Jon Gosier is a friend and I've greatly enjoyed working with him for the past 1.5 years at Ushahidi. He's taken the SwiftRiver platform, and moved it along swiftly (pun intended), at a rate that just wouldn't have happened without him around. Simply put, I know few others that can take an idea, explore the strategies, and execute on them as rapidly as Jon does. It's with a touch of sadness, and excitement for Jon, that I'm writing this post as he has decided to follow his dreams and embark on a startup of his own. Matt Griffiths, who's been working with us on SwiftRiver as well, will be joining him in this new project called MetaLayer. This new company plans to use smartphones and augmented reality, mixed with big data, to contextualize the world. It's a massive idea, with great potential, and we're looking forward to seeing them excel in their new startup.

What This Means to Ushahidi

Internally at Ushahidi, the SwiftRiver project keeps on humming with a new website refresh launching, SwiftMeme upgrades and redesign, and the Sweeper app in it's next iteration. Charl and Ahmed, the core engineers, continue to guide the development cycle. David Kobia, Ushahidi's Director of Technology Development, will set the roadmap, architecure needs and provide the direction for this project in addition to the other products and services offered by Ushahidi. As always, we rely on the community too, this isn't just about the core team doing work and making the platform what it is. The continued help from experts in all fields is needed and we're asking for your help to ensure that we continue on the high velocity trajectory that SwiftRiver is on.