We WON!
Wow, we’re absolutely stunned, but we just won first place at the NetSquared Challenge! That means we have a check for $25,000 that we can spend on further development of the Ushahidi Engine (version 2).
(Photo by Schipulites)
More important than the money for us though is the validation that we got from the community at large for our mission. It’s the Kenyan and African community that got us here, and the NetSquared community that voted for us to win. A special thank you to NetSquared for making this possible.
To everyone who has supported us, a BIG thank you.
We’re not done with you yet though. We hope that you will continue to be a part of the greater Ushahidi community. Helping us develop the platform further. Helping us spread the word. Most of all, helping us implement it in crisis situations.
Stay connected with us:
Ushahidi Facebook group
Ushahidi Twitter
Want to help? Here are a few of the items that we’re looking for help on:
- Increase/ensure Geo-coding accuracy of incidents
- Build a verification process that can be based on technical information gathered in the the reporting of the information (geo-location of incident submission) or it can be based on a verification process where a verifier confirms the details of the incident.
- Heat mapping based on category type, location and number of incidents
- Plugin and extension capabilities in the core architecture
- SMS handling process (similar to FrontlineSMS or RapidSMS) including a call back/verification process
- Customization for NGO’s to track incidents, and to report on assistance provided to alleviate a situation
- Missing person’s index
- Volunteer feature on the mashup showing locations for volunteers, and also links to online donation sites active in a specific location
- ‘Lens View’ visualization of the data, for example a multimedia ‘lens’ to filter the content for the public or press.
[update: A couple people have asked for the presentation loop that we had running at our table. It is now up at Slideshare.net (I'll try to get an audio dub over it soon).]
{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
Congrats Erik, and all those involved. You deserve the win!
Congrats!!!!Great job and thank you for sharing the spirit !
awesome and congrats!
Hash…this is really great! My congrats to you and David. Looking for more from your collaboration in the near future.
Congrats! Just one more proof that you are the smartest man I know.
Great job! This is awesome!
[...] Original post by White African [...]
wooooo! way to go guys!
Congrats!
congratulations to the team. there’s great demand and many more ways the concept can be adopted
Well done my mate – super news and well-derserved.
Congrats!. Great job guys!
Absolutely great!
Congratulations to the team.
Well done Erik!! Love your work ..
Awesome job Erik! Congrats to the team.
Great news, Erik. Well done to everyone.
Congrats to everyone who worked on this. Great job!
[...] left) and the team at Ushahidi scooped the award for $25,000 at the NetSquared Challenge. Read more here. The Ushahidi engine was responsible for allowing grassroots reportage of post election violence in [...]
Congrats Erik! I can’t wait to see further developments for Ushahidi, and the Ushahidi engine. Using the web for good, well.
quite a feat there!a congratulatory message is in order!out of something bad some good came up!congrats to the team ,you helped in airing the cause of those displaced or adversely affected by the post election violence in Kenya
Wow, Erik. I just saw this. Congratulations. That’s really incredible. Thanks for making the world a better place.
Congratulations! Your success is like a badly needed shot of adrenaline to the body of African web enthusiasts. It is my hope others will feed off this great achievement. Hoooah!
Dude, I’m really stoked for you. It’s absolutely amazing what you guys are doing. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to see someone doing something that really helps folks. Good luck!
Awesome awesome news Erik. Very proud of you guys and can’t wait to see V2….!!!!
Congratulations to all of you!
Way to go guys! Great work! I am excited to see what’s next for you.
Yay! Our votes counted! Here’s to infinity and beyond!
A big thank you to everyone. And, wanted to make sure that everyone knows that it’s the whole team that deserves the congrats. David, Ory, Daudi and Juliana made this happen too.
Such an honor to have met you. It is a very well deserved win, guys!
