Our User-Powered Library Reaches 1000 Resources

You may have seen

Our Library recently passed (June 2014) 1000 user-added resources.

Chab Dai first started dreaming up this counter-human trafficking resource platform back in 2012 and it's been amazing to see it go so quickly and come to full fruition. (It's been open just 6 months now.) Below is the current breakdown by resource type. 

Engagement

We built it in a way that empowers everyone to contribute — and we think it's making all the difference.

As a registered user, you are able to add resources to the system and up-vote other items that you like and have reviewed. 

The Library democratically displays materials based on the number of up-votes they've received in conjunction with the number of comments. If you search a subject — say "victim rehabilitation" — you're given results in the order that the community has determined through its collective voice. 

For each resource, you're able to push comments up and down as well (through "upvotes"/"downvotes"). Take a look to the right at the amazing discussion generated by one of the resources in the Library (Episode 01 of Freedom Dialogue: the micro-podcast series we recently started). 

If you've written, created or partnered with someone on a resource, you are also able to add it your personal profile as well as your organization's profile.

Try it out by registering here. If you have a Facebook or Twitter account, it only takes one click.

Moving Forward

It's been amazing to see this tool continue to grow and increase its engagement

Be sure to check back anytime you're in need of the latest information on a particular subject.  One of our 919 users are sure to have added something on the subject.

If you're looking for something recently published to read, you might want to take a look through the U.S. 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report which was published just a few weeks ago (June 2014).

In July, we are finishing up the development of a few additional filters. Current filters are: Subject, Type, and Geographic Focus. This month we're adding:

Browse

Recently added

Recently Commented

Most Commented

Most Viewed

Publish Date

Since 2010

Since 2005

Since 2000

Since 1995

Since 1990

Since 1985

Since 1980

Since 1975

Before 1975

Language

Resources in available languages.

If you have suggestions for improvements to the Library, we would love to hear them! Thanks for reading!


Taylor Poe
Freedom Collaborative Manager
Chab Dai Int'l

Launching Freedom Collaborative

By Taylor Poe

At 1 am on December 2nd 2013, WE FINISHED IT!

We launched Freedom Collaborative — a web application we've been working on at Chab Dai for the past three + years. It's a project designed to help bring new connectivity to the counter trafficking movement-at-large.

The launch

The feature release that held the most anticipation for me personally was the Freedom Library. I often cringe when I hear statements like this, but I'm going to say it anyway, this resource center is undeniably innovative. I'll let this page convince you of this and will use this blog space to tell you a little bit about its creation.

We started designing this collaborative resource center in 2012 — spending a few months researching the latest paradigms in wiki library models. Our design process was conducted in Cambodia that summer during a two month sprint of furious white-board writing & prototyping.

As for the Library's creation, I want to say a special thanks to Rob Perrett & Joy Anchalee P. Roberts for all of the time, energy and expertise they put into crafting this feature. Rob is an IT professional from Australia who has visited nearly every country in the world; Joy is a metadata expert at the American University of Cairo. While I'm at it, I'd like to to thank our entire advisory board — who has put so much into this project over the years:

As we upload our initial data input of resources over the next few days, our counter-trafficking library system will be set to become the largest of its kind in the world. And our team is pretty excited about this.

Other updates for the launch include the addition of personal profiles and the extension of the Freedom Registry to make it a global platform. Read about these updates here or you can view this PDF format.

We're not stopping in 2014

Below is our project schedule for a few of the major tools we are working on building for the community this year.

And since you've read this far, here's a reward: a premiere sneak peek at one of them. It's a human trafficking news aggregator that pulls in posts across all social media channels which use the hashtag #humantrafficking. We're working on incorporating it fully into the app before publicly announcing it, but go ahead and test it out by using the hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Google+.

I hope you will join us in this new and exciting collaborative platform.

New tools on the Freedom Registry

We launched a new version of the Freedom Registry! The major addition in this release is an interactive data visualization map of the movement's services. We can now dynamically visualize and filter the specifics of how organizations have registered the types of services they offer. This enables the movement to see who is doing what on a regional basis, and — just as importantly — where there are gaps in services. Potential volunteers can use it to see which nearby organizations have listed themselves as requesting help. We think this new tool goes a long way in cultivating new and powerful layers of connectivity into the movement.

Continuing in this narrative, we are building a means for anyone — organization or individual — to build new tools for the movement on top of our existing data structure. In tech-speak it is called an application programming interface (API). It enables third-parties to connect to our application and build their own new tools for the vetted organizations that make up our user base. We're very excited about the possibilities that are opened up with this type of freely accessible data ecosystem! Our hope for all of this is to facilitate organic coordination and relationships between counter trafficking organizations, agencies and institutions.

Currently, the Registry is only released to the United States, but over the past year we have been in the process of working with national steering committees in a myriad of countries to tailor the Registry to regional needs. As we launch the many additional tools we will be releasing this year, we will simultaneously open up the Freedom Registry to the rest of the world.