Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Another Way to Help Haiti and Posts of the Week

Before I present the posts of the week, I'd like to point you toward a website which I heard about on the news yesterday.

If you're unable to donate to one of the many organizations set up to help the people of Haiti, or if you have sent in your donation but are still feeling helpless and would like to do more, please check out The Extraordinaries site. You can volunteer a few minutes or a few hours by viewing and tagging photos which appear on image support sites. Be forewarned that some are graphic. You can help in one of these ways:

(quoted from Beextra.org)

1) The Image Tagger: —"Sort through news photos coming out of Haiti and categorize (tag) them with keywords like “adult, child, alive, deceased.” Never before has there been a system that can bring together thousands of photos from across the web and have them sorted by live human beings (no computer could ever know that there is a teenager in a photo).

2) The Matcher: — We’ve engineered a system that matches faces of missing people to faces in photos coming from Haiti. The goal is to help desperate families find their loved ones. Volunteers use the matcher to look for a missing person in images that have been tagged with the image tagger.

3) The Search Engine: — As volunteers tag images, they are fed into the Extras’ “search engine”. This system allows families to search through images taken post-earthquake in Haiti, and specify certain characteristics. For example, if a family is looking for their missing mother, they can use the search engine to find images that volunteers have tagged with “adult” and “female.” Their mother might be in one of those photos.

If you think you can offer your assistance for this project, please click over to The Extraordinaries and get started. You may just be instrumental in reuniting someone with their family.

Thanks for listening and now on to the Posts of the Week.


The icon/award to the left here is yours for the taking if your blog post has been named as a Post of the Week - either as top post or as a runner up, today or in past weeks.


Following the Elusive, the Mystery, the Silence
by Kathleen
at Easy For Me To Say

Other wonderful posts in no particular order are:

Faces of Haiti and More Faces of Haiti
by Sue
at Photowannabe

Molly Hightower a Shining Light
by Grayquill
at It's just So Homer

Another Frothing Allegation
by Leah
at The Goat's Lunch Pail

Have You Ever Seen a White Deer?
by Rochelle
at Adventures in Nature

Pals
by Cabo
at Hey Cabo

UP!
by TSannie
at The Tombstone Chronicler

I Found This Title in the Clearance Bin
by TattyTiara
at Tatty Tiara

Success Redefined
by Kelly H-Y
at Cross Your T's

Winter Wonderland
by Russell
at Iowa Grasslands

Reader's Choices:

Recommended by
Saz:

Art of Lying - Part One
by Stephen

at Stephen Parrish


Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them. Thank you.

37 comments:

Kathleen said...

Thank you, Hilary! Thank you so much! Both for the nod and the amazing way and practical way to help the people of Haiti. Much appreciated. And you, of course, are the inspiration for blogging about one's walks! I look forward to checking out all the blogs.

Anonymous said...

Hilary, thank you once again for showing us gems of the blogworld. :)

I hadn't realized there was a site like The Extraordinaries. What a wonderful opportunity for people to give of their time!

Grayquill said...

What an extraordinary way to use technology.
Thanks for the POW acknowledgement

Maggie May said...

Hilary...... what a brilliant gesture to offer people who are savvy enough to be able to help the people of Haiti through their own computers.

Hope to come back to the POTW later.

Nuts in May

Zuzana said...

I have to visit that site, this tragedy has effected everyone everywhere and it is as devastating and as tragic as anything I can ever imagine.
Congratulations to all the nominees and the winner.
Now I just wish dearly for more time in each end ever day, to be able to visit all these beautiful places you bring our attention to every week.
Have a lovely Wednesday Hilary, you have my constant admiration for the work you do when it comes to the POTW.
xoxo
Zuzana

Tabor said...

Once again a good list for me to read. I got so involved with the data collection that I was busy before coming here.

Doc said...

Looking forward to checking out the posts of the week on my lunch hour... thanks again Hilary.

Russell said...

Thanks, Hilary! I appreciate being picked as one of your posts of the week.

My approach to blogging is pretty sporadic. Sometimes I will put up 3 or 4 posts in a week; other times I may go for a couple of weeks without putting up something new.

Your suggestions about Haiti are very good. I see they got hit with another aftershock this morning (Wed).

It is impossible to fully appreciate the degree of devastation and loss they are experiencing. Seeing their situation makes us appreciate how much we take for granted.

Take care and thanks again.

Mental P Mama said...

Always a treat! Thank you.

Leah J. Utas said...

