As many of us watch the news unfold, I am impressed when I come across engaged citizens that come together to figure out a solution to something that sometimes seem unsolvable by any one person.
A company called Tomnod uses crowdsourcing and mapping data to help find things – in this case possible pieces of what could be Malaysian Flight 370. They have posted a few calls to action to ask people to help search parts of a grid that may contain parts of the plane.
In an age where many people call us apathetic and ethnocentric, there is always a side of global altruism that emerges during certain disasters. I wonder what other uses of distributed computing and crowdsourcing may play a part in future relief efforts or other non emergency types of situations. It’s a new form of volunteerism that I feel will be mainstream sooner then later.
Good vs Better 