FAQ

<div> 1. What is the purpose of this site? <table width="97.5%" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td>- To assist with flood relief & other disaster response activites associated with the Missouri River.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   2. What key functionality is available from this site? <table width="97.5%" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td>- Mappings of confirmed public reports in four main categories - <a title="River Activity @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../reports/?c=1" target="_blank">River Activity</a> (e.g., <a title="Dam release example @ MightyMoRiver (may be outdated)" href="../../reports/view/17" target="_self">dam releases</a>), <a title="Public Impact @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../reports/?c=2" target="_self">Public Impact</a> (e.g., <a title="Road Closure example @ MightyMoRiver (may be outdated)" href="../../reports/view/2" target="_blank">road closures</a>), <a title="Humanitarian Relief @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../reports/?c=9" target="_self">Humanitarian Relief</a> (e.g., <a title="Contact the team @MightyMoRiver" href="mailto://mightymoriver@gmail.com?subject=Shelter Info @ MightyMoRiver" target="_blank">shelters, once more info available</a>), & <a title="Volunteer Opportunities @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../reports/?c=8" target="_self">Volunteer Opportunities</a> (e.g., <a title="Sandbagging (likely in the past)" href="../../reports/view/9" target="_self">sandbagging</a>). - For reports with extensive geographic data, labeling of Google maps, e.g., for a <a title="Road Closure example @ MightyMoRiver (may be outdated)" href="../../reports/view/2" target="_blank">road closure</a> (note line on I-29) or for a <a title="Dam release example @ MightyMoRiver (may be outdated)" href="../../reports/view/17" target="_self">dam release</a> (click on pinned locations, or features on left side of report). - On the maps, clicking "stacked paper" icon on the upper right will enable switching to Satellite or other Google map base layers. Maps can also be enlarged (look for link under lower right of maps on report pages, or click Full-Screen Map on main page) - <a title="Get alerts @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../alerts" target="_self">Alerts via user subscription</a> (by geographic area & category) to our reports <a title="Published Reports @ MightyMoRiver (English)" href="../../feed/" target="_blank">feed</a> (e.g., once <a title="Reports @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../reports" target="_self">reports</a> published from our curated news <a title="Curated News @ MightyMoRiver" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MissourisSharedItemsInGoogleReader?format=xml" target="_blank">feed</a>). - Two feeds - intermediate curated news feed ("Step 1", <a title="Google Reader Curated News Feed (English)" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MissourisSharedItemsInGoogleReader?format=xml" target="_blank">RSS</a>) & <a title="Published Reports @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../reports" target="_self">published reports</a> ("Step 2", <a title="Published Reports @ MightyMoRiver (English)" href="../../feed/" target="_blank">RSS</a>) - latter primarily from curated news feed. We also publish reasonably valid info from <a title="Contact the team @MightyMoRiver" href="mailto://mightymoriver@gmail.com?subject=REPORT @ MightyMoRiver" target="_blank">email</a>, <a title="Submit Report" href="../../reports/submit" target="_self">submitted reports</a>, etc. Public tweets labeled with any of these hashtags #MightyMoRiver, #2011MoRivFlood, or #OmahaFlood may also appear on our site (but tweets are part of the same curated news process, so not necessarily guaranteed, the same as news reports, or Facebook pages tracking the 2011 floods). - <a title="More sources of Missouri River flood info" href="../../page/index/2" target="_self">Links to other sites</a> extensively involved with responding to the Missouri River activity. - As time permits, we also may post info on our <a title="About MightyMoRiver" href="../../page/index/7" target="_self">social media</a> pages, for now - likely just <a title="@MightyMoRiver @Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/#!/MightyMoRiver" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> 3. Does the site support other languages? <table width="97.5%" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td> - Partially. - At the top right of this Crowdmap site, viewers, can change an interface language, e.g., Español  / Castellano (AR), as demonstrated at this <a title="Convert MightyMoRiver to Español / Castellano interface" href="../../?l=es_AR" target="_self">link</a>. To revert to English, use this <a title="Convert MightyMoRiver to Español / Castellano interface" href="../../?l=en_US" target="_self">link</a>. Additional languages are available using the drop-down bar at the <a title="Go to main page of MightyMoRiver - language interface selector is at the upper right." href="../../" target="_self">top</a> of the site. - TODO: Our curated news & reports feeds are available in Spanish: news / <a title="Los Informes Publicados @ MightyMoRiver (Español)" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/Mightymoriver-Crowdmap-Spanish" target="_blank">r</a>e<a title="Los Informes Publicados @ MightyMoRiver (Español)" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/Mightymoriver-Crowdmap-Spanish" target="_blank">ports</a> (courtesy of Yahoo! Pipes). </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> 4. What current issues exist on the site? <table width="97.5%" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td> - UPDATE - for