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‘CrowdGuard’ Fights India’s Sexual Violence, Bystander Apathy

Posted June 2nd, 2017 at 11:30 am (UTC-4)
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India has witnessed some harrowing acts of sexual and gender-based violence in recent years, some occurring in front of witnesses who watched, but did nothing. To combat this apathy, a social enterprise has come up with a crowdsourced solution that harnesses a trusted community to help people under attack. Philip Sunil Urech has seen it […]

Red Cross Puts World’s Most Vulnerable Spots on the Map

Posted September 25th, 2015 at 1:32 pm (UTC-4)
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The American Red Cross is stitching thousands of crowdsourced photos into OpenStreetMap to get a better view of the world’s most vulnerable communities and assess their needs as part of its Missing Maps project. Founded by the Red Cross, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team and Doctors Without Borders, the Missing Maps project plots out vulnerable sites in developing […]

UNDP Eyes Ukraine’s Damaged Buildings With Crowdsourcing, Mobile App

Posted February 13th, 2015 at 2:37 pm (UTC-4)
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The crisis that plunged east Ukraine into war in November 2013 has damaged or destroyed critical infrastructure and limited access to areas caught up in fighting between Ukraine’s government forces and pro-Russian rebels. In order to assess damage, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) turned to crowdsourcing to help restore social infrastructure as part of […]

Tech Sightings, May 15, 2014

Posted May 15th, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-4)
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Amid protests, FCC to Vote on New ‘Net Neutrality’ Proposal Thursday’s vote determines if U.S. telecommunications regulators will formally propose “net neutrality” rules that may allow Internet service providers to charge content companies for faster and more reliable traffic on their networks. Critics say the new rules would create fast lanes for paying companies and […]

Tech Sightings, March 11, 2014

Posted March 11th, 2014 at 2:21 pm (UTC-4)
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Limitations of Technology in Tracking Missing Planes Technology is a wonderful thing – with apps for just about everything these days. So how then can a big Malaysian passenger jet simply disappear without any electronic way of tracking it? Crowdsourcing the Search for Malaysia Flight 370 A Colorado satellite imaging company has launched an effort […]

Tech Sightings, December 10, 2013

Posted December 10th, 2013 at 4:19 pm (UTC-4)
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Three Reasons Bitcoins Aren’t in Your Wallet Yet Security and flexibility of the virtual currency are among several big challenges, experts say. Google Cancels Plans for a $300 Million Data Center in Hong Kong The Hong Kong site – which was estimated to cost $300 million – would have complimented data centers that are being […]