Digital Democracy

Liz Hodes represented Digital Democracy today while testifying to the New York City Council Technology Committee on Open Data.
Introduction 029-2010, seeking to establish open data standards for all city agencies. Int. 029-2010 (formerly Intro. 991-2009) aims to increase government transparency and facilitate easier access to public data.
Beyond the ‘good government’ [...]

Violence is closely correlated to elections in the minds of many voters in young democracies. With elections and democracy correlated as well, there’s a dangerous chance that people will draw causation between violence and democracy.
We launched Ethiopia Vote Report with a local partner in Ethiopia knowing that the turnout would be low. The project was [...]

For the amazing work that has been done by the Ushahidi volunteers at SIPA, Tufts and elsewhere, our advisory board member Patrick Meier received an award this past weekend from Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global University Initiative. Well done Patrick!
Humble as he is, he dedicated the Clinton prize to all Ushahidi volunteers. Congrats again [...]

We just wrote about the power of the volunteers who have worked on Haiti. However volunteers are not only useful in times of crises. Digital Democracy’s core team is small, and we accomplish our work through partnerships and collaborations. Our volunteers and interns play a crucial role, and today we want to highlight the work [...]

The power of new technologies has made a lot of headlines recently, but behind these new tools is a deeper story – the power of the people who wield them. When it comes to open-source and particularly crowd-sourcing tools, those people are so often volunteers, and they are the true heroes [...]

On January 12th, a devastating earthquake shook Haiti. We had a team of people on the ground working with young Haitians. Thankfully they all survived, but what was life like before and what can it be like after? Today we’re proudly publishing our report from the research they were conducting, looking at the economic livelihoods of  young [...]

In early January 2010 we partnered with Tufts University’s Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) to conduct research and a photography training with young adults in Haiti. Researchers Chrissy Martin and Joshua Haynes, using the Project Einstein curriculum, worked with young adults ages 18-24 to explore – through the use of digital photography – how [...]

While in Northern Thailand, Mark and Emily meet with Digital Democracy’s partner The All Burma IT Students’ Union (ABITSU) to set up equipment and train ABITSU’s core staff, as well as members of other human rights groups working along the border, in the uses and features of Handheld Human Rights (HHR) for its initial launch. [...]

Breaking news: The Ushahidi SMS shortcode for Haiti is now up and running “… a sort of 911 for Haiti, based on SMS messages.” Report your location and emergency needs by sending a FREE text to 4636 on Digicel in Haiti.
Not on the island? There are many ways you can help. We have been blown [...]

This morning on New York’s WNYC Radio program “The Takeaway” Mark discussed technology in the developing world, emergency response, and specifically the Ushahidi install in Haiti in response to Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. Ushahidi is currently mapping crisis information from the ground including continuing threats to the area, locations of relief services, and information about survivors. [...]