Know Your Audience

Welcome, prospective Outreachy applicant! 👋 If you're considering joining the Ushahidi community, you've come to the right place. Ushahidi is an open-source software platform that has been making waves in the world of crisis response and humanitarian technology since 2008.

Let me start by introducing you to the Ushahidi community. We are a diverse group of individuals, ranging from software developers 👨‍💻 and Quality Assurance📊 to Designers🎨 and community advocates🌍. What brings Ushahidi together is a shared passion for empowering communities and organizations to better respond to emergencies and crises.

The problem that Ushahidi is trying to solve is the challenge of collecting, visualizing, and sharing information during times of crisis, when traditional communication channels may be disrupted or overwhelmed. Imagine a scenario where a natural disaster strikes and people on the ground need to report issues, share updates, and coordinate relief efforts🌍.

For example, during the recent protests due to passing of The Finanace Bill 2024 in Kenya 🇰🇪, Ushahidi got to work right away. They were able to analyze over 200,000 tweets that people were sharing on social media 💬 By using some AI models, Ushahidi was able to quickly make sense of all that information - identifying key events, understanding the mood of the protesters, and spotting any urgent needs that had to be addressed. 📊

With this big-picture view of the situation, Ushahidi could then provide helpful, up-to-the-minute insights to the organizations and relief workers on the frontlines 👩‍⚕️. It's all about turning mountains of data into practical, actionable information that can make a real difference when things are at their most chaotic. 🌍

But for our platform to be truly effective, it needs to be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. That's where my project comes in! 🔍 As an Outreachy intern, I have been conducting a comprehensive accessibility review of the Ushahidi Platform Client - the user-facing interface of our platform. This involves evaluating the platform against best practices and industry standards for web accessibility, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

By closely examining the Ushahidi Platform Client through the lens of accessibility, I was able to identify areas for improvement. Finding that certain UI elements are not easily navigable for users who rely on screen readers. Or perhaps there are barriers to "color-blind" users interacting with the platform's visual components.

Armed with my findings, I then worked on implementing accessibility enhancements to the Ushahidi Platform Client. 💻 This involved adding alt text to images, improving keyboard navigation, enhancing color contrast, and more. The goal is to ensure that our crisis response tool is truly inclusive and empowering for all users, regardless of their abilities.

As an Outreachy Intern in Ushahidi, my impact won't stop there. As part of this project, I'm also creating comprehensive documentation and training materials (integration of CLI) to help the broader Ushahidi community understand and apply accessible design principles. 📚 This way, we can work together to build a more inclusive and equitable platform that serves the diverse needs of the communities we support.

So, if you're passionate about open source, accessibility, humanitarian technology, community, and making a real-world impact, I encourage you to apply for the Outreachy program and join our team(Ushahidi). We'd be thrilled to have you on board and support you in this important work. 🤝

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