FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
CONTACT: info@sharek961.org

Sharek961.org

Sharek961.org citizen reporting platform to promote transparency in Lebanon during the elections.

On sharek961.org ordinary Lebanese citizens can share their election experiences with the world. Citizens can send reports to Sharek961 and report on election related issues in four simple ways: SMS to 7118 9118, email to report@sharek961.org, Twitter at @sharek961, or online at www.sharek961.org.

BEIRUT - Today Sharek961 debuted, giving every Lebanese a simple opportunity to share with the world what is happening in his or her village, street, and neighborhood during this important election period.

In the best of all worlds, elections are fair, transparent, and well organized. Media and international organizations do their share to support transparency in the elections through observation and coverage. But in reality, elections come with a variety of constraints, and media and monitoring outlets can’t be everywhere.

Sharek961.org will bridge this gap, empowering citizens to report in Arabic and in English, through four means; SMS, email, Twitter and web reports. Reports can address anything election-related happening around the country, from political rallies and polling queues to vote-buying and violence. Sharek961 anonymously publishes these reports alongside news reports, blog posts, photos, videos and tweets, on an interactive map, making them publicly available to all citizens, media outlets, and organizations.

Sharek961 does not attempt to verify reports and makes no claims as to their accuracy; as a neutral platform it publishes all material reports without editorial or censorship. The project merely seeks to contextualize reports against various sources of information, such as reports from other citizens and the news media, official observation groups, and images and videos, in order to provide users with tools for understanding.

Sharek961 is the beginning of a citizen movement for transparency in which all Lebanese are invited to participate. The 7th of June is just the beginning. Sharek, ya shareek!

Background: Sharek961 is based on an open-source project called Ushahidi. Early Ushahidi deployments include Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the 2007 war on Gaza (http://labs.aljazeera.net/warongaza/), as well as Vote Report India (http://www.votereport.in). Sharek961 is the latest evolution of this project.

Sharek961 has no political interest other than to promote transparency in a country we love. We’re an independent, unaffiliated, non-partisan, all-volunteer project, and the result of the hard work and collaboration of many non-profit partners and individuals. For further information about partners and the team behind Sharek961, please visit http://www.sharek961.org or contact info@sharek961.org.

www.sharek961.org
info@sharek961.org

Facebook Page: Sharek961
Twitter: @sharek961
SMS: 7118 9118