Nieman Foundation at Harvard
Ushahidi — the crowdsourced mapping technology — has grown from one project in Kenya to more than 100 countries around the world. Today, they hosted a Google Hangout with three organizations utilizing Ushahidi’s technology to track and document the crisis in Syria — Women Under Siege, Syria Tracker, and Syria Deeply.
Lauren Wolfe is the director of the Women Under Siege project, which has been tracking the use of sexualized violence as a tactic in Syria. Speaking to the presenter from Syria Tracker about keeping data sources confidential and safety, she said:
I think both our projects are an interesting mix of human rights research and journalism. I know you guys aren’t journalists, but I am. I think that, because both projects are so public facing, the media does interface with each one a lot — reporting on our data and methods. And at our project, I do a lot of reporting on our work. So it’s an interesting mix of what you make public and what you don’t. The safety of the people reporting and your team members is the number one issue, but there is this funny back and forth issue about what to share and what not.
Here’s the recording of their conversation — check out Twitter and the Hangouts page for more conversation on the topic.
