Ushahidi.com

Ushahidi means witness. This website provides a map of outbreaks of crime or violence in Kenya. It has easy templates for people to report incidents via the Internet, and it now allows instant messaging to be used to report incidents. The incidents are verified, often by inquiries to NGO's known to be working in the geographic area in which the incidents are reported. The verified incidents are mapped using Google mapping software, so that the user can zoom in or out, and can see maps, satellite photos, or both. It has been suggested that this technology, which is deliberately simple, could be a model for similar websites serving other countries with insurrection or communal violence.