democracy

This week, arguing that “transparency is overrated,” Amitai Etzioni presented a familiar critique. In his telling, transparency is ineffective because people cannot or do not act on disclosed information in ways that affect real policy outcomes. What he misses is that disclosure occurs within an ecosystem of interest groups and advocacy organizations that remix, repackage, and redistribute information once it is released. [...] Read More »

In light of all that is going on in Nairobi, I took a step back and started thinking about what it is we do here at Ushahidi, beyond the products, the code, and the community. We often get lumped into this greater industry of International Development, even though we talk about ourselves as a non-profit tech company. So I decided to try and dive a bit deeper, and try and suss out just how Ushahidi fits into this broader discussion of International Development. Read More »