ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Erik Hersman - Technologist
Erik Hersman harnesses Africa’s boundless spirit of innovation by creating platforms to improve daily lives both inside and outside the continent.

Why you should listen

Hersman is the CEO of BRCK, a rugged, self-powered, mobile Wi-Fi device that connects people and things to the Internet in areas of the world with poor infrastructure. He leads a number of web and mobile projects through organizations including iHub, a Nairobi community center that’s an epicenter for Kenya’s booming tech industry. The mobile app Ushahidi, which he co-developed, allows users to share breaking news through text messaging and continues to revolutionize and empower journalists, watchdog groups and everyday people around the world.

More profile about the speaker
Erik Hersman | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Erik Hersman: Reporting crisis via texting

埃里克-赫斯曼:通过发短信来报告危机事件

Filmed:
466,307 views

在2009年的TED大会,埃里克-赫斯曼呈现了一个在Ushahidi的显赫故事。GoogleMap mashup程序令肯尼亚人能够通过手机发短信跟踪报道2008年大选后的暴力事件。随着系统的进一步发展,它继续在其他国家地区拯救生命。
- Technologist
Erik Hersman harnesses Africa’s boundless spirit of innovation by creating platforms to improve daily lives both inside and outside the continent. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
So I'm here to tell you a story故事 of success成功 from Africa非洲.
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在这里,我要跟大家分享一个在非洲的成功故事。
00:16
A year and a half ago,
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一年半以前
00:19
four of the five people who are full充分 time members会员
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在这里的5个人
00:21
at UshahidiUshahidi的,
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是Ushahidi的专职委员
00:23
which哪一个 means手段 "testimony见证" in Swahili斯瓦希里,
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“Ushahidi”在斯瓦希利语里的意思是“证据”
00:26
were TEDTED Fellows研究员.
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其中4个人是TED的同道中人
00:28
A year ago in Kenya肯尼亚 we had post-election选后 violence暴力.
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一年前在肯尼亚的一次选举后发生了一起暴力事件
00:31
And in that time we prototyped原型 and built内置,
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而在那个时候我们利用短短三天
00:34
in about three days, a system系统 that would allow允许
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建造了一个系统平台的雏形
00:36
anybody任何人 with a mobile移动 phone电话
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这个系统平台允许任何人通过手机
00:38
to send发送 in information信息 and reports报告 on what was happening事件 around them.
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发信息和报告那些发生在他们周围的事情
00:41
We took what we knew知道 about Africa非洲,
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我们把我们所认识的非洲
00:43
the default默认 device设备,
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默认装置
00:45
the mobile移动 phone电话, as our common共同 denominator分母,
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手机,作为我们的共同点
00:47
and went from there.
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信息就是来源于那里
00:49
We got reports报告 like this.
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我们收到这样类似的报告
00:56
This is just a couple一对 of them from January一月 17th, last year.
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这只是在去年1月17日众多短信里的几条
01:02
And our system系统 was rudimentary初步. It was very basic基本.
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那时候我们的系统平台发展还未成熟,非常基本的
01:05
It was a mash-up混搭 that used data数据 that we collected from people,
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我们从人民那里收集数据,这是一个混合模式
01:08
and we put it on our map地图.
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然后我们把它标在在地图上
01:10
But then we decided决定 we needed需要 to do something more.
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但是那时我们意识到我们需要做更多东西
01:12
We needed需要 to take what we had built内置
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我们需要更好地利用这个已经建立
01:14
and create创建 a platform平台 out of it so that it could be used elsewhere别处 in the world世界.
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和创造好的平台,以便它能够在世界其他地方中应用
01:17
And so there is a team球队 of developers开发商
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于是产生了一个开发人员的团队
01:20
from all over Africa非洲, who are part部分 of this team球队 now --
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现在,团队成员有来自非洲各地
01:23
from Ghana加纳, from Malawi马拉维, from Kenya肯尼亚.
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来自加纳、马拉维和肯尼亚
01:25
There is even some from the U.S.
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甚至有一部分是来自美国的
01:29
We're building建造 for smartphones智能手机, so that it can be used in the developed发达 world世界,
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我们正在开发智能手机,以便于它不仅能够在发达国家里使用
01:32
as well as the developing发展 world世界.
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也能在发展中国家里使用
01:34
We are realizing实现 that this is true真正.
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我们渐渐意识到这是正确的
01:36
If it works作品 in Africa非洲 then it will work anywhere随地.
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如果它在非洲管用的话,那么它在任何地方都管用
01:38
And so we build建立 for it in Africa非洲 first
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于是我们先在非洲建立它
01:41
and then we move移动 to the edges边缘.
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然后再向外发展
01:43
It's now been deployed部署 in the Democratic民主的 Republic共和国 of the Congo刚果.
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现在已经在刚果民主共和国做好系统的部署
01:46
It's being存在 used by NGOs非政府组织 all over East Africa非洲,
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东非很多的非政府组织也有使用
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small NGOs非政府组织 doing their own拥有 little projects项目.
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小型的非政府组织做他们自己的小项目
01:52
Just this last month it was deployed部署 by
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就在上个月,我们把这系统应用到
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Al Jazeera半岛电视台 in Gaza加沙.
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加沙的半岛电视台
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But that's actually其实 not what I'm here to talk about.
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但是实际上这不是我在这里要讲的东西
01:59
I'm here to talk about the next下一个 big thing,
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我在这里要谈论另一件重要事情
02:01
because what we're finding发现 out is that
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因为我们发现
02:03
we have this capacity容量 to report报告
