Map the Cuts

I've blogged this week about the UK public library and NHS cuts. I am full of rage.

See Public Libraries News, Anti Cuts Protests and False Economy.

I revisited Ushahidi and discovered how far this web-based mapping tool has come now with associated applications Crowdmap and SwiftRiver. Most recently it is being used to map the events in Egypt.

Now I discover Sukey, a web-based mobile phone application to keep you informed of police "kettling" strategies whilst you attend your latest demo against the cuts. Objectives:

"To keep peaceful protesters informed with live protest information that will assist them in avoiding injury, in keeping clear of trouble spots and in avoiding unnecessary detention.

The application suite gives maximum information to those participating in a demonstration so that they can make informed decisions, as well as to those following externally who may be concerned about friends and family.

It should make full use of the crowd in gathering information which is then analysed and handed back to the crowd."

Guardian article here.

I just love the web-based tools being developed to assist activism worldwide.

Sukey recalls the protests against SUS in the early eighties:

"a stop and search law that permitted a police officer to act on suspicion, or 'sus', alone.

It was based upon Sections 4 and 6 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 which made it "illegal for a suspected person or reputed thief to frequent or loiter in a public place with intent to commit an arrestable offence" and effectively permitted the police to stop and search and even arrest suspicious persons, purely to prevent crime.

The law caused much discontent among certain sections of the population, particularly black and ethnic minority communities, against whom the police use of the law was particularly targeted—see racial profiling. The sus law was abolished following race riots in St Pauls, Bristol, in 1980, and in Brixton, London, Toxteth, Liverpool, Handsworth, Birmingham and Chapeltown, Leeds in 1981, because its alleged abuse was believed to be a contributory factor to these events. The sus law was repealed on the 27 July 1981, on the advice of the 1979 Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure, when the 1981 Criminal Attempts Act received the Royal Assent."

It seems David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister wants to reintroduce SUS:

"In January 2008 David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, announced that he would, if elected, seek to return similar powers to the police. Under Conservative proposals, police sergeants would be able to authorise the use of stop and search of pedestrians and vehicles in a specific area for up to six hours ...".

Its about time that the cuts - whether public libraries, health services, municipal councils etc - are mapped using the likes of Ushahidi or Crowdmap.

Al Jazeera and Ushahidi

News channel Al Jazeera have started to use Ushahidi to map the conflict in Gaza.

Ushahidi

Ushahidi (Swahili for "testimony") is a web-based reporting tool allowing Africans caught up in political unrest to report incidents of killing, violence and displacement.

It started in May 2008 during the elections in Kenya, was later used during the attacks on black foreigners in South Africa and since November has started to be used in the conflict zones of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire).

Its goal is to create a simple way of aggregating information from the public for use in crisis response.

The site is a free open-source mash-up which can be run by anybody, anywhere in the world who at the minimum has access to a mobile phone network to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web, visualise it on a map and/or timeline, call up media reports etc etc

Users can report an incident by filling in a very simple form with a description of what happened, when it took place and put it in a category.

As an example, a Red Cross worker waits to distribute buckets to displaced people. Ushahidi can be used to identify areas where aid is required. Incident data is colour coded on the website into categories for events such as military activity, riots, looting, illness and sexual assault. Or whatever you decide.

Even though it is limited by Internet and, to a slightly less limited extent, mobile phone network access (mobile phone networks are one of the fastest growing markets in Africa) and its still experimental nature, I see its enormous potential. Both geographically (e.g. Darfur/Chad, Somalia etc) and thematically (e.g. medical).

From the Ushahidi website:

"The goal of the project is to create a platform that any person or organization can use to set up their own way to collect and visualize information. The core platform will allow for plug-in and extensions so that it can be customized for different locales and needs. This tool will be tested and made available as an open source application that others can download, implement and use to bring awareness to crises in their own region. Organizations can also use the tool for internal monitoring purposes.

The core engine is built on the premise that gathering crisis information from the general public provides new insights into events happening in near real-time. It is being developed by a group of volunteer developers and designers, hailing primarily from Africa. So far there are representatives from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Ghana, Netherlands and the US.

The private alpha of the redesigned Ushahidi Engine was released in October 2008, and is currently undergoing testing in pilot projects including Peace Heroes, the DR Congo crisis and 4 others.

Ushahidi plans to make the Ushahidi mapping tool available globally for free. After initial testing with NGO's the tool will be distributed to interested parties and organizations, and the Ushahidi team will provide technical customizations and support as needed."

... and it is open-source !

Scroll down to link on right.