First Ushahidi 101 held @iHub Nairobi

Ushahidi
May 17, 2010

The first session on Ushahidi 101 took place on May 12th, attracting 16 people from different organizations in Nairobi. 2010-05-12 10.16.04 The session was meant to introduce Ushahidi to people who may not already know how it works, share the special features that we may not be using or didn't know how they could help and most important was to network; share experiences on how Ushahidi is applicable in various organizational settings. The introduction dealt with more basic information about the history of Ushahidi and the latest projects that the platform has been used. The group then divided into three depending on interest. The first break out session was on the Ushahidi back end, introducing participants on how to customize the platform as well as how to manage the content. This group was led by Melissa. Linda was leading the advanced tech group- the participants who knew what is HTML- the group mainly addressed more complex questions of customization and was well suited for the techies present or for those managing their implementation and maybe had encountered some challenges. I led the third group which addressed issues of marketing the platform, through traditional marketing initiatives as well working with the media to raise awareness about the implementation and get the response needed. The idea of marketing can be challenging, especially if the target audience is not online all the time. Marten from buildingbrides.org shared about the peace initiative and how they have been working with the media to raise awareness about their Ushahidi platform. For a two-hour session, there was so much information and networking that went on, which was motivating. Please reserve your seat for the next Ushahidi 101 on Monday June 7th at the iHub Nairobi.