#no.5 Surfing the digital crowds
Having a bad day? Google can help. Feeling out of the loop with friends? Upload a new profile picture to draw in the likes and attention again. Not sure of the weather tomorrow? Check out weather.com with only one quick click on the keyboard or phone in front of you.
In times of crisis, confusion, or simply boredom, we reach out to the internet to 'save' us. Crowdsurfing falls under this digital safety blanket most of us have come to rely on so well. For most, if not all of the problems we face today, innovative means are efficiently facilitating the flow of information we can access while providing it to us at 'lightning speed'.
Crowdsurfing is often broadly referred to as 'the practice of obtaining needed services by soliciting contributions from larger groups of people, generally people from the online community instead of traditional employees' (Merriam webster Online 2014).
'The online community'. This is such a vast and open platform, I often question, what can I not find on the internet??
In terms of natural disasters, the latest updates on the damage that has been caused to the related area or the possible fatalities which have been accounted for are updated online on various websites and social media platforms every second to few minutes. This helps people keep up to date and stay aware of what is happening around them even if they are nowhere near the event which is taking place. Information continues to flow all over the internet, videos are uploaded showcasing footage at the scene, not only by the media but by bystanders and locals who are capturing the imagery and action all on their phones. The immediacy of 'amateur' visual coverage has now become a vital source to public knowledge and recovery.
"In 2007, the Ushahidi platform emerged, giving ordinary citizens the opportunity to report human rights abuses in the wake of the Kenyan presidential elections" (Ford 2012, p. 33).
Since its formation, its purpose has developed into an online space where anyone can initiate their own mapping website and allow others to have access to a reliable platform for posting and reporting on issues. Undoubtedly, a platform such as Ushahidi can change the nature of events as prominent as those within the political arena. As more people from all over the world add information to the crowdsourcing platform, the volume of data increases and users are therefore left without certainty as to what is reliable information and what is not.
"Tell your story the way you want it to be seen" (Ushahidi 2014).
How do we want to see the world and what happens around us?? Who will believe us, who will agree with us?? I guess we may have to continue crowdsurfing to find out.
Ford, H 2012, 'Crowd Wisdom', Index on Censorship, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39.
Ushahidi 2014, viewed 3 August 2016, <http://www.ushahidi.com/>.