verification memo
Heather Ford
As Ushahidi ethnographer, my job is to do on-the-ground research on users’ experience with our technology in particular contexts. Something that we’ve been thinking about a great deal as we develop SwiftRiver is the process of verification, the ways in which technology and society work together to create useful, trustworthy and actionable information, as well as where the technology in particular contexts might be failing.
With over 20,000 installations of Ushahidi and Crowdmap since January, 2009, Ushahidi has been used in a number of different contexts – from earthquake support in Haiti, to reports of sexism in Egypt, to election monitoring in the Sudan. In each of these cases, a map is publicized and individuals are encouraged to send reports to it. The process of verifying information reported by the crowd has taken on a variety of different forms depending on the needs and affordances of the environment and the community supporting it.
The memo I just published on scribd introduces the concept of verification, how it has evolved at Ushahidi and in sample deployments, alternative ways of thinking about verification and some suggestions for further research. Its goal is to inform developers and designers as they develop the next generation of Ushahidi and SwiftRiver software to meet the needs of our users rather than prescribing what should be done.
Ushahidi support for verification has until now been limited to a fairly simple backend categorisation system by which administrators tag reports as “verified” or “unverified”. But this is proving unmanageable for large quantities of data and may not be the most effective way of portraying the nuanced levels of verification that can practically be achieved with crowdsourced data.
What research needs to be done to test verification alternatives so that Ushahidi and Crowdmap deployers are provided with due diligence tools that can advance trust in their deployments? Can we do this in a way that doesn’t add any new barriers to entry to those who need to have their voice heard on Ushahidi? How can we ensure that this solution is as close as possible to the needs, incentive systems and motivations of deployers and users? What is the next step for Ushahidi verification?
Amanda
Thanks for making this memo available! I'm planning my Master's
thesis research around verification of social media data in
emergencies, and I plan to do some observation studies with volunteer
groups and emergency management organizations. I'd love to talk to
anyone who's interested in this topic, and I'm of course looking for
more people to observe/interview!
Cheers,
Amanda Pype
MSc Student, Simon Fraser University
School of Interactive Arts + Technology
http://interaction-science.iat.sfu.ca/
On Nov 18, 9:44 am, Heather Ford <hf...@ushahidi.com> wrote:
> I recently wrote up a short introductory memo on Ushahidi verification and was wondering what others think or whether anyone else is doing research into this area. The intro from the blog is below and the report is athttp://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/72271441?access_key=key-24zjckz8ii2z....
>
> I basically wrote this up after interviewing a number of deployment partners so it really is their voices I'm trying to reflect here.
>
> I look forward to any questions or comments!
>
> best,
> Heather.
>
> What is the next step for Ushahidi verification?
> As Ushahidi ethnographer, my job is to do on-the-ground research on users’ experience with our technology in particular contexts. Something that we’ve been thinking about a great deal as we develop SwiftRiver is the process of verification, the ways in which technology and society work together to create useful, trustworthy and actionable information, as well as where the technology in particular contexts might be failing.
>
> With over 20,000 installations of Ushahidi and Crowdmap since January, 2009, Ushahidi has been used in a number of different contexts – from earthquake support in Haiti, to reports of sexism in Egypt, to election monitoring in the Sudan. In each of these cases, a map is publicized and individuals are encouraged to send reports to it. The process of verifying information reported by the crowd has taken on a variety of different forms depending on the needs and affordances of the environment and the community supporting it.
>
> The memo I just published on scribd introduces the concept of verification, how it has evolved at Ushahidi and in sample deployments, alternative ways of thinking about verification and some suggestions for further research. Its goal is to inform developers and designers as they develop the next generation of Ushahidi and SwiftRiver software to meet the needs of our users rather than prescribing what should be done.
>
> Ushahidi support for verification has until now been limited to a fairly simple backend categorisation system by which administrators tag reports as “verified” or “unverified”. But this is proving unmanageable for large quantities of data and may not be the most effective way of portraying the nuanced levels of verification that can practically be achieved with crowdsourced data.
>
> What research needs to be done to test verification alternatives so that Ushahidi and Crowdmap deployers are provided with due diligence tools that can advance trust in their deployments? Can we do this in a way that doesn’t add any new barriers to entry to those who need to have their voice heard on Ushahidi? How can we ensure that this solution is as close as possible to the needs, incentive systems and motivations of deployers and users? What is the next step for Ushahidi verification?
>
> Heather Ford
> Ethnographer: Ushahidi / SwiftRiverhttp://ushahidi.com|http://swiftly.org
> @hfordsa on Twitterhttp://hblog.org
Matteo Beltramin
We have to keep in touch
cheers
On 22 Nov, 23:50, Amanda <amandap...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Heather,
>
> Thanks for making this memo available! I'm planning my Master's
> thesis research around verification of social media data in
> emergencies, and I plan to do some observation studies with volunteer
> groups and emergency management organizations. I'd love to talk to
> anyone who's interested in this topic, and I'm of course looking for
> more people to observe/interview!
>
> Cheers,
> Amanda Pype
> MSc Student, Simon Fraser University
> School of Interactive Arts + Technologyhttp://interaction-science.iat.sfu.ca/