Hi Justin, I think you've got a brilliant project here, and I'd be willing to help as far as possible. I've not done any coding on OSM yet, but I can program and I have submitted GPS data and map info to the project, so I know the basics about OSM. Unfortunately I don't have a huge amount of time, but I'll keep an eye on the mailing list and if I see a way that I can add value, I'll definitely jump in. If you have specific requests for help (e.g. "how do I do X? Can someone apply Y plugin to OSM - the code is at Y.org.YY) that will grab my attention.
Good luck! David On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 1:44 AM, <justin.arenst...@stanford.edu> wrote: > Hi guys, > > I'm a journalist based in Mpumalanga (though on sabbatical in the US at the > moment), who is exploring geo-mobile and location-aware reporting tools as a > way of making news more relevant & more accessible to people. > > Journalists are notoriously bad at maths or IT though, & I'm definitely not > a techie. I'm struggling with a lot of the GIS and coding aspects of the > projects I want to tackle, & was hoping to find possible collaborators here > to help. > > What I'm really keen to do is replicate some of the mapping & data > visualisation I've seen in the US, at places like > www.oakland.crimespotting.org and www.ushahidi.org, to tell news stories in > a visual way that gives people info they can immediately use. > > The owners of both platforms have given me permission to use their open APIs > and source code ... but I don't know how to deploy or customise it. > > Some of the thing's I'd like to do are: > > [1.1] Prove the power of mapping as a means to tell news stories in a > high-profile proof-of-concept case by tracking the service delivery riots > that have swept across Mpumalanga over the past year, and that have sparked > similar riots elsewhere in SA. No-one else has actually told the coherent > story yet, by "joining the dots" to see whether there are underlying trends, > triggers, or commons patterns. I'd like to tell the story using a similar > chronological & categorised interface as the Oakland Crimespotting folk. > > [1.2] As part of this project, I'd like to add a layer to the map tracking > all the xenophobic attacks in the Mpumalanga region over the same period, to > see whether there are any relations between them & the service delivery > riots. Once we've got the basic data sets up, I could then start adding > additional layers tracking corruption, infrastructure problems, matric > results (a big issue in Mpumalanga), etc. > > This layered information would start doing what the SA media has failed to > do: tell us why things happen. Then, once we've proved the concept, I'd like > to tackle the following kinds of mapping projects: > > [2] Tracking public infrastructure problems, so citizens can start reporting > everything from potholes to broken water pipes / drains using their > cellphones (SMS & cameras) to send geo-tagged & time-stamped reports via an > Ushahidi-type interface. I could then use this to identify hotspots, trends, > etc, to produce media reports that force authorities to act. > > [3] Tracking crime reports, from both police & private security companies, > and mapping it so that it is accessible to ordinary residents so they can > begin to understand the underlying trends, hotspots, etc. I'd like to use > this project to take the interactivity one step further, so that in addition > to them being able to send in crime reports, the site / map will also send > back alerts to users when a crime happens in their neighbourhood. > > I've got a couple of other additional ideas as well, and have access to a > newsroom (to help generate the content), etc. What I really need is mapping > experts to assist. > > Anyhow interested? > > Justin Arenstein > Knight Fellow > > Mobile: +1-650-575-1944 > Email: justin.arenst...@stanford.edu > Twitter: JustinArenstein > Web: http://www.linkedin.com/in/justinarenstein > Web: http://knight.stanford.edu/ > > Visit FAIR's website at: http://www.fairreporters.org > Visit CAPITAL's new fan-page on Facebook at: http://bit.ly/5918SS > Visit LOWVELD LIVING's new fan-page on Facebook at: http://bit.ly/6Mot8K > > _______________________________________________ > Talk-ZA mailing list > Talk-ZA@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-za > > -- David Richfield e^(πi)+1=0 _______________________________________________ Talk-ZA mailing list Talk-ZA@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-za
