The Ushahidi blog features a guest post by Alex Mayyasi, a graduate of Stanford University's International Relations program, class of 2011, living in Cairo, Egypt on the use of the mapping platform during Egypt's 2011-2012 parliamentary elections. It notes, Our most common verification strategies were to corroborate reports by checking online news, looking at attached photos or videos, asking our local volunteers to investigate personally or through their local contacts, or contacting the sender. We had an additional team on the ground that could travel to investigate and verify reports of large-scale fraud. Our verification volunteers also had two additional trainings. First, they learned how to use ICT4Peace’s...

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The ICT4Peace Foundation is proud to announce the signing of an MOU with the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) of Sweden. The parties have agreed to cooperate in the furtherance of training and capacity building in the field of crisis information management for peace support operations. One of the priority projects is the development and testing of a JMAC - CiM training course at African Training Institutions including using ICTs and new media as tools for information collection, analysis and dissemination. This project is part of the work of a consortium lead by ICT4Peace together with the The Cairo Regional Center for Training on Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa (CCCPA), Zentrum für Internationale Friedense...

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On 22 December 2011, ICT4Peace's Daniel Stauffacher adressed over 60 Swiss Parliamentarians, Senior Government Officials and ICT Business Representatives in Bern Switzerland at a dinner organised by the pro Open Government Data Parliamentary Group called "Digitale Nachhaltigkeit", on the potential of Open Government Data for Crisis Information Management and Aid efficiency. In his presentation he referred to important recent initiatives such as Open Government Partnership (http://www.opengovpartnership.org/) of 8 founding countries lead by Bresil and the United States and 43 additional countries. The Open Government Partnership is a new multilateral initiative launched on 20 September 2011 that aims to secure c...

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Along with Delilah H.A. Al Khudhairy from the EU's JRC, Sanjana Hattotuwa, Special Advisor at the ICT4Peace Foundation delivered the keynote address at the 2011 International Network of Crisis Mappers, held in Geneva from 14-15 November, 2011. The ICCM network now features the video of this keynote on YouTube.

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In this latest paper by the ICT4Peace Foundation, the authors have called for a non-binding code of conduct to strengthen cyber-security and mitigate the threat of growing cyber-security threats. The paper is a substantive basis for the call issued by the authors in an op-ed in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on 6 July 2011, for such a non-binding code of conduct. The paper describes also some recent developments in 2011 that took place at the policy-making level at the United Nations and important conferences in London and Berlin in the Fall of 2011. Download the report as a PDF here or view it online here.

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Dear colleagues and friends, I am pleased to send you the ICT4Peace Foundation's 2011 Year End Report, which you can read online here, or download as a PDF here. 2011 was, as the year before, rather tumultuous with the Arab Awakening and with political, economic and social upheaval affecting every corner of the globe. The year has also been marked by terrible natural disasters. It was a very busy year for the Foundation and as a larger community interested in promoting peace, democracy, human rights and development through the use of ICTs and social media. We believe great progress was made in increasing awareness and better understanding of the international community on the enormous potential that we have in u...

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Das erste Dinner der Parlamentarischen Gruppe Digitale Nachhaltigkeit in der neuen Legislatur widmete sich dem viel diskutierten Thema Open Government Data. Was sind Chancen und Risiken frei zugänglicher Behördendaten? Was wurde bisher erreicht, was ist noch möglich? Welche politischen Gründe sprechen für bzw. gegen Open Government Data? Zu diesen und weiteren Fragen informierten sich die über 60 Teilnehmenden des Parlamentarier-Dinners im Hotel Bern. André Golliez, Initiant von opendata.ch und Partner bei itopia AG, eröffnete den Abend mit einem Einstieg in die Thematik und zeigte aktuelle Trends der Open Government Data Bewegung auf (PDF-Folien). Anschliessend erläuterte der Direktor der Schweizerischen...

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28 November, Geneva, Switzerland – Daniel Stauffacher, Chairman, ICT4Peace Foundation, participated as a member of the Futurict project team in the EU FET Flagship Pilots Midterm Conference, 24-25 November 2011, Warsaw, Poland. This project is co-lead by Prof. Dirk Helbing, ETH Zürich and Prof. Steven Bishop, University College, London along with approximately 300 research teams all over the world. ICT4Peace has been supporting the efforts of Prof. Helbing and Prof. Bishop to build this important project since spring 2010. The EU FET Flagships are ambitious large-scale, science-driven, European research initiatives that aim to achieve a visionary goal. The scientific advance should provide a strong and broad ba...

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Keynote Address by Delilah Al-Khudhairy on behalf of the European Commission’s inhouse science service at the Joint Research Centre (JRC)

Good Afternoon Dear Colleagues,

It is also my pleasure to welcome you to the 3rd International Conference of Crisis Mappers. As Patrick Meier and Jen Ziemke have mentioned, this is the first time this conference is held in Europe, whose location was chosen for several strategic reasons, three of which I would like to highlight: The European Union is the largest donor of humanitarian and development assistance globally The ICT sector in the EU account for some 8% of its GDP...

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23 November, Geneva, Switzerland – The ICT4Peace Foundation and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), in collaboration with the International Network of Crisis Mappers successfully organised and co-hosted the 3rd International Conference on Crisis Mapping (ICCM). ICCM 2011, held at the International Conference Centre Geneva, CICG, Switzerland from 14 - 15 November, was the first to be held outside the US and also the largest so far, with over 400 participants in attendance. The conference brought together the most engaged practitioners, scholars, software developers and policymakers at the cutting edge of crisis mapping to address and assess the role of crisis mapping and humanitarian technolo...

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