Threat chasers

Check out “Crisis Mappers,” a loose network of individuals and companies interested in using collaborative, open source social networking to “map” crisis areas around the globe, from disease epidemics, to high crime areas, to tense cross-national border areas. I gather that “maps” are both visual and textual…what kinds of uses for journalism? Many are being tried. One is called “Watchfire” and is an alert network for neighborhood watch groups — a good idea for community journalism. And according to Robert Kirkpatrick of Crisis Mappers, they’re encouraging participation by news orgs too:

It is now recognized that in the aftermath of a natural disaster, information is as critical to the response as food, water, or shelter. The Thomson-Reuters Foundation and InSTEDD have begun collaborating on a free and open source software platform that will empower local media organizations to participate effectively in crisis communications as never before, linking journalists, responders, and ordinary citizens in a seamless flow of timely, relevant and credible information. We now have a working prototype . . .