You can tell I was talking fast when “Non-government Organizations” suddenly got renamed “Non-Government Associations.” The presentation has 2961 views.

(Also see: Map it, Change it (blog post).)

Random Hacks of Kindness is a global hackathon that occurs in over 30 cities with over 2000 participants. What if your knowledge could change the world. This event is open to everyone. You do not need to be a software developer to contribute. The best solutions created use many different areas of knowledge. You’ll be amazed how much you can share.

“RHoK’s model is to start from identifying, defining and refining problem definitions provided by subject matter experts and local stakeholders. This ensures that volunteer time is focused on solving real problems for real people.” All the solutions are open source. It is a chance to be part of a global movement of tech for social good.

Why attend

What if your knowledge could collide with others to build solutions that solved real-world problems? This concept of using our intellect to affect change will take time, effort and multiple attempts, but if we build on each other’s efforts it is an honourable goal to set and meet.

Last night I attended a talk at Open Bar about “Giving Back and Getting Involved” by James Walker, open source advocate and lifer. James summarized the top reasons to get involved in Open Source projects:

These are exactly the reasons why RHOK is magic. Being connected to ideas and doers around the world. These people inspire in every way possible.

Toronto RHOK needs you

Lead by Melanie Gorka, RHOK Toronto will hack on local and international problems.

• RHok Toronto seeks sponsors to assist food, tools, services, prizes and funds which help make the event a success. Sponsorship for the event provides for a pre-event reception, meals for participants during the weekend and prizes for the top 3 innovative solutions or ‘hacks’. If you and your organization can help, Contact Melanie Gorka (melanie.gorka AT gmail DOT com).
• RHoK Toronto Idea Jam is confirmed for May 15th at Bento Miso from 7-10pm. Join Toronto’s Idea Jam to submit your ideas for local and international hacks. Come prepared to pitch your idea. Your hack must meet the RHOK criteria.
• Register for the RHOK Global hackathon on June 1-3rd
• Join the next volunteer meeting on May 17th. Contact Melanie Gorka (melanie.gorka AT gmail DOT com) for more details

Join an RHOK event in Canada

Register for Hamilton

Register for Montreal.

Toronto

If you are in Vancouver, the event will be posted soon.

Host an event

If you want to host a RHOK event in another city, here is the application. Please also drop me a note so that I can join your fan club. If there is not a local event, you can still get involved virtually.

The RHoK community is amazing. I’ve done 5 hackathons so far. The good news is that Geeks without Bounds is now working with RHOK on sustainability for projects. By taking some of the best hacks/prototypes and incubating them, their goal is to have the best projects be activated, tested and used to affect change.

Global hacker friends

We’re looking for some guest hackers for Toronto. I’ve slept on your floor and ate at your tables. Or, we’ve just connected at the many online events. Toronto needs you to join and inspire our local community. Please contact me if you would like to have a place to stay, food, no sleep and be part of Toronto’s vibrant tech for social good community for one weekend.

Let’s do this!

Heather

Astronomers, Astrophysicists and Astronauts visited various SpaceApp locations. AND, a there is a #launchjon campaign.

“Get this bracelet to light up by trending Jon Spooner on twitter! Go on! It’s for the global #spaceapps challenge”

“Our astronomer is overly excited and wants to help out on any team that is working on Tour of the solar system too!” Dr. Syeda Kareema Ghouse joined the Miami team to discuss mobile + astronomy.

They also brained on Visualize the “All-too-Common Astronomy/Solar System Misconceptions”. What a seriously fun project to keep doing with people!

As for astronauts: Tokyo had @astro_ron recorded a SpaceApps Google Hangout held with San Francisco, Jakarta, Tokyo, and Melbourne.

Dr. Prasenjit Saha, professor of astrophysics at the University of Zürich shared his project in Lausanne. It is good to know that brainac Astrophysicists say:
“We observe these two firework thingys.” He is working on an open development citizen science project. (The talk starts 2 minutes into the ustream recording.)

Video streaming by Ustream

Nairobi and San Francisco are social butterfly hub cities. They held Google Chats to connect with other cities. Well done, Willow and Simeon. Global connections are true magic. Every global hackathon it gets easier to share between cities. While co-hacking can be hard, the human connection that we are all in this together across timezones is an amazing starting point. As Sara Farmer mentioned, the key is to have all the cities connected via Skype and Google docs so that we can coordinate with the global dispatch team.

