Open Technologist

Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository For TV

The Al Jazeera Network has released video footage under the ‘Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution’ license as part of its creative commons repository. According to the conditions of the license you are allowed to copy, distribute and adapt the work as long as the work is attributed as specified by the licensor but does not reflect that they endorse your use of the work. The repository currently only has footage of the War in Gaza. Al Jazeera asserts that they are the first news broadcaster...

Crowdsourcing Example – Ushahidi

Ushahidi ("testimony'' in Swahili") is a platform that users crowdsourcing to gather information during a time of crisis. Anybody can submit information during a crisis via mobile phone, email or the website which will then be mapped and a timeline provided. It was initially started to map reports about the violence in Kenya after the election in 2008. The platform which is open source is being built and will cater for plug-ins and extensions so that it can be customised for different needs...

Crowdsourcing Example – Facebook Crowdsourcing for Translations

Crowdsourcing is a term coined by Jeff Howe who described it as an open call by a company to a large group of individuals who are invited to partake in a task that would under traditional circumstances be performed by employees of the company. Facebook with its worldwide user-base has turned to crowdsourcing to translate Facebook into other languages such as German, French and Spanish amongst others. An application is used to translate bits of the site which is then voted upon by other users...