This document discusses crisis and interaction design lessons from the 2010 Haiti earthquake. It makes three key points: 1. Survival is a universal theme in times of crisis. 2. Information management presents opportunities for helping people in crisis situations. The Haiti earthquake response showed how crowdsourcing information about needs and emergencies could help over 3 million survivors. 3. While "crowdsourcing" models are impressive, true collaboration between a core team and network of supporters is more effective than automation alone. Designing crisis response systems requires focusing on leadership, participation levels, listening, data entry, translation, flexibility and other factors.

1. Crisis & Interaction Design

2. Chris Blow
@unthinkingly
Meedan
Ushahidi
Swift River

3. Earthquake
January 12, 2010

4. 1.
Survival is the
universal theme

5. 2.
Information management
is the opportunity

6. 3.
“Crowdsourcing” is a
deeply awed model

7. What motivates us?

8. What terri es us?

9. What is possible now?

10. 7 million years ago ...

11. 50,000 years ago ...

16. 7,000 years ago

17. Proto-writing

20. Ef cient, dense, indelible

21. Paper, books, libraries,
maps, postal systems,
pens and pencils

23. 1517
200 printing centers in
Europe

25. Protestant Reformation

27. 1900

28. Communication is
Cooperation

29. Communication is
Con ict

33. Mass Communication

34. Radio

35. Television

36. Networking

37. Metcalfe’s Law

41. Moore’s Law

43. New interactions

46. “Now I become Death,
the destroyer of worlds.”
J. R. Oppenheimer, the Bhagavad Gita

49. Faster, bigger war

51. but also

52. Faster, bigger peace

55. Incredible movements
become possible

57. Design lessons?

59. Paper, books, libraries,
maps, postal systems,
pens, pencils, phones,
television, radio

60. + humans

61. 1970

65. New partnerships

67. New “leaders”

69. New cultures

71. New communities

74. Mosaic

76. New possibilities:

77. Global publishing

78. Instant publishing

79. Unlimited publishing

80. What is possible now?

85. Capacity vs. reality

86. Unrealized potential

87. New challenges of
instant publishing

88. Atomization,
trivialization,
disassociation,
passivity

89. Design “leadership”

92. Collaboration?
Cooperation?
Survival?

93. Haiti
January 12, 2010

94. What terri es us?

95. What motivates us?

96. What is possible now?

98. “ In Haiti? Text 4636 with
your location and need.
Text
Report emergencies and
missing persons.”
Erik Hersman

101. 230,000 deaths

108. 3,500 reports

109. At once
terrifying and motivating

112. “No matter what, it is so
much better than sitting
here feeling helpless”
4636 volunteer

115. 3 million
networked
survivors

117. Incredible possibility

118. Information is power

121. Information
management
is the opportunity

123. Design lessons?

124. Cartography +
Taxonomy +
Translation +
Telephony +
HTTP Networking

125. + Human effort

126. 1. Leaders

127. 2. a core team

128. 3. a network of supporters.

130. X

134. X

135. Crowdsourcing?

137. Working together in
collaboration
not automation

139. X

140. Working iteratively,
independently

142. #1
Design for the
core team rst

144. #2
Design for the
“ladder of participation”

145. katr

147. #3
Design for listening

151. #4
Design for data entry

154. #5
Design for translation

156. #4
Design for structured
exibility

160. #5
Design for location

163. #6
Design for federation

166. #7
Design for utilitarian
beauty

169. #8 Design for email

170. #493
Design for yourself

174. What terri es
and motivates you?

175. Thank you