Again, and so soon. Thanks Hilary.
This gives me incentive to rail.

Saz said...

Thanks Hilary what an important piece of work we can volunteer for...useful modern technology, useful....will pop over soonest.

Another eclectic list of posts to browse through, thank you, l think l'll make a cuppa first!


saz x

Anonymous said...

I love it when people find fab bloggers for me, allow me to be lazy and just click on the links!! Thank you

Shrinky said...

Hilary, what a wonderful site, thank you soooo much for posting it here - you are right, so many of us feel so utterly helpless, this is something solid and well within the capabilities of all of us. I am just going over there now - once again, thank you so much for putting it up there!

Boozy Tooth said...

You knocked it out of the park with this one, Hils.

Thank you for showing us Extraordinaries and for choosing Kathleen's amazing piece for your Post Of The Week. It gave me chills.

LadyFi said...

Oh thank you for all these links -and especially the one that will allow us to help the people of Haiti be reunited!

Clowncar said...

Love that Iowa Grasslands Site - I grew up in Iowa. Thanks for sharing it.

Kelly H-Y said...

Thank you so much, Hilary! What a wonderful surprise to be mentioned! I truly appreciate it.
And, thanks for mentioning The Extraordinaries site ... what a wonderful and unique way to help Haiti in a tangible way.

abb said...

Why thank you, Hilary! What an honor to be included in this fine group!

ethelmaepotter! said...

I've just visited Rochelle and was amazed; I'll visit the others tonight.
The Extraordinaires sounds like cutting edge technolgy at the just the right time; what a marvelous way to allow the whole world to unite and show their compassion and assistance at the click of a button.
Thank you so much, Hilary.

Unspoken said...

I love Wednesdays!

Rockwrites said...

HI Hillary --

I started to get all kinds of wonderful comments from new people on my nature blog and wondered what was up... then one of them mentioned they had come from your POTW. Thank you SO much for the honor, and for the opportunity to have lots of new folks visit. I will definitely visit their blogs and the others here you have linked. And I will keep in mind any I come across to let you know for future POTW's.

Again, thank you!!! :-D

Teri and her Stylish Adventure Cats said...

Thank you for posting about the Extraordinaries. What a productive way to help...I just did a few and well, it felt good to help in some way.

Stacey J. Warner said...

I look forward to going to the site...thank you for sharing.

Congrats to everyone. I hope to visit them all soon. First I'm catching up on some of my favorites that I haven't had time to visit.

much love

Reb said...

Hilary, thanks for the Haiti link, that is something I can do to help.

SandyCarlson said...

I can't wait to make the rounds, Hilary. Thanks for pointing to all the good stuff.

Dianne said...

the information on the Extraordinaires is fantastic - thank you!!

off to check out some POTWers :)

photowannabe said...

Hilary, thank you so much for calling attention to my Haiti posts. it is so appreciated.
The link you offered for another way to help is quite amazing. A wonderful way to serve and the technological aspect of it is fascinating.

Michael said...

Thank you Hilary! Thank you VERY much for the Haiti link.

jingle said...

wow, creative,

I heard from radio news that American red cross has raised 21 million for Haiti already today...

wonderful news,
wish that the money go to where it is most needed..

cheers, ;)

Anonymous said...

I will certainly check that site out. I love the Haitians. Have many friends who have done missionary work there.
QMM

Hilary said...

Thank you everyone for stopping by and supporting our co-bloggers. And for expressing your interest in The Extraordinaires. Very much appreciated. :)

Joanna Jenkins said...

Wow, Hilary. Kathleen's post is fantastic! Thanks for introducing me to a great new blog.

And thinks for the tip on volunteering. I'm going to make some time and try to participate.

Have a great week.
xo

Cloudia said...

Gotta check them out, thanks!


Aloha, Friend


Comfort Spiral

tattytiara said...

Couple little birdies flew over to tell me how very kind you've been to me. Thank you so much, and I look forward to checking out the other posts on your list!

ds said...

What an interesting and important way to use technology to help in Haiti--thanks so much for pointing it out!
Congratulations to the winner and all of the POTW nominees. I see I have a lot of reading to catch up on!

Eleonora Baldwin said...

Grzie Hilary for pointing us towards some very interesting and talented bloggers, and congratulations to all the nominees and the worthy winner!

Lovely message of compassion and hope.
Ciao
Eleonora xx

imbeingheldhostage said...

Some more great posts-- thank you for organizing these!!