Emergency Information Systems: Thomson Reuters Fnd. & InSTEDD

EMERGENCY INFORMATION SERVICES (EIS) Eduardo Jezierski Engineering, InSTEDD [email_address] Skype: eduardojezierski @edjez With tech support of…

INFORMATION TO SAVE LIVES
EIS is a free information service for populations affected by disasters
To help the people recover by giving them access to information that will enable them to make decisions

INFORMATION TO SAVE LIVES
What kind of information?
Fast, practical and verified information
Always in local languages
What is the scale of the disaster?
Which areas have been affected?
Is safe to move to another area?
Are transportation links/infrastructure damaged?
Where should people seek refuge?
Where are the food distribution points?
Where are people find clean water?
What medical facilities are available and where?
What do people do if they have missing relatives?

THE EIS SYSTEM Individual Messages RSS (geo, tags) Email Digest summaries

What can survivors do with EIS?
Subscribe by texting a local number
Receive free, location-specific SMS alerts and information
Text information into the system
People outside the disaster zone can add loved ones’ numbers
Can unsubscribe at any time
Information received in local languages and dialects

What can relief responders do?
Monitor raw information from government, local media, aid groups and survivors
Set up filters (by keywords, tags, topics, locations or time)
Crowdsource the Diaspora (translate, map, tag as needed)
As we did in Haiti
Share own content via RSS, email and SMS
SMS alerts, email alerts, email Digests daily/weekly
Manage own collaborative work spaces (e.g. around field assessments submitted by SMS)
Map, tag, prioritise, aggregate and annotate raw information locally or remotely

And local journalists?
All of the above, plus…
Receive EIS bulletins by SMS, email or RSS (for repackaging or straight dissemination to local audiences)
Two-way radio bulletins
Radio broadcast support through digests

Key Learnings from Indonesia & Haiti
Telco Preparedness
Interoperability & Information Flow
Collaboration & Reliable flow of needs from the ground
Governance and Decision Making
Tech capacity on the ground

Eric Rasmussen and Nico di Tada, partners from InSTEDD

Help and information requests

Empowering vulnerable populations with information Relevance : Geographic, demographic, timeliness Dialogue : Keep a 2-way channel open

How does the system work for the TRF team?
Intelligent processing of multiple information streams
Complete workflow from writing and translation through editing and publishing
Send SMS alerts to specific groups and locations
As targeted as desired: geo, category of message, profession
Limited by our assessment of the message content
Send longer information by email and RSS
Local or global workflows (or combination of both)
Manage external working groups and assign permissions
Translate interface into any language
Flexible configurations for different communications conditions

Home page for EIS Haiti ~100.000 items as of 28 February 2010 12 feed sources ~25,000 subscribers Sending ~80,000+ messages a day

Power of Algorithms Suggest from learnt behaviors Accelerate sifting through data Feature Extraction, Classification, Clustering Wisdom of the Crowds Large base of data & work Hyperlocal knowledge Strength in numbers Instinct of the Experts Cross-sector contributions of specialized knowledge, Curation of a ‘live news’ Prioritize Teach Teach Suggest Prioritize Annotate Ground-truth Crowds + Experts + Algorithms

Translation of a broadcast message…

Experts using information to create an operational picture

Machine, know thy place… Design precept: machines suggest, humans commit

Beyond EIS & looking at the ecosystem Hamish, MapAction – source of EIS entrapment localization requests

Anastasia Moloney describing EIS at the UN Humanitarian Forum

Emergency Information Systems: Thomson Reuters Fnd. & InSTEDD

by Eduardo Jezierski on May 05, 2010

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Emergency Information Systems: Thomson Reuters Fnd. & InSTEDD — Presentation Transcript