reuse between crisiscamp and rhok

http://wiki.crisiscommons.org/ @crisiscamp [email protected]

Respond, Reuse, Recycle

BarCamps to CrisisCamps to Random Hacks - learning how to crowdsource efficiently


Crisis Information Crowdsourcers

Crowd Informers• CrisisCommons• Ushahidi • Sahana • OpenStreetMap• Louisiana Bucket Brigade• Swift River• The Extraordinaries• CrisisMappers.net

NGO/Local Coordinators• UNOCHA - reliefweb • CDAC• Diaspora

Crowd Tool Developers• RHOK• Aid Information Challenge• ICT4Peace• Ushahidi

• OpenStreetMap• Sahana• CrisisCommons• InSTEDD


CrisisCommons, RHOK, AIC, CommunitiesCrisisCommons

– 1-day CrisisCamps, projects and ‘evergreens’– Continous information support to major crises, e.g. Haiti– Information support and tools for current crises, e.g. oil spill– Preparation for future crises

Random Hacks of Kindness and Aid Information Challenge– 1 or 2 day hackathons– RHOK = competition to create the ‘best’ crisis response software– AIC = creating audit trail for UK/UN/World Bank aid funding

• OSM, Sahana, Ushahidi– Continuous opensource development communities– Software and information (e.g. maps) for aid and crisis response


Community RootsBarcamp.org• ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn

in an open environment.• intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from

participants who are the main actors of the event

Hackathon• “collaborative computer programming… many people come together

to hack on what they want to, how they want to - with little to no restrictions on direction or goal of the programming”

Agile open-source development


How it all started...2004 onwards: OpenStreetMap and other tools being used in US, UK...

Late 2004: Sahana developed in Sri Lanka after Indian Ocean Tsunami. Then used in Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia...

2008: Ushahidi developed in Kenya to map citizen journalist reports of violence after Kenyan elections. Then used in South Africa, DR Congo, Gaza, India, Pakistan…

June 2009: CrisisCommons founded in Washington DC after a tweetup by a group of technologists and communications professionals who wanted to use their skills to help prepare for and react to crisis situations – both at home and around the world

2009: CDAC formed after a discussion in a bar...


How Haiti Changed EverythingLate 2009• First CrisisCamp spawns RHOK and Aid Information Challenge• RHOK0 produces People Finder• First Aid Information Challenge - overseas aid data starts to be

available• UN, CDAC, CrisisCommons etc all plan to develop information

strategies and crisis response communities during 2010

Jan 2010• Haiti earthquake. Everyone ‘just does it’• Massive and coordinated crowdsourced response - lives saved

through tweets, texts and up-to-date maps• Massive not-very-coordinated on-the-ground response

June 2010 - Reflection and consolidation. Collecting lessons learnt and working out where to go from here.


What makes a suitable Crisis?• Issues

– Too little information: Haiti maps– Too much information: Tweak the Tweet

• Infrastructure– Local infrastructure is overwhelmed: People Finder– Some information channels exist: SMS, USBs to Haiti

• Stages– Mitigation: landslide predictor– Preparedness: OSM worldwide– Response: Ushahidi– Recovery: Haiti Amps Network


CrisisCommons.org


Crisis Commons

“Local volunteering for global crisis management and disaster relief”

Global grassroots network

of technology professionals, domain experts, translators and first responders

collaborating

to improve technology and practice

for humanitarian crisis management and disaster relief


What does a CrisisCamp do?Connects peoples’ skills & time to improve crisis information tools and

responses

This supports:• Crisis affected communities• Organisations in the field (international NGOs, local organisations)• Crisis communities (Ushahidi, OpenStreetMap, Sahana etc)• Organisations in the space (mapping, telecomms etc)

A CrisisCamp links people who want to help with places that they can


Haiti Earthquake• Earthquake January 12th 2010 • Response within hours: CrisisCamps around the world • OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, Sahana, CrisisCommons, NGOs, Haitian

diaspora, Haitians working together


Haiti CrisisCamps


CrisisCamp London


Handling “too little information”: Maps


Handling “too little information”Telecommunications team

We Have, We Need• "Craigslist" of self-identified needs and requests by non-profits

assisting in Haiti relief operations• Built in days• Biggest moment: getting generator fuel to a hospital 20 minutes

after they tweeted for help

Haiti Hospital Capacity Finder• Listed free beds in field hospitals


Handling “too much information”People Finder• A single place to look: who’s missing, who’s looking• Input from databases, SMS, tweets, info handed to NGOs

Information for Radio Broadcasts• Searching for and organising news about Haiti

Tweak the Tweet• Adding tweet codes for data miners, e.g. Sahana


Moving from “them and us”Empowering anyone with a phone to report and request information• Haiti project 4636 - SMS to volunteer to Ushahidi link

Connecting translators and local coordinators• Language project and Haitian Diaspora

Reconnecting local information infrastructure • Information for Radio Broadcast• Karl and Carel’s Project