Miami and Jakarta connecting. (Photo via Alison Hornery)

Global Tour

(picture by Fumi from Tokyo)

SpaceApps highlight reel from some of the cities:

San Francisco: (picture courtesy of Elizabeth Sabet)

Update from the UK: “Some worked all night and are Red Bulling their way back to consciousness!” #spaceapps

More Photos:

International Space Apps and #spaceapps.

‘Join the army,’ they said!
‘See the world,’ they said!
I’d rather be sailing the solar system.

Sometimes your globe is tiny and there is a hacker next door that you did not know was connected to your community. @mattmattmatt was on the hunt to get Horizon data to work all day yesterday. A few of the global team members connected him via a mash of IRC, skype, email and twitter. We connect with people on the topic and don’t always get into the gritty of where they may be located. Oddly enough, Matt Mihok is in Toronto. SpaceApps hackers unite! (the project)

Hack of a hack

[05:33] HeatherL: Juub – I like to call it it the hack of the hack
[05:33] HeatherL: the first hack is that you find out you can and should
[05:34] HeatherL: the second hack is that you learn how to collaborate outside institutions, corporations and, hopefully, your usual silos of knowledge
[05:34] HeatherL: the third hack is that you create something, do something
(early morning IRC chat with Juub)

Getting people involved in global hackathons is an evolution. I think that the individual is the first and most important hack. As we think about the Open Government Partnership, we need all citizens engaged. This means more teaching that we can and should. Here’s to that amazing exploration.

I leave you with ISS DUCK (via @ileddigital:

Heather

Posts in the series:

astronomers-astrophysicists-and-astronauts
Dispatch: International Space Apps Challenge Part 2
Dispatches From International Space Apps Challenge Part 1/

IRC: “ favorite part of this challenge experience so far has been exposure to all these awesome existing projects and datasets.”

It is no secret that I love hackathons – big, global ones. Why? Because, the idea of doing a global hackathon is in its nascent stages. Each of the attendees may go on to lead other events to shape their world. Some of us have collaborated previously and others are new. All are welcome on this exciting effort to think about ways to contribute to real world topics. The best part of a global hackathon like SpaceApps is that we are all keen to tinker and make with avid curiousity. All the attendees are completely inspiring in their drive to contribute in self-less spirited ways.

Hacking My Way To Space from Nicholas Skytland on Vimeo.

Nicholas Skyland is in between Exeter and Oxford this weekend. MetOffice news wrote about his visit. Exeter is working on setting your location with #PredictTheSky #spaceapps. The app will default to current location.
via @sophiedennis (Note: all the projects have hashtags, much like twitter. That is how we communicate via IRC and piratepad.)

Exeter is launching a man into space. Or, so they say. NYC is spinning tunes for their event: “We got NYC startup @turntablefm rocking the house at @intlspaceapps New York! Join in & spin tunes with us turntable.fm #spaceapps”, Nairobi has 25 new arduino noobies hacking hardware: (photo courtesy @afromusing)

Istanbul is also playing with Open Hardware: reading external sensors and sending them with a GPS tag to a web application.

Santa Domingo is just getting project oriented.

Conduit visited Israel #spaceapps and found this gadget

Jakarta got a visit via skype from @astro_ron

There are even virtual-only teams like Offline-Online with participants in Netherlands, US, Canada and Italy. (Disclosure: this is a project that I’m working on).

The teams are emerging, code is being built, and, most of all, people are talking about space, data and their connected journey.

Under the hood:

Global collaboration is hard, but worthy. We have parsed together Ustream, google docs, skype, IRC, scribblelive, twitter and email in a mash-up of communication mazes. All in the effort to keep the vibe and information going. here is an example pirate pad from Lausanne to show you how the cities are organizing in teams.

We highly encourage you to drop into the various Ustream channels to connect with folks and watch their progress.

Every single virtual and in-person global event we learn ways to improve the communication and workflow. It helps that there are familiar faces with experience in tech for social good. As we say, hackathons are love. We connect.

The virtual team is fantastic. Thanks Michael Brennan, Chris Gerty, Sara Farmer, Herr_Flupke, Aaron Huslage, and Willow Bl00.

Stay tuned for the next update from another team member. I’m on the early shift and need a hacknap.

