Ushahidi (“testimony” in Swahili”) is a platform that users crowdsourcing to gather information during a time of crisis. Anybody can submit information during a crisis via mobile phone, email or the website which will then be mapped and a timeline provided.
It was initially started to map reports about the violence in Kenya after the election in 2008. The platform which is open source is being built and will cater for plug-ins and extensions so that it can be customised for different needs and locations. The community has just released an alpha version and can be viewed by the public. It includes the following features according to Ushahidi’s blog:
- Creating new crisis reports tagged by location
- Adding images, video and news links to reports also tagged by location
- Visualizing reports using an interactive timeline and heatmaps
- Allowing users to participate by adding information to reported events
- Credibility/Ranking of reports
- Subscribe to alerts via email or sms that alert you to reports within the proximity of a specific location
The team are encouraging those that want to get involved to have a look a the wiki and get in touch.
Related Posts
