In recent years,  Al-jazeera has emerged from being seeing as an alternate voice of news and issues in the world and to some, an Arabic targeted channel, to be regarded as an International News Network alongside other channels as Cable News Network (CNN) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). From its first broadcast on 1st November 1996, Al Jazeera has quickly grown and is one of the most accesible news channels in the World, with a live stream on YouTube. Many found the live stream especially during the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, where Al Jazeera was usually among the first to break news items particularly useful.

Al Jazeera has continued to explore the use of technology in collection and dissemination of news. Recently, in an effort to get more news from Somalia - a region which is usually under reported due to a lengthy war in the country since 1991- Al Jazeera began collecting views and opinions by getting as many of Somalia's citizens as possible to give their views , experiences and opinions, a technique known as crowd sourcing. The initiative has been dubbed "Somalia Speaks."

Somalia Speaks is run on Ushahidi, a Kenyan built platform that is used in report and information gathering, especially during diasters and in times of crisis. Ushahidi was built to track information from the ground during the 2007 post election violence in Kenya. Ushahidi leter grew and has been developed into a tool for tracking information in other disasters notably the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami, in addition to other applications such as tracking drug stock outs in rural Kenya.

Al Jazeera partnered with Souktel for the SMS platform that would power the platform. Souktel specialises in providing SMS based solutions in the developing world and especially Arabic speaking countries. Souktel, from Souk - Arabic for market - provides other services such as one that connects employers to job seekers. Souktel also runs a solution that enables organisations providing aid to use mobile phone surveys to determine how they will distribute aid on ground. Souktel mostly works with NGO's including some United Nations organisations.

Somali residents receieve an SMS from Souktel, which already has a database of Somali residents, asking them to give in their views through an SMS. Using Ushahidi, the source and nature of messages send in are mapped by location. Volunteers then trnslate the messages from Somali and Al Jazeera sorts through them and turns them into news items.

Barely a year later, Somalia Speaks has proved quite successful, revealing details that had seen little coverage before, such as a large fire and the killing of a religious scholar in Bosaso that was previously unreported. Through the messages it also became clear that the Bosaso market plays a significant role in the economics and dynamics of North East Somalia. Messages read "The disastrous incidents which occurred in the town of Bosaso have left me with sadness and fear. The most frightening was the merciless killing of the elite teacher Dr Axmed X Raxman Mohamed" and "The events have impacted me greatly, most recently the fire in Bosaso where I lost my livelihood".

CIO East Africa talked to Soud Hyder, Al Jazeera's Project Manager and Analyst (New Media) on the technology behind "Somalia Speaks" and Aljazeera's plan for the platform. You can read the interview in full in the February 2011 Issue of CIO East Africa Magazine .