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Caroline Stauffer is a member of the core SIPA Team deploying the Ushahidi-Chile platform. She is a graduate student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) where she focuses on International Media and Communications. She spent the past summer working with the Associated Press in Bangkok, and worked for a nongovernmental organization in the Dominican Republic prior to SIPA.

Mark Belinsky co-founded Digital Democracy with Emily Jacobi. He serves as Technical Director and brings a background in computer science, sociology and film & media studies. He and Emily have worked closely with Burmese populations since 2007.

Working in the tech sphere, it’s the power and passion that people have that never ceases to astound me. Following the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, people around the world contributed an incredible outpouring of support for the people of Haiti. Now, as that support expands to Chile, it is evident that we are participating in a game changing moment.

This week in Nairobi has been “Election Monitoring” week due to the NDI/DFID meeting on Tue/Wed and the HIVOS meeting on Thur/Fri. Interestingly enough, both meetings heavily addressed the uses, or lack thereof, of technology in the election monitoring process.
One of the ideas that hit me was the need for a toolbox of technical tools that could be used by election monitoring groups and citizens both before, during and after the elections.
Understanding the Framework
Most of us think of an election as an event, I did too. Koki Muli provided us a with a great framework to understand the election process as a whole, using this visualization for everyone to see that it is indeed a long-term process, not an event.

Our dedicated team of volunteers have mapped over 100 reports including many pictures, and this less than 48 hours after the deployment of the Ushahidi-Chile platform. During this time, I worked directly with colleagues from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), my alma mater, to help them set up their own Situation Room and take the lead on Ushahidi-Chile. Our partners Digital Democracy (D2) once again played an instrumental role and provided the SIPA Team with the full Ushahidi training they needed. Many thanks to both!