Wow, Erik, that is so great. I’m so happy to see that the community at large is really behind this and believes in the vision behind rolling it out into something bigger. Can’t wait…
PS. re: NGO reporting & volunteer locations. Can you combine or have the two features interact so that an NGO can note in a location that they need volunteers and individuals can make notes or contact them somehow through the site!
Many interesting NetSquared projects out there and I am happy there’s a fund supporting these initiatives – although of course content often depends on its users.
So, congrats to you for scoring this success for the Ushahidi engine and kudos to NetSquared for providing this oppportunity (although the voting process was a bit too technical .-).
Such wonderful news – congratulations!
I’m so pleased that Netsquared is has gone international and is recognizing the tremendous potential of Ushahidi.
I look forward to seeing where Ushahidi goes and to contributing to it however I can. As you know, I am very eager to make sure to connect the Ushahidi Engine to the ongoing efforts of African Civil Society organizations in the Kabissa network.
Cheers,
Tobias
[...] Before we get into the festivities for the day, let me say a public congratulations to the founders of Ushahidi for winning Net Square and please stop by White African and express your love and support. [...]
Congrats
absolutely deserved, friend. So happy for you and endlessly impressed with your energy. As you know, I got your back with whatever you need
That rocks — and yes, absolutely deserved. Congratulations!
coupled with the launch of Google Maps for Kenya earlier today, this is great news for the mashup enthusiasts in the country.
Congratulations!
That’s amazing, Erik! Congratulations! I’m so proud of you and the Ushahidi team.
Fantastic. Can’t wait to see how this develops and plays out in the future.
Awesome news Erik! Well done to you and the team. Can’t wait to see the next installment.
Glad to see your good work being recognized !
Congratulations guys ! This is really great. Will be watching out for the next version.
Wonderful! Congratulations.
Well done guys!
Congratulations to you and the whole team.
A huge massive Congratulations to everyone involved in this project. Good luck and I look forward to more developments. This is a big one for Africa!
[...] Read more about the project and the prize at White African……….. [...]
Congrats to all of you. Hope to see more.
a great victory for all in this web stuff, may it to get the things it needs to succeed big time.
This is great news Erik. Knowing all the work y’all put into it, it is great to get the foot through the door with peer validation. The journey has just begun.
AWESOME Erik! What an excellent concept (google.org is planning on attempting something like this…but they plan on using web crawlers. I think your system might be better!).
Good luck with this and let me know if I can help in anyway…
[...] First, I want to thank everyone for their support leading to the success of Ushahidi at the Netsquared Challenge (More details here). [...]
Erik,
Just mentioned Ushahidi 2.0 in my environmental blog. As described in my post, I am really excited about the possibility of using Ushahidi as a tool to address the various aspects of the climate crisis. Thank you again!
http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/look-out-for-ushahidi/
Wow – congratulations Erik!!
Keep up the good work!
[...] Ushahidi team just won first place at the NetSquared Challenge. Eric, Ory, Juliana, David and the team are looking to further develop [...]
[...] Note Those of us on the Ushahidi team think on this stuff a lot. We’re not off trying to win mashup competitions and raise funding for further development because we think it’s a fun [...]
I remember when ushahidi was launched and the link [I think] posted on SkunkWorks, I checked it out and I thought “great mashup”. After the violence, I forgot about Ushahidi except during the few instances when I heard it mentioned again and again, albeit not often, like during BarCamp Nairobi, and now… I am really surprised at the progress you guys have made with such an idea.. loking back to where you’ve come from.
Congratulations guys. And your web design skills are outstanding, I must say.
[...] company is really beginning to scale up using the $25,000 they won in Net2 and the $200,000 grant from Humanity United as [...]
[...] company is really beginning to scale up using the $25,000 they won in Net2 and the $200,000 grant from Humanity United as [...]
[...] 2008 – Won the NetSquared mashup [...]
[...] scoring the first place at the Netsquared Challenge in May 2008, the team behind Ushahidi received the sum of US-$ 25,000 which enabled them to further develope [...]
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