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Ushahidi: Tapping the human resource

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Ushahidi’s new video explains how it crowdsources crisis information via text messaging and the web so citizens can easily access the latest reports (represented visually on GoogleMaps) and swiftly respond to crisis developments.

Initially a quick fix scraped together in two days to track violence following Kenya’s 2008 election, the open source platform has evolved to suit any location or situation — to spread news during the Gaza war, to audit elections in Afghanistan, to monitor medicine stockouts in Zambia, etc. For more on Ushahidi, check out co-founder Erik Hersman’s talk on reporting crisis via texting.