Heather

I’m in Toronto, Canada watching CJ Hendrix present via ustream about Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) in Lausanne and chatting on IRC with Alp who is in Istanbul and Herr Flupke (of the virtual coordinator ops team- vops).

What is the Space Apps Challenge

The International Space Apps Challenge is a global event hosted by NASA.

Check out this summary video including Space Stars like Clay Ellis on the McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica and Unity Node’s Ron Garan.

Big Picture

ISS is live on Ustream (@panggi thanks for the pic):

How can you watch online?

Global collaboration is always a rush. Here are some of the components to help:

Ustream channel (all the cities have a separate channel connected. There is a ustream scroll bar below the main window complete with all the city ustream links.

Twitter #spaceapps

We have a global IRC live chat. You can dive into projects like the Open Data API lead by Sean Herron. Each of the projects have their own window. Running commentary is brilliant. I’m participating with Herr_Flupke as a global dispatch coordinator aka Human API.

I set up a live blog to aggregate social media content. Thanks to the folks at ScribbleLive for the great software!

International participants

Here is a summary of how to get engaged online as International virtual participants. Ping me on IRC or anyone and ask for help to be connected.

Gov 2.0 interviews

Here are some amazing audio interviews by the Gov 2.0 team with SpaceApp leaders, including Simeon Oriko of my homebase ihub Nairobi and Ali Llewellyn of NASA.

Also see this article from the BBC.

The Global International Space Apps Tour….so far

Jakarta by @adllewellyn

Adelaide by @sumenrai79

Melbourne from @auspaceapps

Sydney via @auspaceapps

Outreach by Nasa

Japan via @isacjp

Nairobi by @whiteafrican

When we think about maps and Ushahidi, it is often easy to get caught up in the technology. But, the biggest change is with the people who are deploying and building communities with Ushahidi. These brave souls are trying out new methods to tell map stories. Often, their efforts to break new ground in their communities and countries meet resistance. Some of the risks that they take to amplify issues of human rights, corruption, women’s rights and more are simply breathtaking. Yet, they persevere and create. When I meet these brilliant people, I am in awe of the change that they are trying to build. Their passion and drive to use map stories to be involved in their world is infectious and truly inspiring. Each demonstrate the potential of citizens to be truly engaged.

On my own journey, I meet Ushahidi community members online and in person. Often, I have the rich opportunity to watch them learn and build their projects. Our community mentors them, and they, in turn, mentor us. Whenever I am asked to speak at events, I have the honour to share Ushahidi community stories. I firmly believe that Ushahidi is a vehicle for other people’s social change. We may be part of that movement, but really, we are giving them a place to germinate ideas, unify and coordinate, model and build. Last week I had the opportunity to do this in Istanbul,Turkey for TedxSilkRoad. I shared the following stories with them:

Map it, Change it! can be summarized by five big themes:

1. The power of individual to affect change and be citizen engaged. (e.g. Shemeer (Maps4Aid).
2. The power of relationships and networks. Partnerships exist both outside and inside formal corporations and institutions. Some of the best deployments are cross-institutional collaborations which include citizens. This can include private, public, community-based, non-government organizations, individuals and more (e.g. map.Occupy.net, Ushahidi Liberia and the Standby Task Force).
3. Maps have always connected us and told us stories. What if the map was no longer static, but interactive? Communities connect by topic (topical maps like human rights, corruption and more) and even include diaspora communities. (e.g. Somalia Speaks). The borders dissolve by using mobile devices and connecting to global communities.
4. We are collectively teaching people to “hack the map“. People first learn that they can use a map to tell a story, then they learn that they can connect with others to collaborate, and then they change Ushahidi as they evolve best practices, discover methodologies and create techniques. So, really, Ushahidi users “hack” us as they change and explore opportunities to make the software more effective for particular mission. This includes the powerful mentorship and partnership that is growing in the community. People want others to succeed in their efforts, irrespective of location.
5. There is a new type of social entrepreneurship evolving with these map deployments. Some start with the mission/project and others tinker with Ushahidi to find a mission/plan. All see the potential and evolve it. They are asking institutions to participate. They are asking why. They are the new mapmakers, storytellers, and disrupters. This type of social entrepreneurship is at its nascent stages. This includes groups like WaterTracker.

