base at approximately 1000 hours this morning. The undersigned responded and was unable to confirm the sighting. Patrol units were advised if they see any possible coyotes while on patrol to notify the base and maintain a visual but not to approach the animal.

For Your Information,
Sgt. Oakley

I would like to take this moment to point out that, while being raised in Kansas, I never once spotted a coyote.

I’ll be sequestered in the industrial-sized kitchen of my co-op, chopping vegetables to make stir fry for my 27 roommates, but if you’re free, check out the live webcast at 6pm EST to find out how governments are using the Internet, how far their online spying has gone, and what the legal implications of state sponsored network espionage might be.

Wandering children of Kansas away,

By mountain, by desert, or sea,

Feasting or fasting, at prayer or at play,

Whatever your fortunes may be,

Open the doors of your hearts to the breeze,

Prairie wind never are still,

Hark to the surf in the cottonwood trees,

The breakers that boom on the hill.

Open your soul’s windows–let in the sun–

The prairie sun gay with delight.

Where’er your wandering pathways have run,

Come home tonight.

Come home where Kansas lies under the stars

Twinkling back beauty and joy;

Come and let homely love poultice your scars,

Leave off your restless employ.

Come home where summer winds billow the wheat,

Where golden tides cover the sands;

Come–let your heart’s longings hasten your feet

And home love unfetter your hands.

Come where the tawny sunflower eagerly bends

A tawny frank face to the light,

So do our hearts seek the joy of old friends–

Come home tonight.

Me?  I’ve been holding off on writing my Global Voices anniversary post for the silliest of reasons:

On the left is me, a bit disheveled after ziplining through the Atitlán Nature Reserve near Panajachel, Guatemala. On the right is Jeremy Clarke, who, in addition to being rather fetching in an orange helmet, happens to be both the first person in years to convince me to publicize my Facebook relationship status and the code and design wizard for Global Voices. (Bonus: the neon green thing in Jer’s right hand is GV Ferret, Global Voices’ unofficial mascot.)

When I posted about WordCamp NYC without mentioning Jer (he spoke at the event), I was promptly called on it by David Sasaki, who happens to be another member of the GV community. It feels wrong for me to slather love on Global Voices (which I’ll do shortly, no worries) without also mentioning Jer.

So: I mentioned him.

The thing is, Jer’s not the only person at Global Voices with whom I’m fallen totally, head over heels in love. GV is full of people who routinely challenge my perceptions of the world, remind me that the rest of the world is both indescribably different and infinitely more the same than I could ever imagine, bring awesome things to my attention and overwhelm me with their creativity and mad dance skills.

I’ve been a part of this beautiful community since May 2007. Over the last two and a half years I’ve had the privilege to meet and become friends with some of the most dedicated citizen journalists in the world. I think Jill puts it well:

These people, once strangers on the Internet, have become some of my closest friends. They are colleagues, people I trust, people I go to with questions, for news.

I’ve also been consistently awed by the scope and power of citizen media, from coverage of Obama’s election to the Beijing Olympics to the death of Michael Jackson.

For Hoa Quach, knowing GV-ers are out there, covering the world’s underreported stories, allows her to breathe easier. For Thiana Bondo, GV gathers the whole word together. For Lina Ben Mhenni, GV is a family and a school.

If GV has been anything for you in the past five years — birthday buddy, matchmaker, friend, news, family, school — please consider showing your support.