Bogota Hacks/Hackers to Launch Crowdsourced Map on Environmental Problems
Information management specialist Luis Hernando Aguilar, standing, is part of the technology team on the project, which uses the open-source Ushahidi mapping platform. (Photo by Elkin Garavito)
TOMADO DE:
http://www.icfj.org/blogs/bogota-hackshackers-launch-crowdsourced-map-environmental-problems
“Mi Bogotá Verde,” or My Green Bogota, a new, crowdsourced digital map that will track solid waste disposal – the first of many urban environmental concerns – is just weeks away from going online in Bogota.
Hacks/Hackers is an international organization of journalists (hacks) and computer technologists (hackers) with more than 10,000 members worldwide. The Bogota chapter is nearing the 200-member mark.
This is third mapping project I have coordinated during my one-year stay here. In July, we at ICFJ launched a
digital map to track political and administrative corruption in Colombia in partnership with the
Consejo de Redacción, an organization of investigative journalists. We also partnered with
El Tiempo, Colombia’s largest newspaper, to develop a digital map to monitor crime in the capital, a map that is to go live this month.
Our hackathon on August 11 was organized with the idea of putting together a general environmental map, but we decided rather than trying to deal with all environmental concerns, we would kick off by focusing on just one.
Our digital map will seek citizen input to monitor the garbage problem in this capital city of more than 8 million people.
What is going to make this map stand out is our thumbs-up, thumbs-down approach to the solid-waste problem. Rather than treating this as a crisis map, we will also show where and when something is done right.
We are kicking off with just three main categories – good and bad practices for dealing with solid waste, and reports verified by editors. With time, the map will expand to include other urban environmental concerns. We are using the open-source
Ushahidi mapping platform.
The slogan for the map, “Entre todos lo lograremos,” or “All together, we will succeed,” also applies to the 20-plus people who showed up for the hackathon.
Our participants included journalists, cartographers, designers, developers, Web entrepreneurs and environmentalists.
We think it’s a terrific start for one of the newest Hacks/Hackers chapters.
The mapping project was selected at the second Hacks/Hackers Bogota meeting in late May. A volunteer organizing committee met periodically in June and July to get things going and keep up the momentum.
And when we all got together, the momentum was definitely there, first through our brainstorming and then with our get-down-to-it attitude to move ahead. We divided into three groups to get our work done – communications, strategy and technology.
“I love the topic,” said Diana Salazar, who works in strategic digital communications at the Bogota Mayor’s Office. “And I think this interdisciplinary approach is important to generate optimum results.”
We had lots of help.
HubBOG, which fosters shared workspaces and entrepreneurship, opened up one of its workspaces. There was participant spillover from the members and organizers of
Bogodev, a meetup group of Web and mobile developers, and Bogotech, an organization of entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts. Co-organizer Renata Cabrales, social media editor at
El Tiempo, got us some great pre-hackathon coverage.
Now the work is continuing through the Google group we set up at the hackathon. You can follow us on Twitter at #BogmapaAmbiental.