As part of the journey to TedxSilkRoad, we held our first ever Ushahidi meet-up in Istanbul. So far there have been two deployments in Turkey: Van Earthquake (Al Jazeera) and Mechul Orgenci (student activists). It was exciting to have them join us to share feedback and talk about future plans. Orkut Murat Yilmaz and Can Unen, who are creating an OpenStreetMap community in Turkey, also joined us. This is Orkut’s laptop being Usha-stickered.

Aksam interview

Aksam (A Turkish newspaper) interviewed me about Ushahidi. I hope that this will inspire others in Turkey to use maps to connect. (article in Turkish)

Thank you to the community members in Istanbul, to the TedxSilkRoad fellow participants and organizers of TedxSilkRoad.

I’m honoured to talk about the rise of Mobile and Ushahidi at this week’s AMREF coffee house on Wednesday, March 7, 2012:

Mobile Africa: How Technology is Reshaping the Continent

AMREF’s Coffeehouse Speaker Series on global development. Join us at Urbana Coffee on the first Wednesday of every month at 6:00 pm.
Technology advancements are reshaping Africa politically, socially and economically. Join us to explore innovative technology solutions being used to make a lasting difference in people’s lives.

African Medical & Research Foundation (AMREF)

York University Symposium on the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

The online response to the Japan earthquake was an incredible surge of volunteerism. I’ll present the story of Hal Seki of Sinsai.info and his team’s mapping experiences in response to the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami.

“The Japan’s Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami of March 2011: LESSONS LEARNT”: March 9th, 2011, 9AM -5 PM

Organized by: Disaster and Emergency Management Program

ISN podcast: Crowdsourcing for Change

In this 12 minute chat, we discuss Crisismapping, CrisisMappers Network, Ushahidi, Security and Hackathons (specifically Random Hacks of Kindness).

“In today’s podcast, Ushahidi’s Heather Leson discusses her organization’s use of crisis mapping techniques and outlines how non-state actors are increasingly collaborating online to tackle issues traditionally managed by governments.”

I highly recommend that you follow the full podcast.

Podcamp Toronto 2012: Dispatches of Disruption

Sunday morning early sessions at Podcamp Toronto are sometimes quiet. Here’s to having a good discussion about Digital Activism and the power of the Internet.

Description

Date: Sunday, February 26, 2012 11:00 ET
Location: Ryerson RCC203 (map)
Every day someone uses the power of the Internet to change their world. What does it mean to be a disrupter? an innovator? a volunteer? What lessons can you activate at home? at work?

I’ll share some examples of disruption aimed at corruption, elections, violence, potholes, agriculture, burgers, #futurewewant, and emergency response.

Some additional thoughts:

• Digital activism from volunteering to hacking to mapping is changing institutions and governments.
• We are just a mouse click away from change. Or, are we?

Hope you can join this chat. If you are only attending on Saturday, look for me at the registration desk.

For years I, too, yearned for the opportunity to work in Silicon Valley. Employed with Internet organizations since 2000 (backbone to registrar = OSI career), my first Internet access was via Carleton University’s Freenet in 1992 and I created my first website in 1995 at library school. SFO has been completely entrenched throughout my career as the tech golden bridge. When the Dot Com busted in 2001, I held on hope for a career in Internet and to someday work in SFO. With one foot in communications and one in technology as a Technical Incident Communications Lead, I began to apply to the big organizations who had their own data centers and technical crisis communication teams.

The 280 is a beautiful drive, dinner in Chinatown (amazing), gazing at the Bay Bridge is awesome and attending events with Internet leaders is thought-provoking. There is no doubt that SFO is worth visiting and, perhaps, heeding the call to move your start-up there. To be honest, how anyone gets work down with those views is beyond me!

Ihub photo by Erik Hersman

Location, Location

Now, these aspirations seem so myopic. The explosion of great technology worldwide shows that it is time to rethink “location plus Internet” start-ups and your career. Digital activism and volunteering after the Haiti earthquake took me on a journey into other global ecosystems. Random Hacks of Kindness (RHOK), a global hackathon which I have lead in a few cities, takes place in Internet hubs around the world. By participating, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with Internet leaders and various start-ups. Learning about their technical communities is inspiring. But, one does not need to look only to hackathons to see where the pulse is. Read the economic reports about the rise of mobile and beyond the BRIC to emerging economies.

Why NBO?

Nairobi, Kenya’s technical community is red-hot. Disclosure: I work for Ushahidi, a Nairobi-based start-up. The ihub is brimming with start-ups, events, bright savvy entrepreneurs and amazing ideas. Every time I go to the Ihub, I am overwhelmed by the pulse of start-ups, collaboration, and new technology.

