I stand to be corrected, but the original challenge (idea?) was from Ory's blog back in 2008;
http://www.kenyanpundit.com/2008/01/03/update-jan-3-445-1100-pm/

**Quote*********

- Google Earth supposedly shows in great detail where the damage is being done [post-election violence] on the ground. It occurs to me that it will be useful to keep a record of this, if one is thinking long-term. For the reconciliation process to occur at the local level the truth of what happened will first have to come out. Guys looking to do something – any techies out there willing to do a mashup of where the violence and destruction is occurring using Google Maps?

**End quote ***

Then David got to work on the actual mashup, which evolved into Ushahidi, using Open Source code.  I would guess that he was the "original programmer", if there's such a thing.  Whiteafrican (Erik Hersman ) also credits Ory here;
http://whiteafrican.com/2008/01/07/using-technology-to-chronicle-incidents-of-violence/

**Quote*********

Sometimes there’s nothing more that you can do at the time than report what you see. That’s the idea behind the project that Ory thought up while reporting on the Kenyan elections. Basically, let’s create a mashup that people can report into on incidences of violence that they see.

Basically, you have an incident – that hopefully someone gets a picture or video of. A report on what happened and who was involved, and a location. That information is submitted and then populated into a map-based view that is easy to search by location and/or category.

**End quote ***

Whiteafrican also worked on the project in the early stages, then others developed on David's code.  I stand to be corrected.

Erick

On Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 2:26 AM, Claire Njoki <clairenjoki@gmail.com> wrote:

Congratulations David,

However, I have always wondered, who exactly is the main creator or
Ushahidi. Every time I see Ushahidi being mentioned I see different
people saying that they created it. There is a lady from Harvard,
another jungu guy, and another lady...and now David Kiania is
indicated as "part of ushahidi.com"...

...therefore to put this matter to rest, can someone please tell me
who really is the person who conceptualized the main idea that
germinated into ushahidi...

I know some of you will say, well, it is open source and so there are
many people involved, but, we all know for example when we think of
linux OS, the history books will indicate it all started with Linus
Torvalds...

Therefore I beg you to tell me...who initiated Ushahidi...since that
is the person who I believe should be written in the history books.

Claire.

On 12/4/10, David Kiania | Asentric Consulting Ltd <kianiadee@gmail.com> wrote:
> Technology review has recognized David Kobia 32, who's part of
> Ushahidi.com as one of the top inventors under 35.
>
> http://www.technologyreview.com/TR35/Profile.aspx?TRID=947
>
> Well done yet again, Ushahidi seems to be the gift that keeps on giving.
>
>
> 3 Cheers
>
> Kiania D.
>
>
> --
>
> [Asentric Consulting Ltd]
>
> "You don't build a business, you build people who build your business
> for you" - Brad Sugars
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