Mapping Syria

Humbled and challenged. Lauren Wolfe of Women Under Siege and Souraya (pseudonym) of Syria Tracker joined Chris and I to share stories and lessons learned about Mapping Syria. We discussed research methodology, verification, their team structure, data quality, data cleanup guidelines, funding models, and post-traumatic stress. Here are few points that struck us:

Syria Tracker only approves ~6% of the reports they receive

Both projects stressed the power of giving voice, being relentless and tenacious in efforts: Don't give up, these projects take time to garner traction.

Both Lauren and Souraya have dealt with significant mental stress because of the nature of their work, yet push through out of a sense of responsibility.

Both projects make great effort to protect people who submit information.

(Length of time - 1 hour, 10 minutes) Syria Tracker and Women Under Siege Syria part of the Humanitarian Tracker network. You can review research on the the Humanitarian Tracker site. In addition, see Women Under Siege's April 2013 report. Due to a scheduling mix-up on our part, Syria Deeply was unable to join this session. We promise to host another chat in August. Stay tuned. Chris and Heather