The Rhiza Feed

The GeoWeb Conference, hosted by the Geospatial Information & Technology Association, just announced that Josh Knauer, CEO of Rhiza Labs, has accepted an invitation to speak at the conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Josh’s talk will be titled, “People Powered Data”. If you’d like to meet with Josh while he’s in Vancouver, please contact us early to schedule some time.

Here’s a short description of Josh’s talk:
Just in the past months, durable mobile devices, open-source data-collection tools, and innovative distributed databases have arrived. These new tools take the mystique out of collecting, aggregating, visualizing, and broadcasting geodata. Regardless of training, anyone can now create high-quality structured data. Stakeholders can then collaboratively visualize this data in real time using a host of technology platforms. The resulting insights inform decision-makers using information from the most reliable sources: first-hand witnesses. This lets leaders base their decisions on better information. The result is that the community is not simply engaged in the decision-making process, but is in fact driving it — to everyone’s benefit. Drawing on their experience and knowledge of the field, Knauer will illustrate successes and best practices through real stories from the rain forests of Brazil to the streets of Pittsburgh to epidemiology laboratories in D.C. Using these case studies, he will describe the design techniques and workflows that have simplified user interfaces to increase participation and usability. Speaking to the best practices in implementing these systems, he will detail real successes in decentralized data collection. You’ll leave with roadmap for deploying people-powered data to make better decisions in your organization, regardless of what technology you use.

Rhiza’s CEO, Josh Knauer, was featured in a profile in Carnegie Mellon Today, the alumni magazine for Carnegie Mellon University. Click the picture below to read the full article.

Josh Knauer, CEO of Rhiza Labs, will be speaking later this week at the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference 2010 in Atlanta. Josh’s session is called People Powered Data. Here’s an overview of the session:

People Powered Data – [213]

It’s clear that good decisions are predicated on good data. But gathering this data and translating it into action remain key challenges for mission-driven organizations. Join Josh Knauer, CEO of Rhiza Labs for a discussion of the methods and technologies nonprofits use to gather community-sourced, actionable information. Have staff in the field? Use mobile devices to turn existing employees into roving data collectors. Handheld devices are revolutionizing everything from surveying vacant properties to managing voluminous human services paperwork. Using mobile data collection tools, nonprofit professionals can collect information about the communities they serve while performing their programmatic duties. New technology allows existing databases to seamlessly import this data to create a constantly-evolving glimpse into current community conditions.

Takeaways:

• Learn how non-profits can leverage mobile data collection and controlled crowdsourcing to generate community-contributed data
• Learn how to use new visualization tools to turn data into actionable information
• Understand how to motivate volunteers to participate in data creation

You can learn more about the conference and Josh’s session on the NTC 2010 website. If you’re going to be at the conference and would like to meet up with Josh, feel free to set up an appointment by contacting Rhiza Labs.

Rhiza Labs is proud to announce the newest member of its team, Alison Alvarez!

Alison has a talent for developing computer systems that understand people. Her background as a computational linguist helps her understand how all kinds of people interact with software and helps her visualize ways to connect regular users with the information they need.

Prior to joining Rhiza, Alison worked as the Lead Product Design Engineer for Medrespond and developed a virtual coaching system called Project Go! that educated and motivated kids and parents to make healthy nutrition and exercise choices. As part of her graduate research work Alison also developed tools for building and analyzing universal human language corpora for use in field linguistics.

When not at Rhiza, Alison spends time with her husband and three Rhode Island Red hens, Mary, Eleanor and Catherine. She also spends most of her free time sewing and gardening like she means it.

MapItApps, a leading provider of location-aware applications for mobile phones has recently released a new program to help people locate areas of high H1N1 infection nearby, using the FluTracker data feed.

Watch the Demo on YouTube

Media or User Reported Outbreaks appear in Red Pins
- Fatalities appear in Purple Pins
- Your Contacts appear in Green Pins
- Your “Comfort Zone” is a red elipse

If a user defines a personal “Comfort Zone” they are notified of newly reported outbreaks each time they launch the H1N1 Map.

The application is currently available for the iPhone and iPod Touch in the iTunes App Store.

Versions for Android and Windows Mobile are coming soon!

Contact us for more information on how your company can create new products and services with subscriptions to the FluTracker Data Feed.

Rhiza Folio has such broad appeal to program managers, communications staff, and project coordinators that I sometimes have difficulty encapsulating all its value when I talk to people about it. So, I’ve made a video showing a few of the many ways that Folio can turn your project data into an engaging and useful showcase of your work. Let me know what you think, and feel free to contact us if you’d like to learn more.

Rhiza is pleased to announce that we now offer rugged Android phones and PDAs that are customized to work with Rhiza Insight for clients who need a flexible, open and dependable platform for mobile data collection. Built to withstand extreme temperatures and the general beating most mobile computers get when they are used in the field, these waterproof and durable devices are packed with functionality.

For example, the Trimble Nomad’s standard options include an 806 MHz XScale processor, 512 MB to 2 GB of Flash storage, a long-life battery and integrated wireless capabilities like GPS, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth. Upgrades include GSM (GPRS/EDGE) for data, integrated laser bar code scanner and a 2 megapixel, color, digital camera. The Nomad also features a high-resolution, sunlight-visible, touchscreen VGA display that shows graphics and maps in crisp detail.

The Bluebird BIP-6000 is an Enterprise PDA which comes standard with a large 3.5″ VGA color LCD, PXA 320, 806MHz processor, 128MB RAM / 256MB RAM/512MB ROM, MicroSD slot (up to 32GB cards), integrated GPS, GSM/GPRS, and 3 megapixel autofocus camera with flash.

We’ve partnered with a great team of engineers at SDG Systems to offer the first rugged Android phones in the marketplace. The Bluebird BIP-6000 will be available in October and the Trimble Nomad will be available in January.

Now customers can collect data in the field and quickly see results online using Rhiza Insight. Managers can wirelessly push new data collection forms to remote teams and watch the data populate maps online with Rhiza Insight as the data is being collected.

We’ll get more information about these phones up on our website soon, but until then, give us a call at 412 488-0600 for more information.