humanitarian.info

Jesse Robbins and Mikel Maron spoke at Where2.0 on Disaster Technology. Streaming video is a bit of a non-starter on my shonky internet connection, but both of these guys have an interesting take on the sector. They’re both technology evangelists, but minus the utopianism that makes my fists itch. A platform like Where2.0 is fantastic for getting the word out and (hopefully) engaging more people in the process of development for humanitarian action.

Here comes the requisite word of warning: for many people the politics of humanitarian assistance (both international and organisational) don’t appear on their radar. If we want useful tools to come out of this sort of forum, we have to communicate the political realities that technology will bump up against. Myanmar is a case in point; there’s a lot of activity (as per my earlier post) but the dots just aren’t joined up, and this needs to stop.

I used to think that this was just a phase that we were going through; then I thought that it was a naturally occurring state that we had to work around; then I realised that the endemic problems of co-ordination that we have were emergent properties of the system; but now I’m not sure what I think. Maybe I should leave the thinking to other people for a while.

Anyway, watch the video. You’ll enjoy it. They’re American, you know.

From Katrin Verclas at MobileActive.org:

SANGONeT and MobileActive.org invite you to contribute your expertise to MobileActive08 to take place from 13-15 October 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

• Do you have expertise in the field of mobile technologies for social development?
• Are you a researcher working on mobile technology for social impact?
• Are you a mobile service provider with specific products to exhibit that benefit the social market?

If so, we invite you to submit your ideas to be part of MobileActive08, the largest event to date focused on mobile technology for social development. This global gathering brings together practitioners, researchers, technologists, and donors interested in the use and application of mobile technology for social impact. At MobileActive08 participants will explore how mobile phones are effectively used to advance civil society work, assess the current state of knowledge in the use of mobile technology to advance social development, and investigate trends, needs and investment opportunities.

We invite you to submit proposals for:

• Workshops and Skill-share Sessions (for 90 minutes) for in-depth exploration of a topic about unlocking the potential of mobile technology for social impact.
• Short (15-min) Rotating Mini-Talks for research and project overviews.
• A space in the SIMplace to showcase your product.
• A space in the SIMlab where participants can test-drive your mobile application and explore it in depth.

If you have an idea, please review the detailed Call for Expertise and then submit. We look forward to your expertise, enthusiasm, and creativity! The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2008. More information is at MobileActive08.

Word reaches me that Dennis King, one of my favourite commenters, put this blog on the big screen at the ISCRAM 2008 conference. I was supposed to be there this year, but once again wasn’t able to make it. So to anybody visiting this blog from ISCRAM, welcome – I hope you find it somewhat useful, and I promise there’ll be some more substantial posts later this week! I hope the conference goes well – why aren’t any of you liveblogging it?

In the meantime, you might be interested to read a blog post called Mapping Genocide: Google Earth and Darfur – it’s a well-researched, well-written introduction to some of the recent developments in online mapping for human rights. It’s not without problems, though, and so I think that’s what I’ll write about later this week… so you’d better come back, eh?

It’s the time of year when NetHope like to get together and stare at hardware until it breaks. That’s right, the NetHope Summit 2008 is on again, this time hosted by Cisco – and once again, David Goodman of IRC is blogging from the conference.