Erik Hersman: How texting helped Kenyans survive crisis

[erikis894]

such a brilliant idea......

[soyfriends]

I wonder how he plans to "raid the different people who submit information"? What does that entail?

[ravkes]

what a good-natured person, i wish him all the best in his endeavors...unfortunately due to corruption within africa, the crises that this program. identifies will still prolly take local govt. intervention to stop..but at least he's increasing awareness..

[VigilantnotMilitant]

weak presentation

[MysteryManoLove]

Twatter sucks, keeps bitches talkin when they should be productive. The crowdsourced information looks exactly like a womans brain, scrambled and eveything is related to everything. Anyways, awesome video!

[beancube2008]

How do we know they were really telling reality about themselves if they don't use their languages? It is good to see everybody is emerging but ... how come we don't care about the reality of other people?

[vysehrad]

Me.

[wamukota]

who gives a fuck about you?

[WoWanate]

Me.

[rochet75]

you are like doing stuff

[audadvnc]

Big problem with having people rate incoming information - political agendas. Example: 2008 RNC convention, St. Paul Police excesses. Had RNC been able to control crisis reports, there would have been "no crisis" - no reportage would have filtered through. Instead, YouTube was awash with images.

[ls1z28chris]

Please reconstruct this system to work in America during a zombie apocalypse. kthx

[Drynae]

Random: YT Thumbing system sucks.

[trylonperisphere]

Will someone PLEASE think of the Kenyans?

[jackmosley06]

sol... what exactly did you do and how will it help anybody?

[Casmige]

=OoO=

Je suis a deemed useless feeder By Le NWO.

Now, I am a useless twitterer.

Concerned too much info ...

What is le basis du reporting something when a). consumers of c'est info are impotent to *do* anything about it.

b). le stats merely compiled add up to info pas encore nothing can nor will be done about *anything*.

Darfur et un prime example, 10 years, 173 Personnes massacred PER DAY pour le last 10 years yet NO protest ou action by le U.N., no action re: Tibet.

Lot info, no action.

=OoO=

[Jernespand]

Amazing ! You're giving people a voice. All of the best luck

[friendinmiami]

Re truthscavanger, no, this is for the places where the Government, or some agency of it, may be complicit in evil--this is like a reverse GPS, letting everyone know where something really bad is going down. The only Government that counts (US) can already track cell phones, read data off them remotely, etc., and does not need this to track people.

[truthscavenger]

nice excuse for a precursor to universal government tracking. it always starts as a noble effort.

[cmeast]

I don't think it has to lead in that direction and, in fact, I'd have thought it's more likely to combat oppression than increase it.

This is a way for the common man to report on events quickly and for that information to be, if not acted on, then at least recorded. This system would make it harder for any group, whether it be a street gang or soldiers, to get away with their behaviour.

Whether their filtering system will be any good remains to be seen of course...

[zombiesmasher]

Short and sweet. Great Vid!

[Newradical78]

Cellular journalism (both in the sense that cellular phones are often used, and in the sense that the sources themselves are cellular).

This is a trend I saw coming from a long ways off and labeled, I told people this would happen and that a need to verify this "on the fly" would be needed, and here it is, yay me!

[Vogter2100]

wow.. what jerk you are. Mazing.

[Shalek]

This video should be renamed 'How TED ran out of interesting talks'.

[kingofschnitzels]

your username should be renamed 'Asshole'

i know, creative huh?

[Shalek]

It was already taken

[Atoyota]

I agree, there isn't much here a blind man can't see, and the last several TED's have not been on par with some of the more amazing ones.

Still... it's good to see, and my reaction is probably one of having expectations of quality "and" quantity.

[Shalek]

Can you recommend a couple of good ones? I just subscribed a couple of months ago.

[Atoyota]

sure!

Reeny Gleeson, Kamal Meattle, Dan Aierly, Pattie Maes, Mike Rowe, Nalini Nadkarni, Willie Smits, Evan Williams, Richard Pyle, Captain Charles Moore, john enriquez, Elizabeth Gilbert (excellent), Joe Derisi (also good), Woody Norris,

That should keep you occupied, or you can use this as a filter of credibility (LOL a joke about this current Ted Topic)

[Shalek]

Thanks a lot ^_^.

[nestorrfortuna]

communicating about current events?

all creatures have been doing it since the start of life.

we redifined the medium, from chemistry to voice, from voice to languaje, from languaje to signs, from signs to text.

but we do not improved the quality, we have not developed a filter of bad quality information, and that is waht we need.

ps: i always expect change from africa, new ideas from young people, if africans do not unducked themselves who will?

cheers

[Deathicorn]

Sorrry, but it can still be rigged and false imformation can be used. Its a great idea mind you if the world wasn't filled with certain jerktards.

[cosy18]

if is working in Africa can work anywhere... so true any service/product that work in Africa can work on all world

[BartenderMix]

i dont have the patience for texting. So the new thing is reliability texting? am i right?

[NastyDHL]

It's much easier to send a quick message with texting, but people (teenagers in particular) tend to have conversations on them for some reason. It is very inconvenient and testing of patience, and I think most people draw text sessions out because of insecurity and self-absorbedness. You look 'important' and 'cool' to other people if you are talking to your 'friends' all the time.