load-balancing only updates when people view page - solution - need more viewers :-). The site scheduler does not run consistently - so the right-most media feed on the front page is not always up-to-date with respect to our Google Reader feed (<a title="Curated RSS Feed" href="http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/01713095408558056799/state/com.google/broadcast" target="_blank">RSS</a>). More importantly, <a title="Subscribe to report alerts @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../alerts" target="_blank">user-subscribed alerts</a> may be delayed. The only known work-around is for us to force-run the scheduler. A bug report <a title="Scheduler not auto-running @ Crowdmap" href="http://dev.ushahidi.com/issues/show/2205" target="_blank">currently exists</a> for this issue. - <a title="Main Page @ MightyMoRiver (scroll down for lower two "media" blocks)" href="../../" target="_blank">On the front page</a>, the bottom two block lists are both named "official & mainstream news". In actuality, the <a title="News Feed @ MightMoRiver" href="../../feeds" target="_blank">right-most list</a> is our in-bound media feed, which we curate with Google reader (<a title="Curated RSS Feed" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/MissourisSharedItemsInGoogleReader?format=xml" target="_blank">RSS</a>). As time permits, in-bound items are turned into reports, which appear on the map & <a title="Published Reports @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../reports" target="_blank">lower left block</a>, & for which a feed also exists (<a title="Report Feed @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../feed/" target="_blank">RSS</a>).  - UPDATE  - we added a date filter category to hack around this issue - click on rifht side of page (less interactive - try <a href="../../reports/?c=15">http://mightymoriver.crowdmap.com/reports/?c=15</a>). The timeline can *only* filter by month - this is a known limitation of the Ushahidi platform. The only way to filter to the day is to hit the play button, and even that will be limited. One alternative is to use the our <a title="Search @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../search/?k=flood*&b=search" target="_blank">search function</a> (upper right of any page). Another alternative is to directly browse the reports. The third and perhaps best alternative if date-limiting is super-critical is to Google search the site (where Google Search does provide some date-limiting functionality via the "Show search tools" once your <a title="Past week for MightyMoRiver @ Google Search" href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=site:mightymoriver.crowdmap.com#q=site:mightymoriver.crowdmap.com&hl=en&tbo=1&output=search&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:w&sa=X&ei=LQ_-TbOsGOHr0gG6wayhAw&ved=0CAYQpwUoAw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=c63ec0bb9cf8a77e&biw=1366&bih=705" target="_blank">query results appear</a>). You can also attempt to directly search for dates, e.g., as in this <a title=""Jun 15, 2011" @ Google Search" href="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=site:mightymoriver.crowdmap.com#sclient=psy&hl=en&authuser=0&source=hp&q=" target="_blank">example</a>.  - UPDATE - appears to be working We can't currently generate sub-categories from our main categories, e.g., River Activity --> Levee Break. For a working example, check out the archived Ushahidi site for <a title="Haiti site - working subcategories" href="http://haiti.ushahidi.com/" target="_blank">Haiti disaster response</a> (click the categories on the right side). A bug report <a title="Subcategories failing @ Crowdmap" href="http://forums.ushahidi.com/topic/subcategories-in-crowdmap-failing" target="_blank">also exists</a> for this issue. - MOBILE view - links don't translate automatically - solution - we need to go back through each report and embed links directly in description - this will take some time to change, but should be fixed going forward. <a title="Search @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../search/?k=flood*&b=search" target="_blank"></a>- Lists do not auto-indent, so we sometimes had to hack some quick & dirty HTML for improved <a title="Bullet indent table hack example page" href="../../page/index/7" target="_self">readability</a> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> 5. What licensing is associated with the information on this site? <table width="97.5%" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td> - Creative Commons Share & Share Alike License (to include Commercial Use) with Attribution, or <a title="CC-BY-SA 3.0 @ Creative Commons" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CC-BY-SA_Compliance" target="_blank">CC-BY-SA 3.0</a> - Our CC-BY-SA license is essentially the <a title="CC-BY-SA @ Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CC-BY-SA_Compliance" target="_blank">same license</a> currently being used by Wikipedia. - Please <a title="Contact the team @MightyMoRiver" href="mailto://mightymoriver@gmail.com?subject=License @ MightyMoRiver" target="_blank">contact</a> us if you're aware of any material not in compliance with this license. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> 6. How can I help? <table width="97.5%" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td> - <a title="Volunteer Opportunities @ MightyMoRiver" href="../../reports/?c=2" target="_self">Review</a> volunteer opportunity reports, <a title="Relief organizations listed @MightyMoRiver" href="../../page/index/2" target="_self">contact</a> relief organizations, or <a title="Contact the team @MightyMoRiver" href="mailto://mightymoriver@gmail.com?subject=Volunteer @ MightyMoRiver" target="_blank">contact</a> us to assist with this project. - Current needs include someone to help validate reports from our curated RSS feed, create a map layer or Google map that represents the current state of affairs, and georeference pics in Flickr and other sites. