Thanks so much for this timely and exciting posting! I have been posting this info to Haiti mailing lists and friends living in Haiti, and I think it is one of the great "crossover" success stories for Kenya and Kenyans:  that an online crisis-response platform, created by a Kenyans to address the civil conflict in Kenya in 2008, should now be so helpful for people half a world away.

Ushahidi is seeking to expand use of this platform and its services globally, and in particular is eager for women and women's groups to get involved. If anyone knows of groups in Kenya who want to learn more about Ushahidi and how to use it, please contact Rebecca Wanjiku (a journalist well-known to members here), at rebecca@ushahidi.com.

If anyone knows of people and groups outside of Kenya who would be interested, please contact Juliana Rotich at juliana@ushahidi.com.

For folks in Kenya, Rebecca can arrange a face-to-face meeting about Ushahidi, and how to use its software. Juliana will be happy to organize demos via skype. They highly recommend that organizations look into the software, come up with a concept of what they would like to achieve, a timeline, and a workplan.

More information on the software is available on site: http://ushahidi.com/
To download the code (it is free and open source): http://download.ushahidi.com/
Blog: http://blog.ushahidi.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ushahidi
Wiki: http://wiki.ushahidi.com/doku.php

With all best wishes and appreciation, Janet (Feldman, kaippg@earthlink.net, www.kaippg.org)

-----Original Message-----
From: Dorcas Muthoni
Sent: Jan 18, 2010 9:28 AM
To: kaippg@earthlink.net
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] Ushahidi in Haiti

http://haiti.ushahidi.com/

Ushahidi is an organization that created a free and open source mapping and content management system which can be used by organizations worldwide in crisis-related situations. The main goal
of the organization is to create a system that facilitates early warning systems and helps in data visualization for response and recovery. The Ushahidi platform has been used to monitor elections in
India, Mexico, Lebanon and Afghanistan. It has been deployed in the DR Congo to track unrest, Zambia to monitor medicine stockouts and the Philippines to track the mobile phone companies.

It is now being used in the Haiti Earthquake disaster.

NB: Ushahidi has strong Kenyan roots with a bulk of the Ushahidi Platform developers coming from Kenya and the wider Africa.

--
Muthoni

My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/
--------------------------------------------
Mahatma Gandhi once said:-

First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
AND THEN YOU WIN!!!