Comments on: Thoughts on “Hot-Flash” Conflict in Mumbai and Nigeria

By: Al Jazeera Unplugged: Juliana Rotich of Ushahidi

Al Jazeera Unplugged: Juliana Rotich of Ushahidi — Sat, 22 May 2010 13:58:22 +0000

[...] do you separate signal from noise, wheat from chaff? They wanted to know how to deal with a “hot flash” [...]

By: Covering the DRC – opportunities for Ushahidi « iRevolution

Covering the DRC – opportunities for Ushahidi « iRevolution — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:37:55 +0000

[...] Here’s a scenario: if an individual texts in an alert for the first time, Ushahidi should: (1) contact that person as soon as possible to thank them for their alert and, (2) ask them what SMS alerts they would like to receive and for what town(s). I guarantee you this person will spread the word through their own social network and encourage others to send in alerts so that they too may receive alerts. (Incidentally, Erik, this is the strategy I would recommend in places like Jos, Nigeria). [...]

By: Ushahidi and Swift River: Crowdsourcing innovations from Africa

Ushahidi and Swift River: Crowdsourcing innovations from Africa — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:07:54 +0000

[...] 2008, members of the Ushahidi considered how to meet the challenge of what they called a “hot flash event“. It was that crisis that started two members of the Ushahidi dev community (Chris Blow and [...]

By: Crisis Info: Crowdsourcing the Filter - The Ushahidi Blog

Crisis Info: Crowdsourcing the Filter - The Ushahidi Blog — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:55:49 +0000

[...] happened in Mumbai was a classic “hot flash” event: they’re hard to detect before they happen, and they’re over relatively quickly. There is [...]

By: Mike Blyth

Mike Blyth — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:15:28 +0000

I live in Jos and went through the 2001 crisis as well as the recent one. Within our group of missions we used radio, an Internet chat room, mobile phone (voice), SMS, and IM, in roughly that order, to assess things. I would be very interested in learning more about Ushahidi as well as any other solutions that would be helpful.

By: balogun rasheed oriyomi

balogun rasheed oriyomi — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:46:53 +0000

what eactly is the crisis all about?what caused it?did anybody died?if yes,the death is as a result of what?plz kindly reply asap.

By: google canada | Digg hot tags

google canada | Digg hot tags — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:26:08 +0000

[...] Vote Thoughts on “Hot-Flash” Conflict in Mumbai and Nigeria [...]

By: …My heart’s in Accra » links for 2008-12-02

…My heart’s in Accra » links for 2008-12-02 — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:04:57 +0000

[...] Thoughts on %u201CHot-Flash%u201D Conflict in Mumbai and Nigeria – The Ushahidi Blog Erik Hersman of Ushahidi wonders what citizen media systems can do in crisis situations, like recent outbreaks of violence in Jos, Nigeria and the terror attack in Mumbai. "Both of them are what I call “hot-flash” conflicts. They’re hard to detect before they happen, and they’re over relatively quickly. There is little to no time to deploy anything and still be relevant once the event has started." (tags: india technology nigeria conflict crowdsourcing africa citizenmedia hersman) [...]

By: matthew

matthew — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:41:55 +0000

nice post

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:50:43 +0000

I spent much of my life in Jos (Nigeria) and, quite frighteningly, was there when the pre-pre-pre-cursor to these riots started on September 7, 2001. It was a terrifying experience.

To the point about technology like Ushahidi working in places like Jos without a local Twitter SMS number … sadly, without SMS access, it’s hard to see Ushahidi being effective. Internet cafes are fairly ubiquitous, but during a riot the last thing you want to do is head downtown!

Surely there must be an SMS to email to Twitter gateway that could be used in countries like Nigeria? Here’s how it might work:
– Send SMS to local Nigerian number
– SMS gets converted to an email
– Email becomes a Tweet