<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">From Read Write Web, a tech/news publication:<div><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ladies_mapping_party_helps_make_google_maps_strong.php">http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ladies_mapping_party_helps_make_google_maps_strong.php</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; "><div class="asset-header" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><div id="metadata_digg_box" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; width: 633px; text-align: left; "><div id="metadata_digg_left" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><h1 class="titlelink" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.6em; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; line-height: 1.2em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ladies_mapping_party_helps_make_google_maps_strong.php" title="Permanent link to " ladies="" mapping="" party"="" strengthens="" google's="" africa="" maps"="" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; cursor: pointer; ">"Ladies Mapping Party" Strengthens Google's Africa Maps</a></h1><div id="submeta" class="author-date-comments" style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 0.8em; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); ">By <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/author/curt-hopkins.php" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; ">Curt Hopkins</a> / March 2, 2011 2:00 PM / <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ladies_mapping_party_helps_make_google_maps_strong.php#disqus_thread" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; 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font: normal normal normal 14px/0.9em Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; "><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><img alt="Training session150.jpg" src="http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/Training%20session150.jpg" width="150" height="113" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; cursor: auto; float: left; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">If you like the idea of a quilting bee but prefer your bits electronic instead of fabric, you might be interested in a "<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/galsonmaps/" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); cursor: pointer; ">ladies mapping party</a>." 70 Kenyan women were, and showed up to a <a href="http://google.com/" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); cursor: pointer; ">Google</a>-sponsored a ladies mapping party at Nairobi's iHub in February.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; ">The women used <a href="http://www.google.com/mapmaker" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); cursor: pointer; ">Google Map Maker</a>, and their specific local knowledge, to fill in schools, health centers, market centers, community development projects, restaurants and roads in a country too often neglected by cartographers.</p></div><div id="predicta" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; clear: both; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245); border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); font-size: 0.95em; "></div><div id="more" class="asset-more" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; clear: both; font: normal normal normal 14px/0.9em Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; "><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><img alt="More mapping.jpg" src="http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/More%20mapping.jpg" width="448" height="336" class="alignright" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; cursor: auto; display: block; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; float: right; ">Jacqueline Rajuai, Geo Specialist with Google, said the mix of women and the skills and knowledge they brought ranged widely.</p><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat repeat; ">"We had a mix of students, web developers, Non-profit CEOs, an advocate and even an editor. Their backgrounds were quite an interesting mix as we had Computer Science students and Geography students, participants with an environmental background but the common factor is that they had an interest to improve the Kenya maps. Either where they live, where they have projects or areas they frequent."</blockquote><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; ">This is hardly the first time Google has invited people to an intensive mapping party. Not unlike the independent <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/residents_of_africas_largest_slum_put_themselves_o.php" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); cursor: pointer; ">Map Kibera</a> experiment, Google invited the <a href="http://google-africa.blogspot.com/2010/11/mapping-korogocho.html" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); cursor: pointer; ">inhabitants of Korogocho</a> to put themselves on the map. A <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/06/map-makers-respond-to-pakistan.html" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); cursor: pointer; ">Pakistan project</a> brought people together last year to map changes after that country's horrific mudslides.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><img alt="Ladies mapping 2.jpg" src="http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/Ladies%20mapping%202.jpg" width="448" height="336" class="alignleft" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; cursor: auto; display: block; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; float: left; ">Google is hardly a non-profit. All the information entered is available for further iterations of the company's maps. However, Rajuai says this undertaking extends beyond making a profit.</p><blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 30px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat repeat; ">"The bigger aim of all this is to make the world's information accessible, and also to make sure that we get more African content, and to make the internet useful and relevant for Africans."</blockquote><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; "><em style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Any readers involved in other crowdsourced mapping projects? Let us know in the comments.</em></p></div></div></span><div apple-content-edited="true">-- <br>Jay Walsh<br>Head of Communications<br><a href="http://WikimediaFoundation.org">WikimediaFoundation.org</a><br>blog.wikimedia.org<br>+1 (415) 839 6885 x 609, @jansonw</div><br></div></body></html>