Connecting low-bandwidth users to global information sources• Low-bandwidth ReliefWeb projects• Low-bandwidth Ushahidi• Low-bandwidth CDAC


Other Crisis Responses since JanuaryChile Earthquake• CrisisCommons Chile team responded• CrisisCommons Argentina and Columbia helped

China Earthquake• Chinese Diaspora responded with camps and translation

US Oil Spill• Louisiana Bucket Brigade used Ushahidi instance• US team developed Oil Reporter app

Icelandic Ash Cloud• UK team started news and twitter watches

Other response watches - quakes, floods, tsunamis, fires


Preparing for the FutureHelping CDAC• Website reviews and prototypes

Helping UNOCHA• Reliefweb reviews and low-bandwidth prototypes

Populating CrisisWiki and OpenStreetMap• Information useful for crisis responders

Helping Tool Communities• SahanaPy and Ushahidi software development


CrisisCommons Lessons LearntIn the beginning was organised chaos: 30 camps, 8 countries, 5

languages, 2000 campers, 10000 translators, one project list and one country in serious trouble.

• Camps picked projects from the list - which emptied quickly.• People redid map sections because the updated areas weren’t

tagged.• Real-time coordination was difficult across timezones and

languages: we needed a dedicated operations centre but didn’t know what it was.

• The virtual camp was difficult to maintain without a dedicated leader.• Timezones confuse almost everyone. A simple “what time is it in”

spreadsheet saves a lot of pain and missed-by-an-hour meetings.


CrisisCommons Lessons LearntNot all projects made it. Common causes were:• No end user buy-in. You can build it, but they won’t come if you

don’t involve them. Especially true for local communities.• No team, or no team buy-in. Leadership matters, and projects need

both people and management.• Short-term team. It’s difficult to sustain long-term development

when the adrenalin wears off, and people will drift away.


RHOK.org


Round the World Twice in 47 Hours...


What RHOK reused from CrisisCommons

Projects• Created RHOK project specifications for real-life NGO and local problems• Reused CrisisCommons project experts, e.g. Haiti Amps Network• Reused connected to provide subject matter experts

Community• Reused CrisisCommons experience as a template for RHOK• Reused CrisisCamp organisers for RHOKs in Sydney, Washington etc

Infrastructure• Reused CrisisCommons structure for RHOK wikisite: built in 1 day• Ran continuous operations centre watching RHOK information feeds• Reused CrisisCommons experience in world wide projects, camps, experts

coordination centre


What RHOK reused from RHOK

• RHOK0 to RHOK 1 - People Finder

• Country to country - Turquilt, People Finder, wikis

• Team to team


What RHOK gave back• Tools for Haiti

– PeopleFinder tool was built in RHOK0

• Help with aerial imaging problems– not enough high-res data for OpenStreetMaps– OilSpill data explosion– Turquilt project: UAV video mosaicing solution

• Help with CrisisCamp Projects– Nairobi effort and expertise on Haiti Amps Network

• Tool innovation– Landslide prediction software


What still needs to be done?Tools• Big gaps in NGO coordination and situation awareness

Preparation• OpenStreetMaps for crisis-prone areas • CrisisWiki entries for everywhere

Organisation• How to efficiently build and maintain the tools needed in future

crises• Without stifling innovation and the OpenSource spirit• How to keep this local but global


What Next for the Communities?CrisisCongress 15th July 2010• Idea: CrisisCamps to prepare people for local crises • Idea: continue monthly London CrisisCamps• Idea: expand “3 hour tasks” list in VirtualCrisisCamp

RHOK 2.0 - London as the lead city• Idea: RHOK as the ideas generator for CrisisCommons• Idea: CrisisCommons as the crisis tool user/ maintainer

OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, Sahana etc• Are already going global


How to get involvedVolunteers• CrisisCommons

– join the mailing lists– go to a real camp– join the virtual camp

• RHOK– sign up for RHOK 2.0 this winter

• OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, Sahana etc– see http://wiki.crisiscommons.org/wiki/Other_Crisis_Relief_Communities

Organisations• CrisisCommons: email [email protected]• RHOK: email RHOK• OpenStreetMap, Ushahidi, Sahana etc: see link above


The EndPoints to take away• It’s not “us and them” anymore, it’s “us and us”• You can help - or hinder - from anywhere. Your choice:• Getting the right information to the right people at the right time

saves lives• Overwhelming people with information doesn’t• Sometimes your tech skills can help people you’ll never meet,

immediately and in ways you couldn’t imagine• Sometimes it takes longer, but it’s no less valuable

Thank you for listening• Any questions?


Volunteer Skills

•Programming•Telecommunications•Mapping•User Experience•Communications & PR•Translation

•Local knowledge•Relief work experience•IT project management•Facilitation and admin•Making tea!

reuse between crisiscamp and rhok

Technology

people finder

rhok reused

information

projects

people

openstreetmap

team

crisiscommons