Crowdsourcing and rumour: The double-edged sword of ICTs in conflict situations
Transcript of Crowdsourcing and rumour: The double-edged sword of ICTs in conflict situations
Guy Collender, Senior Communications Officer,London International Development Centre
Crowdsourcing and rumour: The double-edged sword of ICTs in conflict situations
ICT: Africa’s Revolutionary Tools for the 21st Century? Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, 5 May 2010
Overview
• ICT experiment: audience participation required!• Changing ICT landscape• Birth and spread of crowdsourcing• Assessment of crowdsourcing• Mobile phones: Positive and negative implications• Conclusion: Complexity and convergence
ICT experiment
2. Online news
4. Text message3. Facebook/Twitter
1. Radio/TV
Changing ICT landscape
• Traditional media (TV/radio): One-to-many
• Social networking (Twitter, Ushahidi.com): Many-to-many
Crowdsourcing: Birth of Ushahidi.com
• Context: Violent aftermath of disputed Kenyan election 2007 o 1,000 killed and 600,000 displaced in six weeks
• Kenyan Pundit blog posting and response• Real-time, map-based view of incidents: riots, deaths,
rapes • Submission via email/texts, verification with NGOs
15 houses have been burnt in Molo/ Kuresoi area
Ushahidi
Assessement of Ushahidi in Kenya
• Ushahidi's strengths compared with mainstream media and cititzen journalism (Meier 2008).
• Democratising information (Hersman 2008)
• "Truth is not guaranteed - but the idea behind crowdsourcing is that with enough volume, a 'truth' emerges that diminishes any false reports." Ory Okolloh, Ushahidi
• Lack of local awareness: "We were not able to reach a critical mass of people in the country." Juliana Rotich, Ushahidi
• Pioneering platform: Replicated internationally
Beyond Kenya: Growth of Ushahidi platform
2008: Xenophobic attacks in South Africa; Violence in DRC2009: War on Gaza; Indian election; Swine flu2010: Sudanese elections
Pros and cons of crowdsourcing
• + Aggregates information to create comprehensive picture
• + Real-time on-the-ground coverage• + Circumvents censorship • + Global reach• - Unfiltered information: Misleading/propaganda• - Inequalities of access (rich/poor, local/global) • +/- Speed• +/- Anonymity • Importance of context
Future of crowdsourcing
• Gathering datao Validating and filtering crowdsourced information
(open source software platform SwiftRiver) o Variations: Open crowdsourcing, ‘bounded’
crowdsourcing (War on Gaza) • Disseminating data
o Subscription to specific location alerts (‘crowdfeeding')
• Reaction by the authoritieso Screening of content increasingly likely
Mobile phones: Spreading rumours• Text messages fanned the flames in
post-election Kenya (Osborn 2008), "weapon of war" (Bangre 2008)
• Rumours included:o Alert! Mungiki r hitting back n
slaughtering our pple ... Mungiki terror gang plan massacre by night raids
• Rumours were frequently perceived as truths in Kibera
• Government or media accounts were dismissed as propaganda
Mobile phones: Lifelines
• Irish charity Concern used M-PESA to transfer nearly three million Kenyan shillings to affected communities after Kenyan election
• Mobile phones enhance personal security in conflict/post-conflict settings
• Télécoms Sans Frontières: Communication hubs serve NGOs/affected communities during crises
• Interaction with other ICTs: Integral to Ushahidi.com etc
Complexity and convergence• Crowdsourcing/mobiles
supplement existing media
• Increasing convergence/ interaction between ICTs
• Importance of emotional/social responses (ICT experiment)
• Revolutionary tools = catalyst for revolutionary impact (yet to be realised)
• Perpetual innovation: mobile internet, MXIT
Resources and feedback
Presentation: www.slideshare.net/LIDC Email: [email protected] Twitter: @lidc_ukWebsite: www.lidc.org.uk
Thank you
Guy Collender, Senior Communications Officer,London International Development Centre
Crowdsourcing and rumour: The double-edged sword of ICTs in conflict situations
ICT: Africa’s Revolutionary Tools for the 21st Century? Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, 5 May 2010
Overview
• ICT experiment: audience participation required!• Changing ICT landscape• Birth and spread of crowdsourcing• Assessment of crowdsourcing• Mobile phones: Positive and negative implications• Conclusion: Complexity and convergence
ICT experiment
2. Online news
4. Text message3. Facebook/Twitter
1. Radio/TV
Changing ICT landscape
• Traditional media (TV/radio): One-to-many
• Social networking (Twitter, Ushahidi.com): Many-to-many
Crowdsourcing: Birth of Ushahidi.com
• Context: Violent aftermath of disputed Kenyan election 2007 o 1,000 killed and 600,000 displaced in six weeks
• Kenyan Pundit blog posting and response• Real-time, map-based view of incidents: riots, deaths,
rapes • Submission via email/texts, verification with NGOs
15 houses have been burnt in Molo/ Kuresoi area
Ushahidi
Assessement of Ushahidi in Kenya
• Ushahidi's strengths compared with mainstream media and cititzen journalism (Meier 2008).
• Democratising information (Hersman 2008)
• "Truth is not guaranteed - but the idea behind crowdsourcing is that with enough volume, a 'truth' emerges that diminishes any false reports." Ory Okolloh, Ushahidi
• Lack of local awareness: "We were not able to reach a critical mass of people in the country." Juliana Rotich, Ushahidi
• Pioneering platform: Replicated internationally
Beyond Kenya: Growth of Ushahidi platform
2008: Xenophobic attacks in South Africa; Violence in DRC2009: War on Gaza; Indian election; Swine flu2010: Sudanese elections
Pros and cons of crowdsourcing
• + Aggregates information to create comprehensive picture
• + Real-time on-the-ground coverage• + Circumvents censorship • + Global reach• - Unfiltered information: Misleading/propaganda• - Inequalities of access (rich/poor, local/global) • +/- Speed• +/- Anonymity • Importance of context
Future of crowdsourcing
• Gathering datao Validating and filtering crowdsourced information
(open source software platform SwiftRiver) o Variations: Open crowdsourcing, ‘bounded’
crowdsourcing (War on Gaza) • Disseminating data
o Subscription to specific location alerts (‘crowdfeeding')
• Reaction by the authoritieso Screening of content increasingly likely
Mobile phones: Spreading rumours• Text messages fanned the flames in
post-election Kenya (Osborn 2008), "weapon of war" (Bangre 2008)
• Rumours included:o Alert! Mungiki r hitting back n
slaughtering our pple ... Mungiki terror gang plan massacre by night raids
• Rumours were frequently perceived as truths in Kibera
• Government or media accounts were dismissed as propaganda
Mobile phones: Lifelines
• Irish charity Concern used M-PESA to transfer nearly three million Kenyan shillings to affected communities after Kenyan election
• Mobile phones enhance personal security in conflict/post-conflict settings
• Télécoms Sans Frontières: Communication hubs serve NGOs/affected communities during crises
• Interaction with other ICTs: Integral to Ushahidi.com etc
Complexity and convergence• Crowdsourcing/mobiles
supplement existing media
• Increasing convergence/ interaction between ICTs
• Importance of emotional/social responses (ICT experiment)
• Revolutionary tools = catalyst for revolutionary impact (yet to be realised)
• Perpetual innovation: mobile internet, MXIT
Resources and feedback
Presentation: www.slideshare.net/LIDC Email: [email protected] Twitter: @lidc_ukWebsite: www.lidc.org.uk
Thank you