[xXAkridXx]

Yeah I get really annoyed when a freind of mine text me a question that would require a really long answer or ask a stupid question for that matter. FFS people keep it short.

[justinwoon92]

nasty, on all your three comments in this video, you talk about ego and teenagers trying to look "cool". firstly, without competition, the world would be kinda stagnant wouldn't it? yes, being first to comment and being proud of it isn't very smart, but competition makes us go beyond our boundaries and out of our comfort zones and in most cases make us better people. so what's up with "competition is meaningless"?

[justinwoon92]

secondly, we text because its just the way we stay in touch with each other in such a hectic lifestyle that most teens have these days. its not a lack of confidence or anything like that.

[NastyDHL]

competition is meaningless...we should not be competing but rather working together towards a goal...obviously I'm speaking in idealistic terms but competition and the "us vs them" or the "you vs me" or the "me vs them" mentality is what keeps us down

[Zeppelinemg]

Coming from a teenager here, I think that your statement there is a little...ridiculous. It gives us a chance to talk to eachother and respond when we can, instead of being on the phone were you have to focus on that one conversation and abandon anyone else you're talking to. I still talk on the phone and everything, but texting just makes life easier.

Stop trollin' bro.

[NastyDHL]

I'm a teenager as well, and in my opinion texting is less about communication than a verbal conversation, and more about self-indulgence.

[BartenderMix]

I love this chain thats starts with my comment.

K, so I understand what nasty and others are saying, but nasty is right and so are you guys.

But seriously, texting is a step backwards in communication, not a step fowards.  The video phone was suppose to be the next step but as in with most communications platforms they are a network externality- the more people use it, the more benefit.

[BartenderMix]

its a step foward because the smaller data allows for more data from multiple users to be sent.

1Its backwards because you've removed the human voice and other things that go along with the language.

2 not everything that's mundane is important.

3 ted presentation said that some are more addicted to text than to talk to people at the dinner table.

4 we've simplified our language= we are speaking new speak-1984 reference.

5 search twouble with twitter on CURRENT

[NastyDHL]

seriously dude, the human language is no longer evolving to meet the need for more accurate expression, but to meet our ever increasing laziness...communication is not being made more accurate but easier...

definitely a bad thing

[BartenderMix]

thats point 4 of my comment

[WinnieNotThePooh]

Yes, I have a low-esteem. If I don't boost my ego, I might do something crazy in the real world. I don't think it got any LOL value in that case.

[kausama]

teh fawk?

[ProfesserMoriarty]

first!

[NastyDHL]

wow, the most pathetic of the ego-boosts...the "first" comment on a youtube video...

I'm curious as to how petty we are, that we get a kick out of being the first person to comment on a video...our ego works by our subconscious comparison of ourselves to others, and only those with truly low confidence can feel good about beating out others in yet another meaningless competition (aren't all competitions meaningless though?)

peace & harmony...there is only ONE LOVE

[semigotbanned]

"the most pathetic of the ego-boosts...the "first" comment "

as a bystander I can assure you, the second most pathetic is the guy who replies to it in 500 characters....

[Cyllid]

But I love 500 character responses.

[NwZ2]

Because attempting to deconstruct what is unanimously an annoying thing (first comments) is a BAD thing, while ignoring it is a virtue?

You're an idiot of the highest order and people like you retard society by insulting those that try to make things better.

Gtfo.

[semigotbanned]

NwZ2, you're an insane bigot

please "deconstruct" yourself and your stupid cartoon shit videos, you dumshit kid

[NwZ2]

LOL who looks at a person's profile to find ammunition to launch ad hominem attacks? How pathetic can you get.

I guess my rather accurate comment cut you *deep*, huh?

Also, wtf @ the bigot comment. It's amazing the things you can pull outta your ass. ROFL

[LegendSaber]

You sound tense. Do you need a hug?

[NwZ2]

I guess someone who wouldn't understand half the words I used (hint: they weren't big) would thing I was speaking gibberish.

Sad, really.

[LegendSaber]

:: Hugs NwZ2 and gives him a teddy bear. ::

[NastyDHL]

and semigotbanned, what are your intentions when you try to bring down those who are trying to help?

[NastyDHL]

"Because attempting to deconstruct what is unanimously an annoying thing (first comments) is a BAD thing, while ignoring it is a virtue?"

Wow, thank you. That was said much better and much more succinctly than I could manage.

I love youtube comment walls. You really can see human nature, as this is an extension of our imagination of ourselves aka ego. Thanks for putting in words what I was thinking, and ya gotta ignore those who insult in arguments, they strive for themselves, not for truth

[BartenderMix]

pwned by semigotbanned

[NastyDHL]

guess this is another competition I lost....

semigotbanned, why is that pathetic?...because of your laziness, and the fact that putting (even minimal) effort into anything is a waste of time? was I trying to make myself feel good by pissing others off? I don't understand how my comment was pathetic, and you are no longer a bystander once you reply.

Are you not equally pathetic for responding to my response? Or is it just the fact that I typed so much?