Jon Gosier is a respected blogger, software developer, and designer working at the intersection of open data, human rights, and African development.
He is the founder or co-founder of several organizations and initiatives including AfriLabs, Appfrica, Abayima, Hive Colab, MetaLayer and SeedCapitalAfrica. And has held a Executive leadership roles at others including Ushahidi and QuestionBox.
In 2012 Jon founded Abayima, a non-profit organization that provides technology solutions for protecting human rights and free speech around the globe. Abayima was inspired by the plight of activists in countries like Uganda, Syria, and Egypt when authorities severed (or monitored) citizen access to the internet or mobile communication. Abayima provides solutions that allow citizens and journalists to communicate in spite of such measures.
As the founder of MetaLayer, he and his team make software products for easy data analysis and visualization. MetaLayer’s mission is to make the world’s data easier to understand, visualize, and share. In 2012 MetaLayer won the Audience Choice Award for best Startup at O’Reilly’s Strata Conference.
He started Appfrica in 2008 while living in Kampala, Uganda, where the need for vehicles that supported local talent became apparent.
From 2009 to 2011 he served as a Director at Ushahidi, a non-profit organization that makes software for global disaster response. Ushahidi was influential in the global crisis response to the devastating 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and the equally tragic 2011 earthquakes and tsunami in Japan.
In 2009 Jon spoke at TED in Oxford, UK about is work connecting rural African villages to the internet through a call center and light infrastructure. The service, in collaboration with non-profit OpenMind, was called QuestionBox and allowed rural Africans with no access to the internet to ask questions and get timely, vetted answers to everyday questions.
Jon attended Savannah College of Art and Design and was a Fellow and Senior Fellow at TED from 2009 to 2011.
For more information, see: Gosier.org.