Okay, so Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, is not selling elections. But he is selling the idea that we can all participate in possibly the most exciting experiment in technodemocracy in our lifetime: monitoring the upcoming elections the West African nation of Guinea FROM OUR OWN COMPUTERS.
Ready to buy that idea? Join me over the jump.
What country has the best chance of establishing democracy for the first time in 2010? It’s Guinea, a country of 10 million people in West Africa. Guineans deserve the right to make their own decisions, and YOU can help make sure that happens.
Guinea is on the eve of its first democratic elections since it gained independence from France. Alliance Guinea, which brings together Guineans and friends of Guinea committed to justice and democracy, is using a crowdsourcing system called Ushahidi ("testimony" in Swahili) to allow Guinean citizens to report directly on election irregularities by sending SMS text messages from their cell phones. Nationwide publicity began in Guinea on Monday, with an announcement by Miss Guinea. Over 10,000,000 Guineans will be able to use this software.
On this end, Alliance Guinea needs volunteers to process the information that comes in. You do NOT have to be a French speaker -- they will use Google's translation software, supplemented by French speakers. Using your own computer, you will help sort the real reports from the spam, weed out duplicate reports from the same source, and add data points to a map of irregularities that need to be investigated.
The first step is to sign up here. You’ll get more information -- and all the training you need. They're asking for a commitment of 2-3 hours during the election itself, but if you can give more -- and especially if you are available to coordinate other volunteers -- please do!
A quick primer on Guinea, provided by Kossack Yero (one of the forces behind Alliance Guinea):
* Back in 1958, Guinea was the first African colony to get its independence from France. That was the last time Guinea was a leader of political self-determination. Since then, it had one undemocratic leader after another.
* A few months ago, the most recent coup leader was shot in the head by his top bodyguard who feared that he would be blamed for the unprecedented massacre and mass rapes of September 2009. Nevertheless -- and quite surprisingly -- Guinea is now heading to its first openly contested presidential elections ever on June 27. Just today, the AP reported that the U.S. is training a new presidential guard in Guinea, who will presumably (unlike the former presidential guard) be willing to accept the result of a democratic election.
* 2010 will be known as the year that this West African country went from military to civilian rule. It’s the best prospect for democracy on the planet.
This may be the most direct opportunity you’ll ever have to right a gross injustice in the world.
Will you help? The election is June 27, so the time to act is now.