Communication is Aid: Curated tweets and commentary from the CDAC Network’s Media and Technology Fair, London 2012. My commentary in blue. This is the first time I’ve used Storify to curate content. (I bumped into the co-founder of the platform at SXSW which reminded me I really needed to get in on the action).
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Would be great to see how this type of search data compares to data from Tweets. Take this analysis of tweets following the earthquake in Chile, for example.
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“RT @UNFPA: Professional systems are being replaced by consumer tools says @Google Crisis Response #commisaid
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And as a result, crisis-affected communities are increasingly becoming digital as I note in this blog post.
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“Closed systems closed data will be left behind and unused:crisis response is social and collaboration is empowering @CDACNetwork #commisaid
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““It is essential to have authoritative content” Nigel Snoad at @CDACNetwork’s Media & Tech Fair #commisaid
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Does this mean that all user-generated content should be ignored because said content does not necessarily come from a known and authoritative source? Who decides what is authoritative?
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“we don’t empower communities by giving them info,they empower themselves by giving us info that we can act on-@komunikasikan #commisaid
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What if this information is not authoritative because it does not come from official sources?
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“RT @ushahidi: “In a crisis, the mobile internet stays most resilient, even more than SMS.” #commisaid Nigel Snoad
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“RT @jqg: Empower local communities to generate their own tools and figure out their own solutions #commisaid
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See this blog post on Democratizing ICT for Development Using DIY Innovation and Open Data.
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“Through #Mission4636 SMS system, radio presenter @carelpedre was able to communicate directly with affected people in Haiti #commisaid
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This is rather interesting, I hadn’t realized that radio stations in Haiti actively used the information from the Ushahidi Haiti 4636 project.
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“Fascinating talk with @carelpedre- many of #Haiti ‘s pre-earthquake twitter users came from @juno7’s lottery push notifications #Commisaid
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“More about @Carelpedre using 4636 project after #Haiti earthquake bit.ly/plgzXJ #commisaid
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“Internews: Innovation comes within, info comes from within, people will find ways to communicate no matter what #commisaid @CDACNetwork
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So best of luck to those who wish to regulate this space! As my colleague Tim McNamara has noted “Crisis mapping is not simply a technological shift, it is also a process of rapid decentralisation of power. With extremely low barriers to entry, many new entrants are appearing in the fields of emergency and disaster response. They are ignoring the traditional hierarchies, because the new entrants perceive that there is something that they can do which benefits others.”
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“@souktel: “be simple, be creative and learn from the community around you” #commisaid
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“Tools shouldn’t own data. RT @whiteafrican: “It’s not about the platform being open, it’s about the data being open”- @jcrowley #commisaid
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“Humanitarians have to get their heads around media and tech or risk being left behind #m4d #media #tech #commisaid
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“Cutting edge is to get the #crowd & the #algorithm to filter each other in filtering massive overload of information in a crisis #commisaid
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As Robert Kirkpatrick likes to say, “Use the hunch of the expert, machine algorithms and the wisdom of the crowd.”
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Yes! Sousveillance meets analysis of big data on the humanitarian sector.
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“Why is it such a big deal, for the humanitarian industry to get feedback from a community? Companies have done it for decades. #commisaid
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Some of my thoughts on what the humanitarian community can learn from the private sector vis-a-vis customer support.
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“People who are not traditional humanitarian actors are taking on humanitarian roles, driven by the democratisation of technology #commisaid
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Indeed, not only are disaster-affected communities increasingly digital, so are global volunteer networks like the Standby Volunteer Task Force (SBTF).
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“Technology is shifting the power balance – it’s helping local communities to organise their own responses to disasters #commisaid
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Indeed, as a result of these mobile technologies, affected populations are increasingly able to source, share and generate a vast amount of information, which is completely transforming disaster response. More on this here.
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“Like Paul Currion’s analogy – humanitarian sector risks obsolescence in the same way the record industry did. Watch out? #commisaid
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One of my favorite books, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, has an excellent case study on the music industry. The above picture is taken from that chapter and charts the history of the industry from the perspective of hierarchies vs networks. I’ve argued a couple years ago that the same dynamic is taking place within humanitarian response. See this blog post on Disaster Relief 2.0: Toward a Multipolar System.
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“A thousand flowers can bloom beautifully IF common data standards allow sharing. Right now no natural selection improving quality #commisaid
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“@GSMADisasterRes :free phone numbers &short codes r not silver bullets 4 meaningful communication w/disaster affected communities #commisaid
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“Scale horizontally, not vertically. The end of command and control?! #commisaid
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“RT @reeniac: what now? communities have the solution, we need to listen. start by including them in the discussions – Dr Jamilah #commisaid
iRevolutions 
Clever use of Storify, I was wondering what this platform might be good for. Will show this post to my Global Civil Society Class.
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