Comments on: I’m nearly finished with crowdsourcing…

By: Paul Currion

Paul Currion — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:03:12 +0000

Paige, glad you came back on that link. I’m interested to know – why exactly do you believe that opening up your information and tools to the public will be such a positive move? As you might have guessed, I’m not convinced that it is in fact the right move in every environment – and of course once you’ve gone open, it’s almost impossible to go back, which I think is a big consideration.

p.s. “Non-insane” is a big compliment in these parts. You’d be surprised how much insane is floating around out there, or maybe you wouldn’t.

By: Paige

Paige — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:48:16 +0000

Paul – Thanks, at least we’re “non-insane”… best compliment I’ve had all week But seriously, the purpose of the post was not to lay out a specific process for implementing crowdsourcing – instead I wanted to get folks in the National Security and Military space to think about it. I come from this world and we’re often very “closed” – with our information, processes and more. Sometimes that’s very important, but I am also at the point where I believe opening up our information and tools to the public will bring us new strength and greater capabilities. If you or your readers have specific ideas I’d love to hear them. I’ll be writing about crowdsourcing and other concepts in the future.

All the best, and thanks for taking the time to visit.

By: Paul Currion

Paul Currion — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:34:58 +0000

Mikel – that link seems to have disappeared – do you have an alternative site?

I sense conspiracy.

By: Paul Currion

Paul Currion — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:34:20 +0000

Erik, thanks for the response. I hope it’s clear that I do not think that crowdsourcing has no utility, and I hope it’s equally clear that I think that there is a role for Ushahidi. What worries me is that making claims about these projects that they simply can’t meet is likely to be counter-productive in the long run, both for the individual projects and the wider approaches they represent. For example, I enjoyed the Swift River presentation, but came away feeling that it was based on some assumptions about people’s behaviour and expertise in emergencies that I don’t accurately reflect real-world experience.

By: Erik

Erik — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:55:16 +0000

Hey Paul, I’ve been trying to keep up with all of the (good) commentary that you have stirred up within the field around the use of crowdsourcing in times of emergency, but have yet to have the time to write a post on it, so a comment here will have to suffice. I also appreciate you taking a measured approach to the topic.

If it’s any consolation, we at Ushahidi also don’t claim to have the final answer on crowdsourcing. In fact, though we remain optimistic, we also try to retain a dose of skepticism in our platform and what we’re building. We do, however, recognize that times are changing, information flows no matter whether someone wants it to or not, what we’re trying to do is figure out the best way to handle this evolution.

We already know that Ushahidi, and the initiatives like “Swift River” coming out of it, won’t work in every instance. This is why we build platforms though, so that those who actually implement can figure out what works and customize it to their needs. As we get feedback, we iterate and guide the community who is building the platform to build the features that work/are needed.

In a lot of ways I think we’re all stumbling through these changing ways of handling new real-time information flows and accessibility. I’m sure someone will come along in 2 years scoffing at our missteps and wondering what the hell any of us were thinking… Such is the way of the web.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to take yours, Patrick’s, Sanjana’s and others thoughts to heart. We deeply appreciate the thoughts and feedback that each of you take the time to write out on your blogs.

By: Mikel

Mikel — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:34:05 +0000

Crowdsourcing security, they’ve been reading comics .. The Spiders, great alternate reality comic history of Aghanistan war .. http://web.archive.org/web/20070602151415/www.e-sheep.com/spiders/02/