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About Me

Juliana Rotich is the Executive Director and co-founder of Ushahidi, the crowdsourcing platform that leverages mobile phones and the internet to change the way information flows.  Ushahidi is a web based reporting system that utilizes crowdsourced data to formulate visual map information of a crisis on a real-time basis. In the Kenyan scenario it was used to map out incidents of violence. Ushahidi then grew to be an open source platform that has been used in various situations such as the Haiti and Chile earthquakes, the Palestine conflict crisis, heavy snow crisis in Washington.

Juliana has worked in the telecommunications industry for over ten years.  She is originally from Kenya, with a Computer Science degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.  

She co- founded Mobisoko, a mobile marketplace for language and location relevant apps in Africa. She also writes the well-respected 'Afromusing' blog, typically with a focus on African tech and renewable energy. She is a budding African Futurist, Technologist and a TED Senior Fellow. She often speaks at international conferences about tech and Africa, including Lift, DEMO, TTI Vanguard and ARS Electronica.

Company Profile
Ushahidi is a non-profit tech company, born in Africa, which specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping.  We build tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories.

Ushahidi started as an ad hoc group trying to figure out a way to gather more and better information about the post-election violence in Kenya in January 2008.  Since then, the Ushahidi platform has gone open

Location:
United States, Chicago, IL
Current organization:
Ushahidi
Current role:
Co-Founder
Gender:
Female
Areas of expertise:
Networking, Blogging, Software Development Management, Environmentalism, database management, Computing/IT
I am:
Blogger, Change Agent, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Global soul, Idea generator
Associations:
International Solar Energy Society
Languages:
English, Swahili
My website links:
Afromusing, Global Voices, Ushahidi
Universities:
University of Missouri Kansas City
TED conferences attended:
TEDGlobal 2013, TEDGlobal 2012, TED2012, TED2011, TEDGlobal 2010, TED2010, TED2009

TEDCRED 200+ TED FellowAssociateTEDx OrganizerTED Attendee

More About Me

I'm passionate about

African Tech, open source, citizen sensing, Solar energy, Space and gadgets. I enjoy world music, art and architecture.

An idea worth spreading

Through simple SMS, mobile apps, social media and other channels, people have a voice to say "This is what is going on near me" Citizens not only as bystanders, but reporters and ultimately solution finders for our common problems as mankind.

Talk to me about

Africa, Building Things, Technology & Space

My TED Story

Juliana Rotich is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Ushahidi Inc. Ushahidi builds tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories. Through Crowdmap.com, Swiftly.org and accompanying mobile applications, Ushahidi is expanding its global footprint and making crowdsourcing tools available and useful.
Juliana has worked in the telecommunications and data warehousing industry for over ten years.  She is originally from Kenya, with a Computer Science degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. She is a Technologist, African Futurist and TED Senior Fellow. 

She co- founded Mobisoko, a mobile marketplace for language and location relevant apps in Africa. She speaks at international conferences about technology, innovation, mobile tec

Comments

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  • +1

    A comment on Conversation: If you could make a wish on behalf of The City 2.0, what would it be?

    Dec 6 2011: My wish is that the City 2.0 encompasses the voices and ideas from the citizens of the city. That they are engaged on how they can help deal with the many environmental and social problems that come with urbanization. As part of the Ushahidi team we are happy to help provide a channel (software) to engage citizens with various channels. Be it twitter, mashups, apps or simple SMS.
    To borrow Adam Greenfield's words 'You are the City' http://urbanscale.org

    Best,
    Juliana
    http://www.ushahidi.com/
  • +1

    A reply on Talk: Bjarke Ingels: 3 warp-speed architecture tales

    Sep 18 2009: that makes two of us! I seriously wouldn't mind changing my life's trajectory towards this cool architectural avant garde.

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