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Digital humanitarian and disaster response is an emerging field where we have a chance to apply our social justice brains and hearts. Doing so opens new opportunities to close technology capacity and socioeconomic gaps. By being strategic and collaborative in our involvement in this space, we can address both short-term needs and long-standing issues.

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For a long time, it wasn't possible to include everyone's voice in planning or decision making without investing unfeasible amounts of time. There was no way to listen, at scale. Aggregation and centralization made some small sense, especially in times of urgency, even with the systemic troubles these tend to cause. We now have new communication, coordination, and parsing technologies. We have the ability to listen, in high resolution and in high fidelity. But technology isn't a silver bullet -- we also need the political will, and the personal values to make that happen. We have a great deal of historical momentum to overcome in order to make these shifts to inclusion and empowerment. With Aspiration's new digital humanitarian response program, we get to support some of the people and organizations willing and able to make these changes.

This wiki is a place to hold notes from events and checkin calls, as well as specs for communally-held projects.

We welcome your feedback, contributions, and questions.

Join the Conversation

Mailing List

Our mailing list includes updates about digital responder call-ins, upcoming events, and cross-sector collaborative discussion.

Check In Calls

These call-ins / check-ins are at their most basic a way to strengthen the connections across response organizations (traditional, digital, and otherwise), individuals, and projects. Some calls are focused or topical, but are always meant as open spaces for cross-sector and -organizational collaboration. Defined organizations, networks, and other ways of delineating and focusing response are absolutely necessary, but so too is a space external to that for emergent possibilities.

There is a template for how to conduct a digital responder checkin call on the checkin call category page. That page will also give a process for adding your own calls to this wiki.

• 2016 May 23 : updates on HumTechFest, discussion on the blockchain in response, and questions about international consortium, health site data, the digital response ecosystem map, and urban resilience.
• 2016 April 12 : updates from Resilience CoLab, JIFX, prosthetic environments, Coordinated Data Scramble, and decision maker's needs.
• 2015 Nov 27 : updates on Humanitarian Services Data Standards Project, Resilience CoLab, Witness Engines/Crisis Archiving, Secure Web Integration Framework, JIFX, Sahana Eden supply and volunteer management database, and RHoK
• 2015 Sept 23 : updates on the handbook, ResilienceCoLab, and 2W doc. Also talked about RefugeesWelcome, JIFX, the Earthquake Coordinated Data Scramble, and communication methods (the drafted Code of Conduct for open comms channels, how the call-in platform was working, and how to select other comms platforms).
• 2015 Aug 06 : the band is back together! A firehose of a call, many folk gave a quick overview of themselves and their organizations. We also did quick indicators of projects we're working on and how we could use help.
• 2012 Sept 12 : updates about how to get data into and out of FEMA.
• 2012 Jul 31 : notes from a call while with Geeks Without Bounds with organizational updates from Crisis Commons, Humanity Road, and Standby Task Force about a data commons.

Direct Contact

Have a question about this program, but don't necessarily want to talk to a whole group? No worries! Reach out to digitalresponse@aspirationtech.org to be in touch with us directly.

Events

Ever wanted to know about, or work on, disaster and humanitarian response technology from a people-first perspective? Aspiration's #HumTechFest strives to build capacity for humanitarian aid and disaster response efforts through technology and community. These are participatory and community-driven convenings designed for field practitioners, media makers and storytellers, technology developers, information security practitioners, members of affected populations, researchers, and everyone in between. The agenda is co-developed with participants, facilitators, and partners in the time leading up and during the event.

Please check out our Participant Guidelines before the event.

• 2016 June HumTechFest : upcoming in Cambridge, Mass. We'll play through a scenario, discover shared needs and possible collaborations, plus whatever else emerges!
• 2015 May HumTechFest : our first HumTechFest! We talked about how frontline communities could hold responders accountable, did skill shares around open data, and spec'd out easy-to-create after action report templates.

Projects

• Digital response ecosystem map : a snapshot of the current state of the digital response ecosystem, as well as some of the things we plug into.
• Frontline communities holding responders accountable : response organizations and individuals are vital components in many extreme events -- but who holds them accountable? Are there mechanisms by which those most affected by the extreme event might do so?
• Bookmarklet to log projects : a plethora of do-good projects exist across many organizations, spaces, and events. How can we log them in a decentralized way?
• Media guide for extreme events : how to act as a reporter in good faith in an affected region, and ways to approach media inquiries from a social justice perspective.
• Extreme event preparedness and response for small nonprofits : guide for small non profits and other community groups to prepare for, and respond to, crisis.

Response Groups and Projects Aspiration Works With

• Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre : on games about citizen reporting, on crowd integration.
• Dialling Up Resilience : on accountability mechanisms and local indicators of resilience.
• Hirondelle : on visually representing their communications network.

Words on the Subject

The topic on our blog

Follow and comment on topical blog entries.

Recommended Reading

• A Paradise Built in Hell
• Black Flags and Windmills