Software that has been hailed as a powerful tool in response to crisis has become accessible for low-tech activists. Ushahidi, a technology which allows users to create maps from data drawn from messages from cellphones, news reports and the Web, is now available through a Web-based application called Crowdmap.

Ushahidi was built in the violent aftermath of the 2007 Kenyan elections, after a group of developers responded to a call for a platform that would allow people to post accounts of violence anonymously. (The name means testimony in Swahili.) The platform plots reports it receives on a map, drawing attention to individual accounts and giving an overall sense of the situation.

The platform has been used to track damage from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and to map election irregularities in Sudan. Perhaps its most notable moment followed January’s earthquake in Haiti. There, a number was established where people could send text messages with information about trapped earthquake victims. The calls were plotted on a map, which was then monitored by volunteers in the United States. The volunteers then relayed information about those in need of help to rescue workers on the ground.

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