CrisisCommons is a global volunteer network that uses technology to help communities during crises. It was formed in 2009 and has organized over 50 CrisisCamp events in 8 countries with over 2000 volunteers. These events bring technical volunteers together to develop tools like mapping and communication apps. Major volunteer communities include Sahana, Ushahidi, OpenStreetMap and others. CrisisCommons aims to better coordinate global crisis response by volunteers and take advantage of people's spare computing resources through crowdsourcing. Keeping volunteers engaged long-term on useful local projects is a challenge.

1. Communication and Volunteers: A CrisisCommons Case Study Heather Leson and Brian Chick January 10, 2011 York University

2. Evolution 1995 Kobe earthquake – limited communications 2001 9/11 – Listservs activity 2004 – Indian Ocean Tsunami – Blogs, Sahana 2004 - OpenStreetMap 2005 – Hurricane Katrina –People Finder, Wiki, Twitter 2008 – Hurricane Gustav – Mapping, 500 ppl in 48 hrs 2008 – Ushahidi 2009 – CrisisCommons created 2010 – Haiti, Chile earthquakes, Gulf Oil Spill, Pakistan Floods, Crisis Commons Global Congress

4. OpenStreetMap

5. Frontline SMS

6. Crisismappers

7. Random Hacks of Kindness

8. CrisisCommons

9. Geeks without Bounds

11. Crisis Commons is a global network of volunteers who use creative problem solving and open technologies to help people and communities in times and places of crisis. Crisis Commons members organize response events called CrisisCamps.

12. CrisisCommons/CrisisCamps 90 days 8 countries 50 events +2000 volunteers

13. CrisisCamp Paris

14. CrisisCamp Bogota

15. Who volunteers? Technical - Software developers, web developers, web designers, user experience/user interface experts, geocoders, geo mappers, GIS experts, technologists, beta testers New Media- Bloggers, videographers, podcasters, photographers, social media trainers, social media users, collaborators, crowdsourcers Organizational- Organizers, open source community planners, project managers, emergency response planners, crisis communicators Other - Researchers, lawyers, trainers, teachers, librarians, technical writers, event planners, translators, innovators, entrepreneurs, anyone with a laptop

17. Translate.

18. Map.

19. Communicate, collaborate, brainstorm.

20. Research, analyze, report.

24. Coordinate global technical efforts

26. Facebook

27. Blogs

28. Google Groups

29. YouTube

30. Flickr

32. Skype

33. Google Docs/Apps

34. GitHub

35. OpenStreetMap

36. Sahana

37. Ushahidi

39. CrisisCamp Volunteers collaborated on these projects and others. These were lead by other volunteer communities and private sector groups.

41. Organization

42. Duplication of Efforts

43. Inefficient

44. Policy & Protocol

45. Partnerships

46. Mission

47. Infrastructure

51. Feel like you're making a useful contribution

52. Work on local projects in the “downtime”

54. #1 Lesson There is a vast army of useful, intelligent, and motivated people who can now be mobilized through internet technology...

56. Maintain motivation on local level

57. Keep communication constant & accessible

58. Blog

59. Twitter

60. Wiki