ICTworks by Inveneo

In the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake, Haitian citizens and the use of technology, particularly mobile and GIS technologies and social media, proved critical to response and recovery efforts. Ushahidi, NOULA, OpenStreetMap, and other volunteer-based efforts gathered data from multiple sources, including Haitian citizens, to produce timely information on the ground and around the world. Beyond the crisis, however, the work done by the open source software community and volunteer technologists has begun filling gaps in Haiti's outdated and incomplete spatial data infrastructure (SDI) - providing some of the most accurate and current information about Haiti's human and physical geography.

Thus, contrary to popular belief, I, Alexandra Morgan, believe that Haiti has tremendous assets that can be leveraged to rebuild the country. Among these are the aforementioned data gathered in the wake of the earthquake as well as an expanding technological infrastructure and technology-based services - personal computing devices, broadband networks, mobile telephony, etc. - and the Haitian people, the nearly 10 million of them who possess knowledge critical to making decisions about how to reconstruct the country. Unfortunately, to date, these resources - particularly the latter - remain largely untapped, underutilized, mismatched, or marginalized in reconstruction efforts.

Without question, reconstructing Haiti, in part, means restoring and improving education - which involves building schools. Yet, a host of unknowns exist that negatively impact the capacity of the Ministry of National Education and Professional Training (MENFP), or any domestic or international entity, to effectively improve the educational infrastructure. Mobile and open source GIS technologies and VGI present new opportunities for data collection and can play a key role in supplying needed data for school construction, renovations, and investments.

MENFP and partners, for example, could customize a standard questionnaire for schools to complete and submit via SMS or other electronic service, and engage the public to crowdsource information about schools in their areas, surrounding resources, and other types of information that cannot be captured through automated means (e.g. GPS or remote sensing) or due to resource constraints. As a starting point, this VGI can be combined and mapped with more credible i.e. verified sources, such as the breadth of data collected to map urban to rural migration as well as data related to the ever-changing Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and spontaneous settlements that have reconfigured urban spaces.

Such an approach can at once begin verifying the credibility of the incoming VGI and help the Ministry visually begin to identify types and locations of various educational infrastructure needs. The Ministry and their partners then can use this information, along with other pertinent data, to determine candidate sites for new schools, and use the government's limited human resources, as well as those of their partners, to conduct more manageably in-depth assessments and analyses of sites to determine optimal locations.

The new data gathered and added to the spatial data infrastructure through this process would yield near- and long-term local and national benefits. In a sense, this approach would embed a sort of feedback loop whereby the existing SDI is used to inform the reconstruction process during which more data is created, collected, and added to the SDI, thus broadening it and making it more useful for further reconstruction.

Two years after the January 2010 earthquake, it's time to move beyond the crisis and towards an asset-based approach to reconstruction. GIS and VGI can be used to help establish a research-based framework that guides domestic and international reconstruction decisions and investment.

The mere mention of agriculture conjures, for many, outmoded images of a backbreaking industry. It's an image that holds true in some places where few farmers utilize contemporary farming technologies and techniques.

But ICTs play an increasingly important role in agricultural value chains. Though important, cellphones aren't the only ICT being used to improve agriculture. ICTs encompass radios, digital cameras, geographic information systems (GIS), cloud computing, tracking mechanisms, etc.

Five ways in which ICT can help tackle key challenges in agricultural value chain development are:

1. Pricing and weather information systems
2. Applications (apps) to help buyers manage transactions with the thousands of small-scale farmers who supply to them
3. Mobile banking and apps that facilitate quick payments
4. Initiatives to expand the reach of farm extension services through phone, radio, video and sometimes all three
5. SMS or text messaging campaigns for enabling environment advocacy

The increasingly important role of ICTs in agriculture can help change the face of the sector (from outmoded to cutting edge). In fact, it should form part of the larger thrust to attract more young people to the sector. In a resent blog I contend that there's a strong link between ICTs and general youth employment. Agriculture is no exception. ICTs offer employment opportunities in the sector that are both attractive to young people and are in demand. I recently reviewed two unpublished labor market surveys for Rwanda and Kenya that confirms this.

The interesting bit of the research is that while less than a third of the youth surveyed expressed an interest in ag jobs, more than 40% saw opportunities in ICT related areas (not including ag). Clearly, showing the link between the two (ICT and Ag) should be a starting point. Three ICT-enabled functions that are in demand by industry and appeal to young people are agriculture input sales, logistics tech and agricultural infomediaries—the latter being the most cited, perhaps due to the well touted successes of M-Kilimi (M-agriculture), Esoko and others.

The rationale for Ag infomediaries, which enable quick access to information databases that were previously unavailable, best underscores how ICTs have improved agriculture in some places. The basic concept is that the economic livelihood of farmers has been hampered by ad hoc marketing systems and broader issues of information asymmetries for centuries. In other words, poor communication between producers and buyers results in inadequate planning, and ultimately an unstable market environment. So, In much the same way the global economy is driven by knowledge, agriculture depends on high quality, reliable and efficient information systems.

While the full impact of ICTs on ag is subject to research, there is compelling evidence about successful use of technologies in the sector.

Google is pioneering the use and application of its technologies in efficient data collection, sharing and usage leading up to Nigeria's 2011 elections. As part of that effort, Google is holding a two day training event:

DevFest Lagos 2010
29^th -30^th October, 2010
ChamsCity in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria

The event will kick off with morning inspirational talks from reknown Nigerian and International Elections and IT experts discussing the need for new technologies to improve the overall efficiency of how data is collected, used and shared, with a particular focus on the election process.

The afternoon will feature a Google Map Maker jam. A great opportunity for Nigeria's best mappers, geeks and map enthusiasts to form teams and show/share their knowledge by mapping elections relevant places in their motherland and exchange ideas. The mapping party is geared towards having fun while adding voting centers, road network, and other types of data relevant to the elections process on maps.

While mappers are busy populating information, developers and GIS experts will be trained on Google's core geo products in preparation for a hands on competition to make practical use to the data.

On day two, developers and mappers will merge to use Google Maps API, to expand Maps-related applications for the wider usage and applicability of relevant data within and outside the electoral arena. This will also be an opportunity to learn how to best access, manipulate, and visualize the elections data in innovative ways to ultimately increase the usefulness and impact of elections data. And also how to customize everything about your maps—from the markers to the base maps, how to use the new directions service, and how to create maps that work equally well on desktop and mobile.

The capstone will be a head to head competitions for the best apps with great Google prizes! A very exciting event where we mash up Google Geo technology & Elections observations and monitoring within a 2-day DevFest.

DevFest Lagos 2010