Sinsai.info is a crisis mapping platform that was quickly launched after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan to collect and share location-based reports from affected areas, helping coordinate disaster response efforts. The site harnessed open collaboration and open data standards to gather over 10,000 crowd-sourced reports within its first month from volunteers, providing over 1 million page views of crucial information to relief organizations.

1. How open collaboration helps disaster-
affected people
http://sinsai.info/

2. • What happened after the earthquake?
• What is sinsai.info? and its challenges ?
• What can you do to help?

3. • Lives in London
• In charge of international communication at
sinsai.info (@sinsai_info_en)
• A developer (Ruby On Rails) with No prior
volunteer experience nor interests until Mar
11th 2011

4. • More than 14,000 people were killed.
• There are still another 13,000 people missing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dugspr/5541815267/in/set-72157626305323978

5. • Roads were completely disrupted.
• Electricity and cell-phones were washed away.
• Cell-phone were useless more than 24hrs even in Tokyo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dugspr/5549191112/in/set-72157626305323978

6. • Data explosion
• Data curation
• Curated system

7. - Report by NEC Big Globe
- 3/11 ~ 4/11
- 73,694,790
- Average Tweet per day (before) = 18,000,000
- Average Tweet per day (3/11) = 33,000,000
- Average Tweet per day (after) = 22,000,000
http://gigazine.net/news/20110427_earthquake_twitter/

8. - Report by NEC Big Globe
- 3/11 ~ 4/11 - Before (31 % entertaintment, 25 % animation,
- 73,694,790 7% transportation, 5% earthquake)
- Average Tweet per day (before) = 18,000,000 - After (72% earthquake, 8% transportation)
- Average Tweet per day (3/11) = 33,000,000
- Average Tweet per day (after) = 22,000,000
http://gigazine.net/news/20110427_earthquake_twitter/

10. - initially people were spreading
hashtags
- Twitter announced official hashtags
and advised not to put more than 2
hashtags per t weet. #311sppt is only
for people requesting help from the
disaster area

11. @takepon_jp [pls RT] Looking for my friends, 20
yrs old, height 150cm, black hair with partially
blonde

12. @takepon_jp [pls RT] Looking for my friends, 20
yrs old, height 150cm, black hair with partially
blonde
Celebs with many followers acted as hubs to spread
important information

14. John Roos is US ambassador to Japan
Some people were directly reaching
influential figures
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-04-11-japan-social-media_N.htm

15. “Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from
here will join others from around the world. And
you will be launching the largest rescue in this
history of mankind.......”
- Operation “Tomodachi” -
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-04-11-japan-social-media_N.htm

16. “Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here
will join others from around the world. And you will be
launching the largest aerial battle in this history of
mankind........”
- Independence Day , President Speech -
http://longtailworld.blogspot.com/2011/03/operation-tomodachi-is-real-but-obamas.html
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-04-11-japan-social-media_N.htm

17. - Confused information (Partially correct)
- Lack of scientific backing
- False announcement
- Criticising / praising government, political
parties, celebrities, companies
- Joke, Racism
Not all the information was curated properly.
The use of unofficial “RT” made it difficult to
delete the original t weet even after the
information is false. Twitter announced to
encourage the use of official t weet
http://www.kotono8.com/2011/04/08dema.html
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-04-11-japan-social-media_N.htm

19. - Google person finder
- launched after 2 hrs
- over 600,000 records
- Integrated with Picassa to convert name list from
evacuation Center into the system with crowd source.

21. We need help! We are stuck in
isolation at Akasaka hospital and
getting suffer. Please spread this
information to the others.
I made a phone-call to Self-
Defence force and they said
they would go help ASAP
...

22. • Geo tagged report using Open Street
Map
• Directly from the form & via twitter
• Monitored , geotagged, and moderated
by volunteers
• Launched within 4 hrs

26. It was even used during London tube
strikes.

27. • Over 10,000 reports
• 1,000,000+ PV in one month
• 650,000+ Visits
• 500,000+ Unique Visitors
• Accessed from Sendai the most

28. • Relief to recovery
• Sustainability
• Open Data & Collaboration
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hichako/5547226578/

29. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hichako/5547226578/

30. Sahana is developered after 2004 Indonesia
Tsunamie
- Organization Registry (OR)
- Request Management System (RMS):
- Hospital Management System (HMS)
- Food Cluster Food Request Portal (FRP):
Working in collaboration with Hyogon Tech
http://www.slideshare.net/nyampire/sahana-
lightningtalk-20110423-7715203

31. • Running by volunteers
• Main Open Street Map Foundation
Japan (NPO)
• Volunteers (Active) people increasing
- Moderators about 40
- Developers about 30 people
- Translators about 10 people
• Supporting companies NTT, NTT Data)
- 15 companies (Amazon,Yahoo,

32. Open Source
Open Data encourages mash ups.
http://wiki.ushahidi.com/doku.php?id=ushahidi_api
Open Collaboration
Open to Global
http://www.flickr.com/photos/misswired/440919666/sizes/l/

33. •Donation to Japan
http://www.google.com/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html
•Ideas, Suggestions, funding
•Get Involved
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dugspr/5572695671/

34. •More skills, knowledges, and
experiences can be shared, if we use
common tools across different crisis
Why GPS was launched within 2hrs, and sinsai.info
within 4hrs? Because they have been used in different
crisis.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dugspr/5572695671/

35. •http://www.sinsai.info/ushahidi/
page/index/6#english
•http://crisiscommons.org
•http://www.crisismappers.net
•http://crowdmap.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dugspr/5572695671/

36. http://sinsai-info-en.blogspot.com
@makoto_inoue
http://sinsai.info/
@sinsai_info_en