David Talbot and I had coffee in the ihub while he was researching his Technology Review article: ” Kenya’s Startup Boom.” On the ihub:

What if your Internet start-up ….

Some of the brightest Internet minds and start-ups are based in Toronto. I work for a global dispersed team and have one foot in Kenya and one in Canada. While I cannot speak directly to what it takes to be a start-up, I am left with more questions? Why not Toronto and why can’t the ecosystem be changed here to keep our best and brightest here?

Why recreate the beaten path to SFO? The technical spirit of “doing” and “innovation” is happening around the world. There are mountains of technical and start-ups hubs worldwide. I encourage you to think beyond SFO to build your start-up or your Internet career. Buy a plane ticket to NBO or Malaysia.

One spark and it happens: An individual or a team of people create a deployment using Ushahidi or Crowdmap. Their motivation and the inspiration are telling tales. These citizens, diaspora and a global community collaborate near and far to make change happen. Motivated often by the simple act of giving voice and building momentum for their ideas, most do so without payment.

Who are these deployers? One thing connects all of them irrespective of location or topic: They want to do more in their communities and world.

Ushahidi gives us a window into many varying disruptive movements, large or small: community members, from Syrian Tracker to Moroccan Elections Elections to Open Nuclear Iran mappers to Maps4aid.

Even children are trying to activate change outside the traditional methods or institutional structures: Amrita of Bangalore, India (8.5 years old) is a Trusted Food Reporter for the Cost of Chicken Project; kids from around the world are collecting data on local food conditions, from grade 8 students in San Francisco to grade 3 students in India; students are mapping to learn and collaborate about food production and food sustainability.

Olga Werby, Mapster and President of Pipspeak Productions.

Software Centre, the Morocco-based team led by Tarik Nesh-Nash, started with election monitoring with Marsad.ma and is now mapping corruption. Boyan Yurukov created the Bulgarian award-winning 2011 crime.bg. He also developed and installed Fairelections.eu election mapping, which was moderated by the Institute for Public Environment Development.

These deployments are aimed at giving voice to fair democratic practices. Each of these deployers mentor new mappers sharing best practices or create additional tools, like Boyan’s Facebook app. By sharing their story, they’re beginning to inspire others to map elections or corruption.

Why Storytelling Matters

Persistent outreach and storytelling are key to successful deployments. The Syria Tracker team is a collective of partnerships and volunteers, including some of our friends within the Crisismapping Network and the Standby Task Force. Over the past 286 days, they’ve mapped more than 6,300 deaths.

Melissa Elliot, left, is the Reports Coordinator for the StandBy Task Force.

Shemeer Babu is one mapper in India focused on highlighting the issue of violence against women with Maps4Aid. His next project is building out Blogs4Aid. His plan will be focused on using SMS (short message service) and maybe IVR (interactive voice response) since 90% of rural women in India don’t have smartphones. Both @maps4aid and @syriatracker use Twitter on a daily basis to keep their map story alive and in the minds of their followers, using free online resources to augment their story.

Melissa Elliot is a core team member and reports coordinator of the StandBy Task Force. This week she attended a Canadian government event to share the story of Crisismapping and volunteers. Her constant drive to make a difference in the world inspired officials to consider their first-ever Crisismapping Simulation. As a leader in a growing community that often uses Ushahidi, she is one of over 750 volunteers who map information for emergencies.

We’re delighted that these talented volunteers often assist other Ushahidi community members with their non-crisis related maps.

How can you help?

Every day deployers need support to build their projects. For example, Open Nuclear Iran needs a banner for its Crowdmap; Shemeer needs a hand determining how to grow his local project to a larger sustainable Blogs4Aid initiative; the Corruption Tracker and the Harassmap teams are looking for more volunteers to support their long-term projects.

Requests for assistance can include help with storytelling, project management, technical assistance, design customization and security concerns.

These people often use Ushahidi’s software in their spare time with no to low funding. They are the so-called “do-more disrupters.” Mentoring and help matchmaking are core to these deployers’ ongoing efforts.

We’re launching a new wiki space to assist our existing Community Connect with people who may be able to help. To find out more about this, join our community site or follow our Ushahidi blog. Who knows how you will inspire and be inspired to actively do more in your community and the world!