use collective intelligence
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THIS TACTIC IS GOOD FOR CREATING OR GATHERING INFORMATION, REPORTING ON PUBLIC EVENTS SUCH AS ELECTIONS OR PROTESTS AND RESPONDING TO DISASTERS OR OUTBREAKS
EXAMPLES FROM THE VIDEO
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By citizens of Mumbai Using text messages and mobile phone photos, local people self-organised to find and share information that wasn’t available in the media during the Mumbai terrorist attacks. This spontaneous community reporting identified injuries and deaths and supported coordinated donations of blood and other relief efforts.
TOOLS USED: Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, blogging, mobile phones.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE: |
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By Foko and the Citizens of Madagascar Citizens of Madagascar sent SMS messages to Foko about reports of violence by the military and police during demonstrations against a takeover of the government. These reports were published on an online map, and a team of local bloggers checked the messages for accuracy. As traditional media was compromised at the time, Foko’s website alerted citizens to trouble spots and gave a richer picture of the crisis than traditional reporting while ensuring an independent information source existed to report on events.
TOOLS USED: IntelliSMS, FrontlineSMS, Ushahidi, Twitter, mobile phones, blogging.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE: |
use collective intelligence
download this tactic card (pdf 540kb)
Plan your action
Do it yourselfAsk
Different ways you can do this
FEATURED TOOL Live reporting and managing your contacts FrontlineSMS allows large numbers of people to communicate without an internet connection. Advocates can use FrontlineSMS to send messages from their laptops over mobile phone networks, which are received as text messages. It can be used for both one-way and two-way communication. Advocates have used FrontlineSMS for human rights monitoring, organising protests, conducting public surveys, and emergency alerts. An active online community provides various support to first-time users. |
TIPS KEN BANKS OF FRONTLINESMS, ON COLLABORATION: "Using technologies, you can combine the collective voice of people. You can aggregate information from live reporting with news coming in from the mainstream. Bringing that all together you get a much bigger picture of what is happening on the ground."
DINA MEHTA, TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHER, ON THE POWER OF COMMUNITY: "We have communities that we have developed over time in several spaces on the web – on blogs, Facebook, Twitter. What these tools allow you to do is network with all of your online communities, to operate as hubs of connected people. So when something happens and you need to respond, it's about the spontaneous mobilisation of a community that already exists online, through the multiple nodes and hubs that you have created as you leave your footprints on the web."
SAMI GHARBIA, OF GLOBAL VOICES, ON LIVE REPORTING ARRESTS: "Activists are using Twitter to alert their fellow bloggers and activists about the case of arrests of bloggers. We've seen the case of a US journalist who was witnessing a demonstration in Mahala city in Egypt during the 6th April strike. When he was arrested he just sent a message to Twitter with the text "arrested" and that alerted his friends, his relatives, and even the US embassy to intervene and get him released from prison." |
use collective intelligence
download this tactic card (pdf 540kb)
Case Study
TITLE: WHO: WHERE: WEBSITE: |
Unsung Peace Heroes Butterfly Works and Media Focus on Africa Foundation Kenya Peace Heroes website |
DESCRIPTION
Unsung Peace Heroes honoured those who worked for peace after post-election violence in Kenya in December 2007. Kenyans could nominate people and organisations by text message and email, and with paper forms at peace events. The groups Butterfly Works and Media Focus on Africa collected these nominations. Working with a local design school, Nairobits, nominations were translated, verifi ed and added to a map, using the community reporting tool, Ushahidi. In addition to online outreach, Peace Heroes placed newspaper, radio, and television advertisements, and Nairobits students distributed paper handouts. In 2009 the eight winning Peace Heroes were recognised on national television, and they used their prize money to support their communities and peace projects. One winner, Joel, hid 18 people for two weeks in his compound to protect them from violence. He says, "I received congratulations through telephone and text messages from diverse communities from far and near. As a family, we decided to throw a party and invite these people, those from my community, a local councillor, and the administration to celebrate. The need to form a peace initiative emerged during the party, and they mandated me to register a peace group and recruit members to address the violence." Marten Schoonman of Media Focus on Africa says, "The aim was to spread a message of hope and focus on the good in this time of trouble. The conflicts are far from solved, even today. Like the butterfly effect, a relatively small initiative like this has potential spin-off effects and unexpected benefits."
TOOLS USED: | Ushahidi, mobile phones, Facebook, website. |
REACH: | National. Over 500 nominations in one month, with peaks of 80 per day after Kenyan press coverage. |
RESOURCES: | Local staff, volunteers and partner organisations to publicise the campaign and design the Facebook page. Local balanced expert jury. |
TIME: | One month to collect nominations; three months later, awards and recognition given to Peace Heroes at ceremony. |
LEVEL Of DIFFICULTY: 3 out of 5
COST: USD$18,000 (SMS system was USD$3000; remainder for publicity and awards for participants).
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