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Visualization

Managing News

Posted by PrabhasPokharel on May 04, 2010

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Managing News data sheet 4896 Views

Website for the Tool:

http://managingnews.com

Organization that developed the Tool:

Development Seed

Main Contact:

Alex Barth

Problem or Need:

A large amount of news and information is produced around various events and topics. Mapping and visualization can be useful ways to track this content. There is a need for tools that allow users to search and track news and information, and republish some of that news and information. Both the back-end and front-end systems allow for mapping and visualization of that information.

Main Contact Email :

info@developmentseed.org

Brief Description:

Managing News originated as a news aggregation and republishing platform heavily integrated with RSS/Atom. Users can track a diverse set of RSS/Atom feeds, visualize them, and republish selected reports on a platform that allows for mapping and pluggable visualizations. Managing News has subsequently added SMS functionality to the system. The system is based on Drupal, and integrates several open source projects including OpenLayers, SimplePie, and many Drupal plug-ins.

Tool Category:

App resides and runs on a server

Key Features :

Aggregate RSS/Atom news
Republish news as RSS/Atom in customizable channels, or directly to Facebook, Twitter, or email.
Show news as list, map, timeline graphs, or visualized in other ways.
Search news.
Integrate SMS input with SlingshotSMS.
Configurable location tagging and mapping.

Main Services:

Location-Specific Services and GIS

Information Resources/Information Databases

Tool Maturity:

Currently deployed

Platforms:

Linux/UNIX

Mac/Apple/iPhone

Windows

Current Version:

1

Program/Code Language:

PHP

Organizations Using the Tool:

United States federal government, National Democratic Institute, Drupal. See the examples page.

Support Forums:

http://managingnews.com/contact

http://drupal.org/project/managingnews

Reviews/Evaluations:

http://mobileactive.org/howtos/mapping-sms-incident-reports-review-ushahidi-and-managing-news

Is the Tool's Code Available?:

Yes

URL for license:

http://managingnews.com/bsd-license

Is an API available to interface with your tool?:

Yes

Countries:

Afghanistan

United States

Mapping SMS Incident Reports: A Review of Ushahidi and Managing News

Posted by MelissaLoudon on May 03, 2010

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Mapping SMS Incident Reports: A Review of Ushahidi and Managing News data sheet 14906 Views

Author:

Melissa Loudon

Abstract:

In this how-to, we test out two systems for SMS incident mapping: Ushahidi and Managing News. Incident mapping is a simple but powerful concept that does what it says - using SMS to report a given incidence and mapping the data geographically. This article compares the two platforms, their pros and cons, and outlines when to use either.

In this how-to, we test out two systems for SMS incident mapping. Incident mapping is a simple but powerful concept that does what it says - using SMS to report a given incidence and mapping the data geographically.

It has been used in various scenarios ranging from reports from natural disasters to tracking violent crime, citizen reporting in elections.

Ushahidi, a platform for map and time-based visualizations of text reports, has been used most prominently in crisis mapping. The first instance of Ushahidi tracked the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007, closely followed by an instance covering outbreaks of xenophobic violence in South Africa in early 2008. Following the Haiti earthquake in early 2010, an Ushahidi deployment at Tufts University provided a platform for aggregating, translating and disseminating incident reports and requests for assistance. Ushahidi is an open-source PHP/Javascript platform.

Mobile Tools:

Ushahidi

Ushahidi

Posted by PrabhasPokharel on Aug 26, 2009

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Ushahidi data sheet 4229 Views

Website for the Tool:

http://www.ushahidi.com/

Organization that developed the Tool:

Individual / Open Source Group

Main Contact:

Erik Hersman

Problem or Need:

Gathering crisis information from the general public can provie insights into events happening in near real-time. Allowing easy intake, visualization and mapping of this information can be very valuable. To this effect, the goal is to have an open source application so intake and visualization methods are customisable and deployable in a wide variety of settings.

Main Contact Email :

hash@whiteafrican.com

Brief Description:

Ushahidi is a platform that allows anyone around the world to set up their own way to gather reports by mobile phone, email and the web - and visualize and map them. It is being built so that it can grow with the changing environment of the web, and to work with other websites and online tools.

Tool Category:

Runs on a mobile phone

Runs on a server

Is a web-based application/web service

Key Features :

Google Map Visualization of Reports
Integration with SMS input, FrontlineSMS, various Web tools
Admin panel and Web Input of externally validated stories
Other planned features
Various smartphone applications to upload data to Ushahidi

Main Services:

Voting, Data Collection, Surveys, and Polling

Location-Specific Services and GIS

Tool Maturity:

Currently deployed

Platforms:

Linux/UNIX

Mac/Apple

Windows

All phones -- SMS

All phones/Mobile Browser

Program/Code Language:

PHP

Organizations Using the Tool:

See the full list here.

Support Forums:

http://wiki.ushahidi.com/doku.php

http://forums.ushahidi.com

Languages supported:

English, French, Arabic, Others coming

Is the Tool's Code Available?:

Yes

URL for license:

http://github.com/ushahidi/Ushahidi_Web/blob/19bbcb381ab8b9f3eac6a718d76eb015d9d9f8fe/License.txt

Is an API available to interface with your tool?:

Yes

Global Regions:

Sub-Saharan Africa

Asia

Australia and Oceania

Central America and the Caribbean

Europe

Middle East and North Africa

North America

South America

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