Courtesy a friend of mine who lives in Kisumu, Kenya: the Ushahidi post-election violence tracker. It’s very raw at the moment, and lacks the critical mass of entries to create a powerful message, but the potential to act as a source of “citizen journalism” is quite interesting. Ushahidi, by the way, is the kiswahili term for witness.

According to the site:

“Ushahidi.com is a tool for people who witness acts of violence in Kenya in these post-election times. You can report the incident that you have seen, and it will appear on a map-based view for others to see. We are working with local Kenyan NGO’s to get information and to verify each incident. “

Scale notwithstanding, it’s an interesting complement to traditional news source, and if beefed up with pictures, could provide a real window into this political quagmire. But what would have been even more helpful for both Kenyans and the outside world, however, would have been using this type of mashup during the election itself to record instances of (what seems to have been common) electoral fraud.

Thanks for the link, Weks!