Comments on: Asynchronous Info, Disjointed Data and Crisis Reporting http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting Ideas, Development, Data and Design Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:45:29 +0000 hourly 1 By: Gerald Businge http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-2002 Gerald Businge Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:24:27 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-2002 Great analysis Jon and some interesting post replied. For me i think the first step is to 'evangelise' the importance of these new tech platforms to both journalists, and key audience members like business people, the civil society, corporates etc. If we dont learn to use twitter, or video uploading platforms like youtube or facebook during 'normal times', we can not expect it to be perfected during times of crisis. Great analysis Jon and some interesting post replied. For me i think the first step is to 'evangelise' the importance of these new tech platforms to both journalists, and key audience members like business people, the civil society, corporates etc. If we dont learn to use twitter, or video uploading platforms like youtube or facebook during 'normal times', we can not expect it to be perfected during times of crisis.

]]> By: ben http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1733 ben Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:21:31 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1733 great report. its bringing these diffierent sources of information together and sorting through their relevance (as swift river is working to do) that starts to make things interesting. also bringing information access back to those who are reporting remains a challenge. how to fully close the reporting loop with tools like frontline....i think part of the issue here is that you actually need some infrastructure in place before a network can be identified and then brought together will tools like bulk sms. in a time of crisis there is no time meaning information only flows to those who have access to tools like twitter....which we know is not the case for most people in a crisis situation. it will be interesting to see how new apps will emerge in these areas and in the efforts to further collect and disseminate the info that matters.... great report. its bringing these diffierent sources of information together and sorting through their relevance (as swift river is working to do) that starts to make things interesting. also bringing information access back to those who are reporting remains a challenge. how to fully close the reporting loop with tools like frontline….i think part of the issue here is that you actually need some infrastructure in place before a network can be identified and then brought together will tools like bulk sms. in a time of crisis there is no time meaning information only flows to those who have access to tools like twitter….which we know is not the case for most people in a crisis situation. it will be interesting to see how new apps will emerge in these areas and in the efforts to further collect and disseminate the info that matters….

]]> By: King http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1707 King Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:52:09 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1707 Small error. It's ugandawitness.net , not .com Small error. It's ugandawitness.net , not .com

]]> By: King http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1706 King Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:16:01 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1706 Jon, this is a brilliant analysis of crisis reporting. Despite being one of the people on the ground, I was shocked early Sunday when someone retweeted something about riots breaking out again. I had to make a couple of frantic calls before I realised it was a time error. While reading the article, I couldn't help but remember the Google Wave video that demonstrated the power of collaboration across a time-stream. With collaborators (reporters) chipping in and out of the data-stream. I believe a Wave -like variant of a newstream service could be the answer, to an extent. Of course it would need to be highly visual, kinda like wading through a datastream. The data could be grouped in verification layers or zones from "rumour" to "verified", especially for those that call for journalistic integrity. Massive video/audio/text aggregation for "related" material could be created for reference and background information. Okay, I'm going in visual overdrive here. Maybe I should do a quick photoshop mockup and send it through later today. Jon, this is a brilliant analysis of crisis reporting. Despite being one of the people on the ground, I was shocked early Sunday when someone retweeted something about riots breaking out again. I had to make a couple of frantic calls before I realised it was a time error.

While reading the article, I couldn't help but remember the Google Wave video that demonstrated the power of collaboration across a time-stream. With collaborators (reporters) chipping in and out of the data-stream. I believe a Wave -like variant of a newstream service could be the answer, to an extent.

Of course it would need to be highly visual, kinda like wading through a datastream. The data could be grouped in verification layers or zones from "rumour" to "verified", especially for those that call for journalistic integrity. Massive video/audio/text aggregation for "related" material could be created for reference and background information.

Okay, I'm going in visual overdrive here. Maybe I should do a quick photoshop mockup and send it through later today.

]]> By: Jeff Benson http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1704 Jeff Benson Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:38:32 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1704 The misinformation bit is troubling, but I look at it like this: If a newspaper prints an error, it's at least a day before the correction can be made. When it is made, it's placed in a tiny box that nobody ever looks at, so the error goes unnoticed and the legend becomes truth. With Twitter, however, misinformation can be--and often is--instantly spotted and clarified by another person on Twitter, who then corrects it using the exact same forum through which the misinformation was reported. Take the Jeff Goldblum death myth which was circulating a few months back. Yes, Goldblum's alleged death spread across Twitter in no time, but the corrections were just as fast, accompanied by video proof of Goldblum appearing on The Colbert Report. The misinformation bit is troubling, but I look at it like this: If a newspaper prints an error, it's at least a day before the correction can be made. When it is made, it's placed in a tiny box that nobody ever looks at, so the error goes unnoticed and the legend becomes truth.

With Twitter, however, misinformation can be–and often is–instantly spotted and clarified by another person on Twitter, who then corrects it using the exact same forum through which the misinformation was reported. Take the Jeff Goldblum death myth which was circulating a few months back. Yes, Goldblum's alleged death spread across Twitter in no time, but the corrections were just as fast, accompanied by video proof of Goldblum appearing on The Colbert Report.

]]> By: Robert Orenstein http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1702 Robert Orenstein Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:12:38 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1702 Wow, Jon, great writeup! Thank you. I spent a lot of Friday at my computer, refreshing the Twitter kampala filter. I didn't tweet at all - I guess I was lurking - but my area (Kisugu) was completely quiet. I thought of posting something like "All quiet in Kisugu" but the signal to noise ratio seemed to get a bit worse as the day went on, and it seemed that a post like that might just add to the noise. One tweet/retweet on Friday read "Anyone in Kampala, please teach at least one other person how to use twitter, and encourage them to keep us all updated." That struck me as not quite right - how about "encourage them to keep us all updated if they have something useful to say" instead? You pointed out that in Georgia and Iran, the sheer number of people posting became news. Is there a point where so many people use a particular tag that the filter becomes useless? What is the etiquette for responsible versus irresponsible crisis tweeting? Wow, Jon, great writeup! Thank you.

