Ushahidi 101: After download, what next?

For many Kenyans who are not techies, getting to implement the Ushahidi platform can be tough, especially when not clear how exactly the use will contribute to achievement of organizational goals. That is why the Ushahidi 101 sessions were started; to give interested users a chance to understand how it works and get hands on experience. The August Ushahidi 101 mainly attracted people who had downloaded the software or expressed interest in using the platform, it was a session for people to interact with Ushahidi team and get answers to most of the questions. After the introduction of what Ushahidi and what its not, you can almost feel that people understand better and the next question was on the level of tech knowledge needed to implement. From the discussions, people download and fail to implement because they at times fear they do not have the expertise, are not aware that they can do simple installations, and are not aware that the tech work can be outsourced. At the 101 session, participants get a chance to go through the back end, are shown simple installations that have worked with minimal tech experience and can ask all the questions, here there are no damn questions; that is why its a 101 and we answer all of them! The second session is broken into thematic groups; technical and non-technical. The tech group helps users navigate the back end and understand how to update and manage information. Because there is huge bandwidth at the Innovation Hub (iHub), it helps if you have a laptop, then you can practice as you go along. If not, the projector does a decent job of making sure its all inclusive. The non-tech group gets a chance to meet at the balcony and have a better view of Nairobi in the evening. The group discusses ways to promote the instance. It has always been said that technology is 50 percent of the solution and the other half is people-related. So, if there are questions on how to deploy, how to develop categories or how to ensure more people visit the site, this is your group. After the session, people get a chance to catch up with old friends and enjoy some Pizza and drinks. Its an important social for people to explain how they deployed and some of the challenges you can expect.