Ten years ago, the humanitarian community came up with the concept of Humanitarian Information Centers (HIC) as a common information management service provider during conflict or natural disasters. The concept became widely used, although not always called HICs in the period 2002-2006. Following the Humanitarian Reform (HR) in 2005 the concept lost traction and was replaced by the Operational Guidance…
In my previous blog post I described the three different uses of social media during disasters. One of them was utilizing social media for crisis information management purposes. In crisis information management we commonly split it up into three different phases, data collection, data processing and data analysis. While I see tremendous opportunities in outsourcing data processing…
When it comes to the use of social media in disasters then this can be split up into 3 purposes: Advocacy and Fundraising – utilizing social media to interact more closely with people donating and influencing public opinion Information Sharing with affected communities – reaching out during disasters to the affected community with information about services, threats,…
In my previous posts I have discussed the importance of having access to key baseline information and a place to share it (the Crisis Information Repository). While having access to baseline data is crucial, it is also very important to have information about who is participating in the response, what they are doing, what they are…
As the world remembers one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent times I thought it would be fitting to look forward and dream of what disaster preparedness and response world would look like in the future. As with many dreams the sequence is in no particular order. I have a dream that one…
When you ask those responding to a crisis what one of the key challenges they faced over 80% of them will mention information overflow as the main issue they faced. With improved connectivity this problem has just become more difficult to handle. In an email to OCHA staff one month after the earthquake, John Holmes,…
One of the best books I read this year was The Leader Without a Title by Robin Sharma who previously has authored great books like The Monk who sold his Ferrari and The Greatness Guide. In The Leader Without a Title, Robin points out that you don’t need to have a particular title to show leadership. Leadership is in big demand when…
At the NetHope Summit I got the pleasure of meeting one of Intel’s visionaries, Chris Thomaswho is their Chief Strategists. He gave an inspiring talk and one of the topics he discussed at lengths was what he called Occasionally Connected Clouds. Throughout the week I had the opportunity to speak with him further on this concept and it was…
“There comes a time in every person’s life that their focus shifts from success to significance” – Ed Granger-Happ, CIO IFRC/Chairman NetHope Some of you might have noticed that I have been rather quiet on the blogging front for the last month and a half. One of the key reasons was that I have taken on a…
This week I am visiting Silicon Valley for the first time. The reason behind my visit is that NetHopeis holding its Member Summit here this week. For the last 6 weeks I have had the opportunity to work on an emergency preparedness project with this amazing organization. Ten years ago the IT directors of some of the largest…