The Standby Volunteer Task Force is an online community of over 800 volunteers from around the world. It was launched in 2010 to help coordinate crisis mapping and response efforts using open source data and applications. Volunteers are organized into teams and receive training to collect, analyze, categorize and visualize information to help with crisis response. The Task Force has participated in mapping efforts for past events like earthquakes in Haiti and Japan. It is currently testing new tools and working on projects in South Sudan.

1. Crisis Mapping and beyond:
Introducing the Standby Volunteer Task Force
Svend-Jonas Schelhorn
shornjonas@googlemail.com

2. January 12, 2010: Haiti
Information Ecosystem Today
© Patrick Meier http://www.slideshare.net/iRevolution
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

3. January 12, 2010: Haiti
Information Ecosystem Today
How can we make use of all the information out
there in crisis response?
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

4. January 12, 2010: Haiti
© Patrick Meier http://www.slideshare.net/iRevolution
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

5. January 12, 2010: Haiti
http://healthmap.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/crisis-map-of-haiti.jpg
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

6. January 12, 2010: Haiti
© Patrick Meier http://www.slideshare.net/iRevolution
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

7. Background
● Launched at the ICCM 2010 in Boston
● Online Community for Live Crisis Mapping
● Over 800 members from all over the world
● Only working with Open Source Data and
Applications
● Decentralized horizontal network of volunteers
acting on the base of a code of conduct
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

8. Teams & Workflows
Crisis Mapping:
Collect Information
Analyze Information
Categorize Information
Viusalize Information
Cowdsourcing Applications
Response
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

9. Teams & Workflows
● Volunteers get trained
● Each volunteer is
member of at least one
team
● Coordination during
deployments via email, Cowdsourcing Applications
googledocs, skype and
TF-website
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

10. Tools we use
● Ushahidi
General Crowdsourcing- and
mapping platform
● Tomnod
Crowdsourced analyzing of
satellite images
Cowdsourcing Applications
● Crisis Tracker
● New social-media
crowdmapping platform
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

11. Past Activities
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

12. Past Activities
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

13. Challenges and Opportunities
● How to verify crowdsourced information?
●
● Testing new tools
● Meet professionals, broaden background
●
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

14. Current & Upcoming Events
Testing the Crisis Tracker platform
South Sudan Mapping Activity
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012

15. The Standby Volunteer Task Force
Our answer?
STANDBY TASK FORCE
To become a member apply at
http://blog.standbytaskforce.com
or contact join@standbytaskforce.com
And follow us on Twitter: @SBTaskForce
Svend Schelhorn @shornjonas || Introducing the Standby Volunteer Taskforce || ISCRAM Summerschool 2012 || 22-08-2012