So first off is a pretty general article that goes over some recent uses of crowdsourcing in Disaster Relief.
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/21/crowdsourcing-disaster-relief/
The first example is of http://oscargrantprotests.com/Ushahidi_Oakland/ which runs on the same platform as Ushahidi that we know from the readings. It essentially allowed Oakland residents to track and report outbreaks of violence after a particular contentious trial involved a race-related incident was completed.
The article also goes over Mission4636 which was also covered in the readings. What I found most interesting was how relief-efforts used crowdsourcing from the Haitian diaspora, and eventually earthquake ravaged Haitians themselves, in order to translate the Creole dialect texts into English.
Yet, while we might all can agree about the basic benefits of assembling such a wealth of local knowledge, I think the more interesting discussion lies in the article’s first example.
I also came across this article about a firm in England that’s allowing internet users to scour Closed-Circuit-TV from shops in order to catch would-be shoplifters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE59529720091006
While the benefit of the crowd is in providing as many eyes/ears/brains to any given situation, it’s flaw may be that the very same power could be incredibly invasive to personal privacy.
-Tim
