poptech:
Much of the coverage of Google focuses on its domestic prioritiesâits rivalries with Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook, its friendship with Verizon, its interest in net neutrality. But less well covered has been the tech giantâs efforts overseas, particularly its focus in the past few years on expanding Internet usage in places where it trails, like Africa and the Middle East. Google just scored a coup in moving those efforts forwardâby hiring Ushahidiâs founder and director to become its manager of policy in Africa.
You may know Ushahidi as the open-source platform for crowdsourcing information, created following the 2007 Kenyan elections as a way for people to report incidents of violence. The woman behind it was 33-year-old Ory Okolloh, a Harvard-trained lawyer who had previously created a site to monitor corruption in the Kenyan legislature.
Congratulations are in order to 2009 PopTech Social Innovation Fellow Ory Okolloh, for her new role as Googleâs Policy Manager for Africa.
