Monkey Vs Robot – My Weekly Idealist post
Wikileak helping to shield journalists
Wikileaks, the site known for analyzing and publishing highly confidentional and secretive documents, is working to set up a system that helps to shield journalists from revealing their sources.
This system will be a place where “a source can leak information directly to a journalist for a period of time, before Wikileaks goes public with the info. But, either way, Wikileaks promises to protect the source, keeping the journalist separate from the source.”
Part of this system will include an embeddable widget for websites where whistleblowers can “upload a disclosure to me via Wikileaks.”
The world will be a bit more leakier and transparent.
Neighborhood Problem Solving
Leveraging their web app, an iPhone application, Twitter and 1-800 numbers, SeeClickFix aims to maker non-emergency reporting of neighborhood problems much simpler.
When a user reports an issue, other users or “fixers” can volunteer to fix the issue if possible or work to get the issue addressed. Blogs and websites can also post widgets and feeds on their sites reflecting current issues.
Community groups and the media are encouraged to keep tabs on issues and utilities and government agencies can sign up to receive alerts and manage service requests.
This service is currently only available in select cities.
iPhone App helping refugees with jobs
Samasource, a nonprofit and CrowdFlower, start-up out of San Francisco, have teamed up to create an application for the iPhone that allows you to help Kenyan refugees earn a living.
The application, Give Work (link to iTunes store), works like this –
1. A U.S. company submits an online job to CrowdFlower to be completed by a refugee in Dadaab, Kenya.
2. The refugee at Samasource completes the task immediately.
3. An iPhone user in the U.S. donates their time to double check the work.
4. The company that requested the work receives quick results, that are double checked for accuracy. The refugee worker is paid for their work and is able to improve their quality of life.
For more information about Give Work, check out this video.
