PersonFinder for those seeking information, or who have information, about Haitian victims of the recent earthquake. http://haiticrisis.appspot.com/

During the April 2007 shooting tragedy at Virginia Tech, news outlets reported on, and relied upon, the way students made extensive use of Facebook to communicate with one another about the event. Schoolmates updated one another about the whereabouts of friends, class cancellation, victims and death toll (though inaccuracies abounded). CNN began reading students’ posts on the air, instantly giving us a first-hand human response to the unfolding nightmare. Those of us who hadn’t yet taken advantage of Facebook’s public invitation in late September 2006 suddenly became well aware of the potential impact this technology had on those issues that deeply affected our lives.

 

But social media was not specifically developed to communicate during tragedies. In fact, if Wikipedia is correct, Marc Zuckerberg invented Facebook to get his mind off a girl that dumped him that night (obviously I can’t speak for Mr. Zuckerberg, but I’d be willing to bet it worked).

 

While social networks have been useful in rallying volunteers and spreading the word about technologically savvy ways to donate to disaster relief (i.e., the Red Cross’ easy text messaging system that allows you to donate $10 by texting “Haiti” to 90999), in recent years there have been web and mobile advancements created to directly address the urgent and basic needs during major crises. AP technology writer, Frank Bajak, provided a fantastic summary of the new tools in humanitarian relief, and much of what follows is courtesy of Mr. Bajak’s article:

 

Tim Schwartz, a 28-year-old artist and programmer, was actually concerned about the widespread and unorganized dissemination of information on social media sites. He and his colleagues created a human lost-and-found database to assist people in locating missing relatives in Haiti. HaitianQuake.com grew out of missing-persons technology developed as a result of the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. By additionally using a scraper to gather data from a Red Cross site the team was able to contribute to the site’s public updates, together totaling more than 6,000 entries.

 

The New York Times, Miami Herald, CNN and Google also launched similar efforts. HaitianQuake has now been folded into PersonFinder, Google’s missing persons database. Google is also working with GeoEye to provide relief organizations with updated imagery through Google Earth. Internet users can contribute to Google’s efforts by updating Google Map Maker to help provide a real-time cartography of Haiti.

 

OpenStreetMap allows volunteers to layer data onto post-quake satellite imagery. These efforts have helped aid workers in their attempts to deliver food, water and medicine to suffering victims. Again, GeoEye is part of this humanitarian collaboration, along with imagery provider DigitalGlobe.

 

Using its open-source communication software tools released in November 2009, the non-governmental humanitarian organization InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases, and Disasters) and Thomson-Reuters created a Emergency Information Service text-messaging system in Haiti that allows victims to send free text messages by texting 4636. The messages are sent on Haiti’s Digicel and Comcel network, and are “geotagged” by volunteers. This service is being promoted on Haitian radio stations, and more than 1,000 texts have been handled since Saturday. Ushahidi is posting a map of the texts on their site.

 

InSTEDD’s unified mobile communications service GeoChat also lets mobile phone users broadcast location-based alerts, report on their situation, and coordinate around events as they unfold, linking field, headquarters, and the local community in a real-time, interactive conversation visualized on the surface of a map.  

 

And finally, but certainly not comprehensively, volunteers from the social media group CrisisCamp, met over the weekend to develop a basic Creole-English dictionary for the iPhone. Working without any breaks, participants were able to deliver the application to Apple Monday night for approval.

 

 

 

 

 

The need for help persists in this crisis alone: as I write, news services are reporting a 6.1 magnitude aftershock centered just outside Port-au-Prince. Let us hope that, in this industry, compassion continues to drive innovation.