ict4d and crowdsourcing

USE OF ICT4D IN PARTECIPATORY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

ICT4D and CROWDSOURCING

Anahi Ayala Iacucci - anahi@crisismappers.net

SIPA, Columbia UniversityJanuary 2011

Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4Dev) is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the fields of socioeconomic development, international development and human rights.

What is ICT4 D?

CROWDSOURCING: The act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee to a large group of people or community (a crowd), through an open call for action. Jeff Howe coined the term in June 2006 explaining that because technological advances have allowed for cheap consumer electronics, the gap between professionals and amateurs has been diminished.

What is CROWDSOURCING?

Information in development related projects is as important as food and water

Local communities know what is going on on the ground in real time *and* before professional responders

The ability to collect information is limited by the availability of sources of information: more sources, more information

Affected population get engaged in the process because they have an interest in the outcome

Crowdsourcing is relatively cheaper than the use of selected monitoring teams

Crowdsourcing allow for triangulation of information permitting verification and accountability

ADVANTAGES OF USING CROWDSOURCING

Unbounded crowd-sourcing: potentially all the people can report. This system allows for an unlimited number of information to come in, but lack in reliability of information.

Bounded crowd-sourcing: the reporting is done by a specific trusted group. This system allows for verified information to come in but is subjected to the limitation of the limited source.

Combined bounded and unbounded crowd-sourcing: information are collected by a specific group of people, but also by the crowd. Reliable sources and unreliable sources are combines. This system allows for:

I. increase in overall reportingII. Increase in the ability to validate reports from unknown sources

TYPOLOGIES OF CROWDSOURCING METHODS

COMPONENTS OF A CROWDSOURCING PROJECT

ISSUE

CROWD

TOOLS

ANALYSIS

ACTION

MONITORING & EVALUATION

Ankit Sharma from the London School of Economics (LSE) author of “Crowdsourcing Critical Success Factor Model”

CROWDFEEDING: the need for the crowd to share information with the crowd, ie, not top-down, or bottom-up, but information from the crowd, for the crowd; horizontal communication. The act of sharing information out to a large group of people or community, through an open sharing system. In the same time for the international community it means to share all available information with all stakeholders to allow better decisions to be taken and better actions to be implemented.

CROWDFEEDING

Local populations are the first responders on the ground so the more they know, the better they respond

Information increase resilience and is the base for preparedness

The Crowd is always there

Information sharing is the base for a coordinated meaningful response

Local population normally knows what to do and has local copying mechanisms

WHY CROWDFEEDING?

HOW TO USE CROWDSOURCING AND WHAT TO BE AWARE OF

CROWDSOURCING IS NOT PERFECT METHODOLOGY AND IT IS NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY

CROWDSOURCING AND CROWDFEEDING PROJECTS NEED TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION

IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO START WITH A SMALL PROJECT AND THEN SCALE UP THAN THE CONTRARY

NEVER CHOOSE A TOOL AND THEN DECIDE WHAT TO USE IT FOR

CROWDSOURCING CAN BE COMBINED WITH OTHER METHODOLOGIES

VERIFICATION

STRUCTURE

IMPACT

SUSTAINABILITY

RISK AND PROBLEMES OF CROWDSOURCING SYSTEMS

EXAMPLES OF ICT4D AND CROWDSOURCING PROJECT

Kenya: The TextHealth Project

U-Shahid Deployment

On the 2nd of Feb., in response to the continued blackout of the Internet in Egypt, Google and Twitter announced that they had set up phone numbers in Egypt for protesters to call into, that would then automatically be turned into voicemail messages, that would then be tweeted out on the account @Speak2Tweet. The immediate point of this system is not to help organize within Egypt, but hopefully to offer a way for Egyptians to literally speak to the rest of the world.

To further this aim, a number of volunteers outside of Egypt have decided to collaborate online to get those voicemails – which are mainly in Arabic – translated into English.

Egypt: Speak2Tweet

Zambia: climate change and resilience

Sudan: crisis mapping in repressive regimes

THANK YOU!

Anahi Ayala Iacuccianahi@crisismappers.net