dan mcquillan's List: social media campaigning IS71055A - lecture 3 - crowds and participatory tools

• Friday afternoon, David Geilhufe starts organizing geeks to start “screen scraping” databases and bulletin boards with information about hurricane survivors. Some time that evening, David and others develop PFIF – the PeopleFinder Interchange Format, a spec and XML format for missing and found person information.
• Sometimes code is the solution. Sometimes 2,000 loosely organized people are the solution.
• When compared to nearly any other organization i’ve encountered, talk-to-work ratio of this group is simply mind-blowing. P

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• The ICRC’s work to restore family links goes back to 1870, when it obtained lists of French prisoners held by German forces, and could then reassure the families. Since then, tracing people separated by conflict and disaster has become a major part of the ICRC’s protection work and involves the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in a global network.

  The work has an established basis in international humanitarian law, which requires that authorities involved in armed conflict do everything possible to help separated family members to restore contact. The ICRC’s Central Tracing Agency and its partners may offer to help meet these obligations; but very often they take on the practical work themselves, dealing with all sides in strict neutrality.

• Art. 26. Each Party to the conflict shall facilitate enquiries made by members of families dispersed owing to the war, with the object of renewing contact with one another and of meeting, if possible. It shall encourage, in particular, the work of organizations engaged on this task provided they are acceptable to it and conform to its security regulations.

• Another Facebook group, Female Equals Male, boasts more than 140,000 "likes." Following the earthquakes, the group encouraged followers to head to blood-donation stations in cities across Iran.
   
   The call was answered, with eyewitnesses reporting that people were standing in line well after midnight on the night of the tragedy to help fill depleted blood banks.
   
   "I work for one of the blood-transfusion centers in Tehran," wrote Ahmad in a message posted on August 13. "And I can say it was the first time that I have ever seen people being so eager to donate blood. It has always been us, pushing, advertising and asking people to do so."

• llowing the five trucks they had filled up with relief goods for the victims of the deadly double earthquake that struck northern Iran this month, a group of young Iranians — a mix of hipsters, off-road motor club members and children of affluent families — felt like rebels with a cause.
• None of the people in the cars seemed to know exactly how it had begun, or to remember how they all met during the past sleepless days. They became friends while standing in long lines in the parking lot of a privately owned building, passing along boxes filled with blankets and toys.
• Energized by anger over widespread accusations that Iran’s official relief organizations were not adequately helping survivors, they, and hundreds of others, spontaneously organized a 48-hour charity effort using text messages, Facebook and phone calls to gather money and goods.
• But instead of handing over their collection to the Iranian Red Crescent Society — which is close to the government — as the authorities had asked in the state media, these youths were determined to transport it themselves to the most remote hill villages ravaged by the earthquakes, which struck a rural Turkish-speaking part of the country.
• “We are getting this support because people trust us to bring the aid directly to the victims,” said Pouria, 31, who rode in the passenger’s seat of his friend’s sport utility vehicle.
• Pouria, an office manager with broad shoulders, said he made a similar trip in 2003 to Bam, a southern city where a powerful earthquake killed 25,000 people, many of them buried in rubble. After the world gave money to help, Pouria said, he saw a lot of it disappear in the wrong pockets.
• “Bam was a lesson for me,” Pouria said he had reminded his wife after news of this month’s earthquakes. “We normal people should take the initiative.”

• By the time the convoy halted halfway in the dark morning hours of Friday, it had occurred to the entire group, about two dozen men and women in their 20s and 30s, that their ambitious plans had put them in a difficult position.

   They had no special government permits other than a paper saying that 12 of their cars belonged to an officially registered off-road motoring club. They feared that security forces might seize relief goods in order to distribute them, and there had been unconfirmed reports of unrest in some villages.

   As they listened to briefings by two men who had emerged as their unofficial leaders, it became apparent that they needed to make a choice: Either stick to their plan to distribute the aid themselves, or cooperate with the local authorities.
• “I suggest we work with the Red Crescent Society after all,” suggested Hamed, 34, the son of a factory owner. “They know what they are doing.” As it turned out, the three friends who sat in his imported Lexus were actually volunteer members of the organization. “They have experience in dealing with disasters; you don’t,” Hamed said. “We need to act fast. People are cold and need blankets.”
• The convoy members spent the morning looking for people who needed help. There was a chaotic scene when Hamed and his friends opened one of the trucks in the village of Kivi, and residents nearly trampled one another to get flashlights and women’s sanitary napkins. Hossein unilaterally drove off with another truck filled with medicine, and gave the drugs to a local clinic, prompting other members of the group to complain that he had not consulted with them first.
• “Of course we face troubles,” said Pouria, sweat dripping from his face, as he walked past destroyed houses amid clouds of dust. “This is a new experience for all of us.”

• The next morning, on Saturday, after some soul searching, tea drinking and heated debates on the extemporaneous organizational talents of Iranians, it was decided they would stick to the original plan. Goods were distributed among the off-road vehicles, and two groups headed out on the desolate and bumpy back roads of northern Iran.

   After hours of driving, occasionally accompanied by wild horses and eagles soaring high above, Pouria and his group handed out everything, from cooking oil to model cars, to desperate villagers and shepherds, most of whom spoke only in the Turkish local dialect. Few had ever met people from the capital.
• Pouria said he felt pride for his age group, often referred to as the “burnt generation” here because they have few opportunities, faced with international sanctions on Iran and the increasingly strict rules imposed by the state. “By organizing our own aid convoy, we showed that we can manage ourselves,” he said. “We don’t need others to tell us what to do.”

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• Haitian engineers established a number in Haiti, ’4636′, that anybody could send a text message to for free.
• The structured data, now in English, was streamed directly back to the relief efforts in Haiti, with a typical turnaround of just 5 minutes.
• The majority of the people working on Mission 4636 were members of the Haitian diaspora, working from at least 49 different countries and collaborating via a simple online chat.
• Previous reports about Mission 4636 have incorrectly credited international organizations with the majority of the work. Only 5% of messages to 4636 went through the software run by international not-for-profits, but reports like the Disaster Relief 2.0 Report inflated this 5% to appear to be the whole effort, sidelining the 95% that was Haitian run.
• The use of a public-facing ‘crisis map’ for the messages was opposed by the majority of people within Mission 4636 and exposed the identities of at-risk individuals.
• Avoid partnerships with media organizations and citizen journalists.
• . Grief ridden, overwhelmed with guilt and sadness, I sought ways to help by providing assistance to loved ones in Haiti and making financial contributions to various aid agencies in Haiti. But, it still did not feel enough. Translating as a volunteer in Mission 4636 helped me to do something more active and emotionally engaging. It helped me to connect emotionally, though far away, with the people of Haiti. It was satisfying to know that I was making tangible contributions and that I was helping to save lives. By helping others, I also helped myself. I felt useful once again and able to participate in and sit with the pain of other fellow Haitians. It brought me closer to home and closer to my people. In
• The other volunteers also provided much needed psychological support at the time. I was able to connect with others all over the world and share stories, experiences, and reactions to the earthquake. I quickly became part of a community where I was able to speak my native tongue, Haitian Creole and relate to other Haitians and friends of Haiti. Feeling isolated in a predominantly white community in Northern California, those connections were significant sources of support.”

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