One of the most exciting things about working at CrowdFlower is the ongoing discovery of the wide range of crowdsourcing applications. While our core focus is enterprise solutions, we’re also involved in a number of social innovation projects. At recent meetups and in recent blog posts, we’ve described CrowdFlower implementations that help create unprecedented social impact. Many of these projects involve processing data in support of crisis relief or public health research.[1] What we continue to see over time is that there are truly inspirational ripple effects emerging from these efforts.
In the fall of 2011, the Nexus for ICTs, Climate Change and Development (NICCD) project at the University of Manchester released a series of case studies on innovative uses of technology for development. Pakreport was featured as a tool for reporting among flood-affected communities; but it was also highlighted for its contributions to climate change awareness and natural disaster monitoring in a country at very high risk.
“Crowdsourcing was critical to the success of this disaster response system,” the report says. “It was integral to the data input model, which would otherwise have relied on much more limited inputs from individual relief agency workers.”
As a result of our involvement with Pakreport, our partners in Pakistan signed up to be a CrowdFlower contributor channel. Since April 2011, we have sent 313,030 microtasks to a pool of 500 Pakistani contributors from underserved communities. Our partners in Pakistan also recently launched DoWeVote, a map-based effort to improve future civic engagement by visualizing 2008 voter turnout data from across Pakistan. Pakreport continues to be an engine for social change, and its core structure is relatively simple to replicate in any setting or modify for similar projects.
After the 2011 PopTech conference, our partners at Ushahidi reached out regarding a project to collect reports from the ground in Somalia. In conjunction with Al Jazeera, Souktel, and the African Diaspora Institute, the Somalia Speaks project “seeks to echo the voices of ordinary Somalis in Somalia so they can be heard in the international media.” Text messages from the ground are collected, translated, categorized and mapped. The translated messages and maps are shared on Al Jazeera. It is a very powerful experience to read the words of a refugee or survivor on one of the largest news websites in the world; examples of mainstream media including the voices of these populations are few and far between.
Beyond all the do-gooder self-congratulation, however, it is important to note that these efforts create new challenges and move our colleagues and us into new ethical territory. While CrowdFlower maintains rigorous confidentiality and security measures as part of our standard enterprise engagements, the recent collaborations described here are more creative, collaborative and high-profile. As more data flows through open source software and multistep workflows involving collaboration among multiple organizations, critical questions arise as to the confidentiality of the data involved as it is shared by wider audiences. For example, how can you reconcile the flow of sensitive or personal information with the use of software that emphasizes transparency above all else? How can we be certain that, particularly in conflict situations, these workflows do not create a risk of exposure or vulnerability for the people submitting reports from the ground? Who defines the standards for privacy as you amplify voices from vulnerable groups? A key lesson learned through these projects is that confidentiality is essential when dealing with personal information, but that it can be a challenge to protect confidentiality at every step of these multistep workflows. Finally, as we see more demand for these types of crowdsourcing projects, how can we reduce the start up time and the learning curve for organizations who wish to replicate these projects?
These are small but important achievements. The examples from 2010 directly inspired the examples we’ve seen in 2011. The successful implementation of these projects and the evolution of the discourse surrounding these disruptive tools are the result of substantial collaborative efforts, often by teams comprised entirely of volunteers located around the world. We feel incredibly privileged to work with the clients, partners, researchers, and visionaries who are redefining the ways that technology benefits society. To all of our partners and supporters, thank you for helping us discover new ways in which data can change the world. We can’t wait to see what 2012 will bring.
The entire team at CrowdFlower wishes you a joyful and peaceful 2012.
[1] In early 2010, we were part of the Mission 4636 collaboration to translate, categorize, and map SMS messages sent from survivors of the first earthquakes in Haiti. We repurposed the Mission 4636 workflow for another deployment of an Ushahidi instance with the Pakreport group in the wake of heavy flooding in Pakistan in the summer of 2010.
Faisal Chohan
02/06/12
Thanks for the blog post. It is always pleasure to work with people and company like Crowdflower.