Over the past decade, Internet-based systems have played an increasingly important role in humanitarian, social justice and political campaigns. Social networking and self check-in systems have allowed authorities, NGOs and members of the public to track and respond to outbreaks of disease and violence in near real-time. Sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have also helped large groups of people self-organise protests, and provide running updates of events independently of the mainstream media. However, it seems less common for Internet-based systems to be used to collate documentary evidence over longer periods of time, to share skills, or to provide otherwise independent groups with a shared form of organisational memory. While some of this is, undoubtedly, due to concerns about privacy and confidentiality, the lack of suitable frameworks and infrastructure is another factor — as is, perhaps, the lack of a deeper collaboration between activists and hackers.
In this presentation, we will look at several types of reporting and aggregation systems, and describe how open source software could make a significant difference in the areas of information gathering and community coordination. We will also discuss some of the ways in which open source developers and hackers could work more closely with activists and advocacy groups — both day-to-day, and on more strategic projects — and how a better understanding of technology could encourage campaigners to use these tools more effectively and powerfully.