We’ve got another beta version of Ushahidi v3 out today. Take it out for a spin on our demo site, but keep in mind that this is not quite ready for production yet (we’re getting closer though).  This platform is being built for you, so we really want you to look through our process and give us feedback as we continue to build the V3 platform for whatever you want to use it for.

What’s changed?

A few improvements have been made since the beta release:

• We’ve fixed the message type count
• The statistics in the sidebar are complete and will appear for both anonymous and logged-in users
• Custom data in post details has been formatted more clearly
• Navigation of post details has been improved
• Tags are no longer incorrectly referred to as "categories"
• The update script now has a non-developer "deploy" option

What’s New?

We’ve added the following new features:-

• The map configuration UI is complete and no longer has to be separately enabled.
• Searching for messages by sender name is now possible
• (experimental) Form wizard: Location input will no longer break the map when edited or moved

Security Updates!

We applied a fix for the “Rosetta Flash” JSONP attack.

Documentation

We’ve started a series of blog posts about platform architecture, to help everyone understand the structural changes within the Ushahidi platform. Here’s part one, explaining what the platform looks like under the hood.

How Can I help?

• Download and Install the platform
• Set up a development build
• Follow our developer processes to send in bug reports and submit changes.
  • If you’re not already set up on Phabricator, please head over to the Ushahidi Phabricator page and sign up. Once your account is approved, here’s a guide to get you started.
• Join our discussions on IRC and the mailing list

What should I expect in the near future?

We’ll have releases every two weeks, with regular updates on what will change with each of the releases. Review our roadmap on Phabricator to keep yourself updated. For the non-developers, we’re planning a series of user-specific meetups in the coming weeks, focused on user interface and user experience pain points, toolkits and user documentation. Stay tuned for updates on this. We also want to hear about any topics you want to discuss.

v3 Demo and Code Walkthrough

Last week, we held the first demo of our beta release. If you missed it, here’s a recording. This next week, we want to take some time to give developers a live code walkthrough, to help you understand the structural changes and what to expect when jumping into coding on v3. Take advantage of the time you will have to pose questions to members of the team ;). Join us on 17th July, 2014 at 6.00p.m EAT | 8.00 a.m PDT | 11.00 a.m EST (See timezone conversion information) We’ll also record this session for those who can’t attend. In the meantime, stay tuned on our blog, meetup page, twitter, facebook page and wiki for more announcements, Happy v3 beta release day!!