My role in all of this started shortly after the Ushahidi-Haiti instance was up and running, providing technical support and new, rapid development on the instance as needs arose. Virtually all of the core developers were working around the clock making sure critical bugs and new features were taken care of, as well as making sure the servers were running smoothly.

The home of the future redevlopment of SMS Turks on github.

While everyone was in full gear working on the website, we were able to secure the 4636 short code with the help of Josh Nesbit of FrontlineSMS, Digicel and Comcel. We just had one problem, the stakeholders who were going to be digesting these messages and passing them along to the appropriate organizations spoke English and some French. Messages being sent from Haitians on the ground would be coming through primarily in Haitian Kreyol, which would have made it nearly impossible to categorize, map and respond. So, my focus shifted towards the short code effort. With the help of InSTEDD donating server space and Robert Munro handling volunteer feedback, I was able to write a system at 4636.ushahidi.com that would allow translation, categorization and basic geocoding of all the messages that came in. I’ve coined this project, “SMS Turks.”

In crisis situations, it’s always better to use systems that have been tested thoroughly that can scale well. Since SMS Turks was literally put into production the day it was built, there were bound to be issues. Also, volunteers can only put in 12 hour days translating text messages for so long. CrowdFlower graciously offered their services to pipe the messages through their system, handling the technical aspects at no cost to Ushahidi. Over time, as volunteers go back to their day jobs, Samasource will be providing Haitian’s paid opportunities to process the messages as they are coming in, allowing us to put money into the Haitian economy.

The SMS Turks system will be entirely rewritten from the ground up as an Ushahidi project. It will be easily pluggable into Ushahidi, as well as produce feeds that should work with virtually any other open system.

If you are in Haiti, report emergency info and location by texting 4636.

Subscribers on the DigiCel network in Haiti can now report incidents by sending text messages free of charge to 4636. The shortcode makes it even faster and easier for eyewitnesses to report developments on the ground.

If you are in Haiti, report emergency information and location by texting free to 4636

A key goal is to make the SMS project easy to use for those on the grounds with needs and organizations on the ground trying to help. The radical problem is mixing two completely different scenarios here:

• Finding people
• Relieving needs

The heavy lifting of parsing and then separating these messages into the two main buckets (“needs” and “missing persons”) is the tech communities (our) role.

We understand that the incoming SMS messages will be in a completely open form, even though we ask for messages to have certain types of data in it (issue and location). The phone number will be automatically saved into the database as a key identifier, noting that more than one person might be using any given phone.

How it works

The basic process for this project follows is this:

1. Put word out that people on the ground can send [Name, location, status/message]
2. SMS submitted, with varying levels of structure/detail
3. Enters database
4. Passed to a mechanical turk-type outfit of volunteers for structuring
5. Message is structured in the database
6. Gets passed off to orgs (via Sahana) that can do something about the issue

Background

Shortly after we deployed http://haiti.ushahidi.com in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, it became clear we needed a local SMS short code to make mobile reporting more viable. Josh Nesbit, Co-Founder of FrontlineSMS:Medic, took the lead by looking for a contact on the ground in Haiti. Using Twitter, Josh found Jean-Marc Castera who was heading to the DigiCel command center.

Josh says that, “skyping with Jean-Marc on the ground, and letting the Ushahidi team in Kenya and the US know I had someone from DigiCel’s command center on the line was an awesome moment.” Working in partnership with the U.S. Department of State (Big thanks to @kateatstate), Ushahidi eventually secured the short code 4636 from DigiCel.

Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes, Brian Herbert worked with Josh, Luke Beckman from InSTEDD, Paul Goodman from DAI, and Rob Munro to structure content. They created an online database at http://4636.ushahidi.com where incoming raw SMS reports can be tagged and mapped. Local organizations can subscribe to the SMS feed by contacting Brian Herbert.

On the ground in Haiti, Nicolas di Tada and Eric Rasmussen, CEO of InSTEDD also provided crucial support. Nicolas did the initial testing of the shortcode and is currently handling local outreach. InSTEDD’s EIS project and Reuters are using the short code to register mobile numbers from people on the ground for vital information blasts.

And now we’re looking for volunteers to process the incoming SMS Reports. Please see these instructions to learn how you can help!

Get Involved

The system is currently tracking information in the several categories and subcategories including: emergencies, threats, responder activities, news about individuals, and the location of resources.

How to Report:

• In Haiti SMS to 4636 or internationally to +447624802524
• Send e-mail to Haiti@ushahidi.com
• Online at http://haiti.ushahidi.com/reports/submit
• Via Twitter with hash tag #haiti or #haitiquake

How to receive Alerts:
Subscribe at http://haiti.ushahidi.com/alerts to receive alerts to your mobile phone or email.

How you can help:

• Spread the word among friends & family
• Reach out to local organizations and media
• Ask international agencies to share their info
• Send us your comments to feedback@ushahidi.com
• Join us! Visit http://www.ushahidi.com/join for more info

[Image courtesy of UNDP]