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   7. What technology is being used to power this site? <table width="97.5%" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td> - <a title="Ushahidi - Information Aggregation Platforms" href="http://www.ushahidi.com/" target="_blank">Ushahidi</a> & <a title="Crowdmap - Powered by Ushahidi" href="http://crowdmap.com/" target="_blank">Crowdmap</a>   -- Ushahidi is a platform for aggregating information generated during disaster response & relief efforts.   -- Crowdmap is the *free* hosted site provided by the folks developing the Ushahidi platform.   -- Why not self-host a Ushahidi instance? Faster, cheaper, albeit with less customization options.   -- Yes, so why not self-host Ushahidi? We're volunteers coordinating this project on nights & weekends.   -- For these reasons, we’re very thankful to the creators, developers & adminstrators at Ushahidi & Crowdmap! - <a title="Yahoo! Pipes" href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/" target="_blank">Yahoo! Pipes</a>   -- aggregate & filter feeds from sites actively reporting on flooding & other activities along the Missouri River.   -- aggregate & filter searches from Google News searches on activities along the Missouri River.   -- aggregate & filter searches from Google Search alerts on activities along the Missouri River.   -- aggregate & filter searches from Twitter searches on activities along the Missouri River. - <a title="Google Reader" href="http://www.google.com/reader/" target="_blank">Google Reader</a>   -- curate items found using our Yahoo! Pipes aggregations.   -- curate items obtained from feeds only reporting on the Missouri River flooding (e.g., Facebook pages)   -- in conjunction with Google Reader's <a title="Bookmarklet for Google Reader" href="http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2008/05/share-anything-anytime-anywhere.html" target="_blank">Bookmarklet</a>, enables us to quickly find & filter curated source items - <a title="Google Docs" href="https://docs.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Docs</a>   -- maintain a master RSS & Custom Search Engine domain / site listing   -- maintain a master category, sub-category & tagging taxonomy   -- other adminstrative functions, e.g., maintain our "todo" list - <a title="Gmail" href="https://mail.google.com/" target="_blank">Gmail</a>   -- coordinate administrative functions, such as site registrations   -- auto-transmit alerts from our primary Crowdmap site - <a title="Google Translate" href="http://translate.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Translate</a>   -- to generate some of the conversions to Espanol in conjunction with Yahoo! Pipes   -- if needed, to auto-translate any non-English news sources - Google Custom Search Engine (CSE)   -- in conjunction with our curated news feeds, to assist folks searching for Missouri River event info   -- very much a work in progress - most initial efforts have been focused on getting our Crowdmap site launched - <a title="RSS @ Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS" target="_blank">Really Simple Syndication</a> (RSS)   -- steady stream of events from original sources, Google Search & News, Facebook, & Twitter   -- enables workflow b/w Yahoo! Pipes, Google Reader & Crowdmap   -- not perfect, for  - <a title="Common special characters" href="http://copypastecharacter.com/" target="_blank">CopyPasteCharacter</a>   -- obtain special characters, e.g., … & ñ - <a title="Google Maps" href="http://maps.google.com" target="_blank">Google Maps</a>   -- sourced @ Crowdmap using our Google Maps API Key   -- on occasion, to more easily identify location data in news reports   -- potentially, to create custom maps that collectively represent current known breaks, closures, etc. - Social Media   -- doesn't everyone? but most of our efforts on concentrated on this site   -- on occasion, we do use Twitter, e.g., #2011MoRivFlood to communicate breaking reports   -- lock down branding of @MightyMoRiver on <a title="MightyMoRiver @ WordPress" href="http://mightymoriver.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">WordPress</a>, YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo!, Gmail, Twitter - <a title="apigee - easy API use" href="http://apigee.com/" target="_blank">apigee</a>   -- to quickly hack out certain <a title="Twitter @ apigee" href="https://apigee.com/console/twitter?api_selection=http://app.apigee.com/console/twitter" target="_blank">Twitter search tests</a>   -- to occasionally test out searches on other supported sites, e.g., Facebook - <a title="Akismet - Spam Protection" href="http://akismet.com/" target="_blank">Akismet</a>   -- via Crowdmap, to reduce comment spam   -- again, using our MightyMoServer API key from Akismet </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> 8. Other questions not answered here? <table width="97.5%" align="center"> <tbody> <tr> <td> - Search the web, e.g., for <a title="Search for #MightyMoRiver, #2011MoRivFlood, or #OmahaFlood @Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/#!/search/#MightyMoRiver or #2011MoRivFlood or #OmahaFlood" target="_blank">#MightyMoRiver, #2011MoRivFlood, or #OmahaFlood</a> on Twitter - Follow us on Twitter <a title="@MightyMoRiver @Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/#!/MightyMoRiver" target="_blank">@MightyMoRiver</a> - Try <a title="Contact the team @MightyMoRiver" href="mailto://mightymoriver@gmail.com?subject=FAQ @ MightyMoRiver" target="_blank">contacting</a> us. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div>

The MightyMoRiver Project

FAQ