astu400f course website

So how do you keep a Kenyan govt accountable? By giving them the vote…or was it internet accountability? The cool thing about www.mzalendo.com is that it’s a watch-dog for the Kenyan parliament that could soon balloon into a site where Kenyans (and non-K’s alike) can keep a constant grapple of their members of parliament. Any good? Well, if we were able to get the live feed that say, Guatereporta, have, any time that an MP has a rally or any time that an MP sleeps in parliament and wastes mr. & mrs. taxpayer’s money (both of which are far more common than ever!) well, a vote for them next time could be affected based off of a site like this!!!! (do I hear ‘pilot program’ for Latin America???)

Who’s to know if it will in fact fly: http://mzalendo.com/Members.ListAll.php

Hey everyone,

This is what I was planning on showing you guys during lecture today.

Jré

Crowdsourcing Security

Researchers at Purdue University are working with the state of Indiana to develop a system that would use a network of cell phones to detect and track radiation to help prevent terrorist attacks with radiological “dirty bombs” and nuclear weapons.

Such a system could blanket the nation with millions of cell phones equipped with radiation sensors able to detect even light residues of radioactive material. Because cell phones already contain global positioning locators, the network of phones would serve as a tracking system, said physics professor Ephraim Fischbach.

That’s the way to do it: you co-opt people by making them part of society’s tracking system, rather than regarding everyone as a potential terrorist who needs to be tracked. (Via Slashdot.)

So truth be told, I can’t find the actual app that NowPublic labs developed but I found a slew of articles on the software. I haven’t worked there in quite a while so I am pleading ignorance to the current status but check out this article for more information.

http://www.taylorowen.com/Articles/2003_Paradox.pdf

http://www.humansecurityindex.org/?page_id=147

– Andrei

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

I found this article online about technology being developed to be implemented in cellphones in order to detect potentially dangerous chemicals in the air. Although it may seem to only stimulate a society that is fearful of terrorist attacks, I can see it’s practical uses. It’s detection system works to alert the person within the vicinity of the chemical and the proper authorities in the area. I can see this technology being useful to ‘map out’ the area where the chemical is located to vacate other people in the area.

I chose Wikileaks.org as my submission for this week. It is a bit different from the other examples of crowd-sourcing in the readings and on the course blog, but absolutely pertinent. It relies on insiders all over the world, risking prison or sometimes their life, to leak documents they believe the global community needs to know about. It terms of human security and a “life worth living,” this sometimes means bringing information to light that cause us to question the decisions of our own leaders and put pressure on others.

How secure is a life in complete naivety? And as Wikileaks founder Julian Assange puts it, “Every organization rests upon a mountain of secrets… it’s time to open the archives.”

-Sam

My article for the week:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/crowdsourcing_million_heads.php

Advantages of crowdsourcing – includes some cool case studies, and info for people who don’t know much about it. Enjoy 🙂

– Andrei