It's a collection of real-life situations, like that whole #bendgate fiasco on the internet, Occupy Wall St. or the american-led military campaign against ISIS, linked to the situations that people think caused them.
For example: there are rumors that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been toppled (http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-north-korea-kim-rumo...), and the cause for these rumors is that he hasn't been seen in public in more than a month. A user could go to Causemap to understand what caused the rumors (http://www.causemap.org/situation/160d455f667aa6134efe251746...), add what they know by editing the situation (a la wikipedia) or expand the list of causes and/or effects.
