random hacks of kindness, social media & crisis mapping
DESCRIPTION
Presentation on Volunteer Technology initiatives such as Random Hacks of Kindness, and some example solutions, scuh as BTRANSCRIPT
RANDOM HACKS OF KINDNESS
SOCIAL MEDIA, MAPPING AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT
MAURITS VAN DER VLUGTSpatial Information strategist
OVERVIEW Volunteers and Emergencies What is RHOK?
Sydney 2010 Melbourne 2011
BushfireConnect What’s Next?
COMMUNITY AND VOLUNTEERS Self-help & Resilience Nothing new:
Rural Fire Brigades SES Numerous NGOs: Red Cross, Vinnies, …
So why not Technology too?
WHAT THE HACK?
Started 2009 Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, NASA and the World
Bank
“Developing practical open source solutions for disaster management and climate change adaptation”
“Hackathons”: Experts and Volunteers Practical, Open Source Solutions Worldwide Sharing
ONE OF MANY VOLUNTEER TECHNICAL COMMUNITIES:
SahanaFoundation Ushahidi, Swift River and Crowdmap OpenStreetMap Frontline SMS Crisismappers Random Hacks of Kindness Humanity Road Geeks without Bounds HFOSS and more
WORLDWIDE EVENTS
RHOK #1 5 & 6 June 2010 7 Cities (incl. Sydney), 500 + Volunteers
RHOK #2 4 & 5 Dec 2010 21 Cities, 2000+ Volunteers
RHOK #3 3, 4, & 5 June 2011 19 Cities (incl. Melbourne), 2100+ Volunteers
RHOK #1 – SYDNEY (JUNE 2010)
RHOK #3 – MELBOURNE
3rd worldwide event: 4/5 June 2011: http://www.rhok.org/events/rhok-3
19 Cities including Melbourne, Australia 6 Projects worked on, including:
BushfireConnect (Mark-2) QuakeFelt Vic Alert/VicSafe (winners!)
VIC ALERT/VICSAFE
Problem Many providers of alerts Hard for citizen needs to keep track of relevant (type,
location) ones
Solution http://www.rhok.org/solutions/vicalert Aggregation platform for alert providers Standardised API (CAP) Results Mash-up (VicSafe)
7 FEB 2009 - BLACK SATURDAY
Worst Bushfires in State of Victoria Burnt1 Million Football Fields Displaced 7,500 people 2000 houses lost 173 dead
INFORMATION BREAKDOWN
Official Agencies & Emergency Services Slow & Overwhelmed 000 overloaded
No alternative sources Rumours & Misinformation
Evacuations: too late and misdirected.
COMMUNITY NEED
Grass roots community reporting Fast, localised, community driven
Integration with Official Sources Integrate with agency feeds Inform Emergency Services (add to COP)
Crisis Mapping 2.0!
ENTER USHAHIDI… Open Source, Citizen
Reporting, since 2008 Citizen Reporting &
Alerting Crisis Mapping 2.0 tool
of choice Haiti & Chile Earthquakes Gulf of Mexico Oilspill Egyptian elections (5x!!) Pakistan Floods Etc, Etc..
RHOK #1USHAHIDI – BUSHFIRE CONNECT
Twitter: @bushfireconnect
http://bushfireconnect.org
BUSHFIRE CONNECT
Community Powered
Community Resilience
Integrate Crowd Sourced and Official Information
INCIDENT REPORTS
SMS Web-Form Geo-RSS Emails Tweets
INCIDENT ALERTS – OPT IN
SMS Email RSS…
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Since May 2010 Working prototype up and running ’Live’ site since Feb 2011 (http://bushfireconnect.org) Small team of volunteers (up to 7 people) $2000 cash
Next steps (next season) High performance server environment Team of volunteer moderators National Coverage All Hazards
LONDON RIOTS MAP
SUMMARY
Community Resilience: Self-help & Volunteers Random Hacks of Kindness
World-wide Very successful Open Source solutions
Bushfire Connect Out of Black Saturday & RHOK #1 Live now
Watch out for RHOK #4, coming soon near you!
THANK YOU
http://mercuryps.com.au
http://bushfireconnect.org
Twitter: @mvandervlugt
Thanks to Heather Leson (SecondMuse) for some slide material