Open Source Tech Used To Monitor Afghan Election 51
chrb writes "BBC News is reporting on how the Alive in Afghanistan project is helping to oversee the Afghan elections using open-source technologies. The site was set up by Brian Conley, who is also responsible for 'Alive in Baghdad', 'Alive in Mexico', and who was arrested for filming protests in China last year. The Afghan site uses FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi to process and visualize SMS texts from Afghani citizens, allowing reports from all over the country to be rapidly collated and re-distributed globally."
Re:hope it works (Score:2, Informative)
The election is a farce, as is the Afghan government, which relies on the support of a federation of armed tribal gangs.
Citation, please.
The Afghan Army and Police are far from perfect, however, they exist and, especially the army, are doing good work and are getting better. The police are less mature as a organization and have more problems than the army. I've been there, seen it, lived it. I will be doing all of that again soon. Can you say that?
The national government is capable of controlling both the army and police and have on occasion, reeled them in from doing stupid stuff before they do it. Again, I've lived it, seen it.
There are a number of big problems in Afghanistan, including corruption. No argument there. Your last paragraph is not too far off the mark. The problem is that if every neighboring country sees a weak Afghanistan as being in their best interests.
and it will go on and on until the coalition is forced to withdraw and the terrorists will have achieved their aim of doing to the West what they did to the Soviets.
So, what is your answer? Bomb the crap out every 5 to 10 years like we (the rest of the world) have been doing?
Re:hilarious (Score:3, Informative)
I counted 6 presidential candidates last election and 4 different "major" parties. Also, I remember about 7-10 candidates for two of those major parties being DEMOCRATICALLY elected as the party's candidate by members of those parties. What election were you watching?