How to Track a Crisis

A real-time identifier of trends, of history as it happens.
As time compression continues to occur; its interesting to try and see what happens next. History use to be written well after an event, then embedded journalist – still recording after it happened, then Vietnam in the nightly news, move forward to the cameras following OJ Simpson's chase and recording it live; to today with Ushahadi.

The source of information is everyone from everywhere with accuracy not assured except by the public nature of it The warning of trusting only Wikipedia content that comes from frequently traveled areas also guides the use of Ushahidi.

The NYTimes introduced me to the concept of Ushahidi. a small Kenyan-born organization. This kind of everyone-as-informant mapping is shaking up the world, bringing the Wikipedia revolution to the work of humanitarians and soldiers who parachute into places with little good information.

The site collected user-generated cellphone reports of riots, stranded refugees, rapes and deaths and plotted them on a map, using the locations given by informants. It collected more testimony — which is what ushahidi means in Swahili — with greater rapidity than any reporter or election monitor.
Join history, be part of the conversation, or let it pass you by.