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我们有能力
02:05
eyewitness目击者 accounts账户 of what's going on in real真实 time.
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根据目击者所叙述的真实情况进行实时报道
02:09
We're seeing眼看 this in events事件 like Mumbai孟买 recently最近,
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就像最近发生在孟买的几起事件让我们意识到这点
02:12
where it's so much easier更轻松 to report报告 now
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现在在那里,报道消息比隐瞒消息
02:14
than it is to consume消耗 it.
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变得容易多了
02:16
There is so much information信息; what do you do?
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有这么多的信息,你要怎么做呢?
02:18
This is the Twitter推特 reports报告 for over three days
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这是三天以来Twitter的消息
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just covering覆盖 Mumbai孟买.
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仅仅关于孟买地区的消息
02:23
How do you decide决定 what is important重要?
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你如何决定哪一条消息才是重要的呢?
02:25
What is the veracity准确性 level水平 of what you're looking at?
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而你所看到的消息,它们的真实性又有多高呢?
02:28
So what we find is that there is this
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我们发现
02:30
great deal合同 of wasted浪费 crisis危机 information信息
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充斥着大量多余的危机信息
02:32
because there is just too much information信息 for us to
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因为对于我们来说存在着太多的信息
02:35
actually其实 do anything with right now.
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需要马上处理
02:38
And what we're actually其实 really concerned关心 with
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而实际上我们真正关注的
02:40
is this first three hours小时.
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是头三个小时
02:42
What we are looking at is the first three hours小时.
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我们在头三个小时所注意到的
02:44
How do we deal合同 with that information信息 that is coming未来 in?
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我们如何处理那些流进的信息呢?
02:47
You can't understand理解 what is actually其实 happening事件.
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你不可能知道到底正在发生什么事情
02:49
On the ground地面 and around the world世界
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无论是在现场还是世界各地的
02:51
people are still curious好奇,
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人们都是很好奇的
02:53
and trying to figure数字 out what is going on. But they don't know.
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并尝试去了解清楚事情的进展。然而他们并不知情。
02:56
So what we built内置 of course课程, UshahidiUshahidi的,
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那么当然在Ushahidi我们所建立的
02:59
is crowdsourcing众包 this information信息.
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正是要把这些信息人肉资源化
03:01
You see this with Twitter推特, too. You get this information信息 overload超载.
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你在Twitter上看到的情况也是一样的。你得到超负荷的信息。
03:04
So you've got a lot of information信息. That's great.
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那么你得到了许多资信。那实在太好了。
03:06
But now what?
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但是现在接下来呢?
03:08
So we think that there is something interesting有趣 we can do here.
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于是我们想到我们能够做一些有趣的事情
03:11
And we have a small team球队 who is working加工 on this.
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我们有一个小团队做这方面的工作
03:13
We think that we can actually其实 create创建
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我们觉得我们实际上能够创造
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a crowdsourced众包 filter过滤.
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一个人肉资源过滤器
03:17
Take the crowd人群 and apply应用 them to the information信息.
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吸纳这些群众以及把他们应用到信息上
03:20
And by rating评分 it and by rating评分
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然后通过把它分等级类别
03:22
the different不同 people who submit提交 information信息,
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把提交信息的人分不同等级类别
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we can get refined精制 results结果
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我们能够得到精确的结果
03:26
and weighted加权 results结果.
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和衡量过的结果
03:28
So that we have a better understanding理解
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以致我们有一个更好的了解
03:30
of the probability可能性 of something being存在 true真正 or not.
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这些信息的真实程度
03:32
This is the kind of innovation革新 that is,
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这种革新
03:35
quite相当 frankly坦率地说 -- it's interesting有趣 that it's coming未来 from Africa非洲.
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十分直接——有趣的是这个革新来自非洲
03:37
It's coming未来 from places地方 that you wouldn't不会 expect期望.
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来自一些你意想不到的地方
03:40
From young年轻, smart聪明 developers开发商.
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来自一群年轻有为的开发者
03:42
And it's a community社区 around it that has decided决定 to build建立 this.
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有一个围绕着它的共同团体决定要建立它
03:45
So, thank you very much.
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最后,非常感谢大家
03:47
And we are very happy快乐 to be part部分 of the TEDTED family家庭.
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我们很高兴成为TED大家庭的一份子
03:49
(Applause掌声)
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(鼓掌)
Translated by 尤 卓玲
Reviewed by Qu Wei

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Erik Hersman - Technologist
Erik Hersman harnesses Africa’s boundless spirit of innovation by creating platforms to improve daily lives both inside and outside the continent.

Why you should listen

Hersman is the CEO of BRCK, a rugged, self-powered, mobile Wi-Fi device that connects people and things to the Internet in areas of the world with poor infrastructure. He leads a number of web and mobile projects through organizations including iHub, a Nairobi community center that’s an epicenter for Kenya’s booming tech industry. The mobile app Ushahidi, which he co-developed, allows users to share breaking news through text messaging and continues to revolutionize and empower journalists, watchdog groups and everyday people around the world.

More profile about the speaker
Erik Hersman | Speaker | TED.com