I spent a lot of Friday at my computer, refreshing the Twitter kampala filter. I didn't tweet at all – I guess I was lurking – but my area (Kisugu) was completely quiet. I thought of posting something like "All quiet in Kisugu" but the signal to noise ratio seemed to get a bit worse as the day went on, and it seemed that a post like that might just add to the noise.

One tweet/retweet on Friday read "Anyone in Kampala, please teach at least one other person how to use twitter, and encourage them to keep us all updated." That struck me as not quite right – how about "encourage them to keep us all updated if they have something useful to say" instead? You pointed out that in Georgia and Iran, the sheer number of people posting became news. Is there a point where so many people use a particular tag that the filter becomes useless?

What is the etiquette for responsible versus irresponsible crisis tweeting?

]]> By: Tobias Eigen http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1701 Tobias Eigen Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:56:59 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1701 This is a really good analysis, full of powerful insights and ideas. Thanks! The old maxim "if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" (is that even correct?) came to mind - twitter is such a powerful tool and it's readily available, so we are all using it alot to keep ourselves informed and to inform others of what's going on. You outlined some characteristics of twitter above (the one about "chronological attribution" gave me pause in a big way) that made me realize for the first time that we should think twice about using twitter in some cases. Put more clearly: perhaps it's better not to inform at all if the only tool available to do it is twitter. It could be dangerous! Thanks again, Tobias This is a really good analysis, full of powerful insights and ideas. Thanks!

The old maxim "if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" (is that even correct?) came to mind – twitter is such a powerful tool and it's readily available, so we are all using it alot to keep ourselves informed and to inform others of what's going on. You outlined some characteristics of twitter above (the one about "chronological attribution" gave me pause in a big way) that made me realize for the first time that we should think twice about using twitter in some cases.

Put more clearly: perhaps it's better not to inform at all if the only tool available to do it is twitter. It could be dangerous!

Thanks again,

Tobias

]]> By: Raymond Kukundakwe http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1700 Raymond Kukundakwe Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:20:07 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1700 Spot on. I watched the chaos unfold and I was tweeting as well as taking photos near kiseka market. Throughout the riots, twitter was my primary source of information until the local media could catch up. If more people embraced these technologies, they could become an invaluable source of information. If the iran elections and the violence that unfolded afterwards served to teach us anything it is that these tools can be very useful in seeking out the truth, gone are the days when governments monopolised media and information flow. Spot on. I watched the chaos unfold and I was tweeting as well as taking photos near kiseka market. Throughout the riots, twitter was my primary source of information until the local media could catch up. If more people embraced these technologies, they could become an invaluable source of information. If the iran elections and the violence that unfolded afterwards served to teach us anything it is that these tools can be very useful in seeking out the truth, gone are the days when governments monopolised media and information flow.

]]> By: Bobby http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1699 Bobby Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:07:01 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1699 Jonathan, thanks so much for this! Wonderfully articulate observations. On your discussion of misinformation, I would add the proliferation of such misinformation. An example: I made a tweet which was then interpreted in a way I did not intend. This was quickly propagated into tweets from multiple users repeating the misinformation. After correcting the original person who dispersed wrong info, that person did not correct it. To be honest, the tweet was about the Kampala riots but was not key information, so the propagator felt no need to make the correction. Keep up the great work! Jonathan, thanks so much for this! Wonderfully articulate observations.

On your discussion of misinformation, I would add the proliferation of such misinformation. An example:

I made a tweet which was then interpreted in a way I did not intend. This was quickly propagated into tweets from multiple users repeating the misinformation.

After correcting the original person who dispersed wrong info, that person did not correct it. To be honest, the tweet was about the Kampala riots but was not key information, so the propagator felt no need to make the correction.

Keep up the great work!

]]> By: tmsruge http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-1698 tmsruge Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:38:19 +0000 http://appfrica.net/blog/2009/09/13/asynchronous-info-disjointed-data-and-crisis-reporting/#comment-1698 Great analysis Jon. It was great following the events as they were happening. I am looking back at my re tweeting of the events since I couldn't be on the ground. I noticed that I stayed away from information from people that I didn't have a personal connection with or trusted. That's not to say that their information wasn't acurate, it's just that I felt better informed by tweets from people I've actually met or have a close relationship with. That could be an erroneos pracitice and have it's faults, but I felt right about it in that instance. Especially since I knew that people like @ugandatalks, @solomonking and @uginsomniac were in the "red-zone" as direct witnesses to what was going on. It just seemed more acurate to retweet their accounts. Thanks again for putting this into perspective. Great analysis Jon. It was great following the events as they were happening. I am looking back at my re tweeting of the events since I couldn't be on the ground. I noticed that I stayed away from information from people that I didn't have a personal connection with or trusted. That's not to say that their information wasn't acurate, it's just that I felt better informed by tweets from people I've actually met or have a close relationship with.

That could be an erroneos pracitice and have it's faults, but I felt right about it in that instance. Especially since I knew that people like @ugandatalks, @solomonking and @uginsomniac were in the "red-zone" as direct witnesses to what was going on. It just seemed more acurate to retweet their accounts.

Thanks again for putting this into perspective.

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