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April 10, 2006The 2004 Tsunami; what other "nobodies" accomplished
Fellow nobody Lee Hopkins, on his Better Communication Results blog, wrote yesterday about "How to create a global project management tool in 72 hours." He was writing about the International Association of Nobodies, of course, but let me share the tale of another Web 2.0 meme-storm. (Raganites and other Web 2.0 skeptics, you might want to sit up and listen.) Within hours of the Southeast Asian earthquake and tsunami, three bloggers started Skyping, wondering what they could do to help. They turned to social media -- a Blogger blog, a wiki, Skype, and IM (all of it free, or nearly so). Within three days they had attracted 100,000 visits and 50 volunteer bloggers, wiki specialists, networkers. Within eight days, their SEA-EAT Blog & Wiki had attracted over 1 million visits, and 200 volunteers -- all unpaid, with no "organization chart" or "director" or "fundraising staff". They just did it. Dina Mehta's early posting on the topic (5 days after the event), her later personal account and this Information Week article are well worth a read, if you would like to know more. I first heard this story from Dina herself at last year's Reboot conference, and blogged about it in "We don't have the tools is OUT as an excuse." And I still believe that (and Web 2.0 skeptics should wake up to this): if three Bombay bloggers who had never met each other can form a distributed 200-volunteer charity information network in eight days... think what rich companies and associations can do. Technorati Tags: nobody, International Association of Nobodies, SEA-EAT blog, Dina Mehta, Web 2.0 Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:14pm in International Association of Nobodies, Reboot 7.0, Smart Communities, Social Tools, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) October 11, 2005Recovery 2.0 Fiddles While Kashmir Burns: "We Don't Have the Tools" is OUT as an Excuse (Reprise)
Friend Neville Hobson urges us to Help Victims of Pakistan Earthquake. With a death toll climbing north of 20,000, the October 2005 Kashmir Earthquake knocks the entire Atlantic Hurricane season into the corner. After the earthquake & tsunami last year, the SEA-EAT blog/wiki project -- an entirely grassroots effort -- organized and swung into action within hours. After hearing Dina Mehta describe the effort at Reboot, I wrote about it, saying "We Don't Have the Tools is NOT an Excuse". Just as they did in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (my post here), many of the same team spontaneously assembled behind the South Asia Quake Help effort within hours of the quake: ("News and information about resources, aid, donations and
volunteer efforts after the South Asia Earthquake of October 8th, 2005.") And are doing an outstanding job. You can volunteer, by the way. These three efforts in nine months point, unfortunately, to the sluggishness and bureaucracy already clogging the arteries of Jeff Jarvis' Recovery 2.0 effort, which is aimed at doing what the SEA-EAT team already does far better. After weeks of talking about it, Jarvis managed to convene a meeting to talk about the project. The results of this meeting? * We need to work on standards and APIs for the tools and data bases people create
to help in disasters. The peoplefinder
standard is already underway and some of the folks from Yahoo at the meeting
— who had experience on the ground in Houston and also at the Red Cross network
operations center — are working on improvements. At a minimum, we need to do a
better job harnessing the internet to help people find each other. * We need to meet face-to-face with government, NGOs, and business to offer
help and coordinate. There is a meeting in Washington on Oct. 17 about just
that. In the meantime, the Kashmir was being leveled by an earthquake, and the South Asia Quake Help team organized itself and got to work. No meetings, no discussions of software options, no meetings in Washington. Jeff Jarvis: You have great influence; the members of your group have great influence. Instead of reinventing the wheel, why not use your influence to push funds and volunteers into the group behind SEA-EAT, Katrina Help, and South Asia Quake Help? The money your group has spent on travel alone -- just on the BART -- could fund any of these efforts. How about it? Technorati tags: Recovery 2.0Recovery2.0
pakistan+earthquake Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:52am in Citizen Journalism, Current Affairs, Katrina, Online Media, Pakistan Earthquake, Smart Communities, Society, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) | TrackBack (2) September 09, 2005Lesson for Communicators: Grassroots Tsunami Team Remobilizes For Katrina
What can ordinary people do in the face of catastrophe? Jeremy Pepper and Richard Edelman believe natural disasters are events that leave bloggers and wiki-builders powerless. Warren Bickford believes there's little that IABC can do. (Addendum: Jeff Jarvis is hard at work with a coterie to solve the next disaster -- Jeff, why don't you and your group help solve this one first: Keep reading for how you can volunteer.) Nothing could be further from the truth: bloggers can make a difference. While I agree with Pepper that few bloggers seem to be doing more than complaining about government efforts, I'd like to point out a huge exception. I've written earlier about the incredible South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog/wiki effort that went into action hours after the tsunami. Grassroots- organized using blogs, wikis, IM, and Skype. And effective at a time with most governments and relief organizations were in shock. The same team has swung into action with the Katrina Help blog and wiki. The team, spanning three continents, including professional communicators, has used the blog, the wike, IM, and Skype to set up: So what can IABC and its members, PRSA and its members, any communicator -- or any one of us, for that matter, do to help this effort? The lesson here for communicators? Bloggers and micro-media users -- real communicators -- can make a difference. It's a question of rapid organization and will. We don't have the tools is no longer an excuse for us. Via Conversations with Dina and other sources. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:32am in Blogging for the Sheer Hell of It, Citizen Journalism, Communication, Current Affairs, IABC, Katrina, PRSA, Social Tools, South, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) | TrackBack (2) July 06, 2005Social Tools - Ripples to Waves of the Future
On June 11, I wrote We Dont Have the Tools is OUT as an Excuse about Dina Mehty's inspiring presentation about how quickly the Southeast Asian Earthquake & Tsunami Blog/Wiki sprang to life -- using only volunteers and free communication tools. I described her presentation as best I could, but I've found a far better description on Dina's own blog: Social Tools - Ripples to Waves of the Future. An amazing story about "gettin' it done". Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:14pm in Communication, Social Tools, Technology, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) January 05, 2005Hoi Polloi Turns to Tsunami Relief
IABC/Phoenix leader Angelo Fernando has turned his marcom/PR blog, Hoi Polloi to focus on relief efforts in Asia. "The
tsunami of December 26th changed all that. It suddenly became not so
important to cover topics such as Wi-Fi, and viral marketing, when tens
of thousands of people in some eleven countries are dead, injured,
orphaned and have lost everything they had, with no hope for the
future. Their needs are fresh water, medicines, and a comforting hand
of a loved one --not the latest mega-pixel camera, or that 40-gig iPod." Posted by Allan Jenkins at 09:49pm in Bloggers, IABC, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) Most Generous Nation? No...
When the Bush Administration pledged a paltry $15 million (later
grudgingly upped to $35 million), I thought I would not be alone in
thinking it tightfisted. In correspondence to friends,
acquaintances, and a couple US mailing lists, I said so
(coincidentally, at about the same time of Egelund's statement), and
said that I, here in Europe, had not heard any compelling arguments
about why the contribution should be so small (on a per capita basis or
a percentage of GNP). After all, the upcoming Inauguration budget is
$40 million. The response was so surprisingly, and vehemently against
government aid to disaster relief -- that even $35 million was too much
-- that I realized just how out of touch I am with Red-State values (I
come from the South, so I know a lot of Red-Staters). The howling fell into four main groupings: 1. The US wasn't affected by this; anyway, we had our own disasters (hurricanes) in 2004. 2. The "UN will waste it". 3. We can't divert funds from the War on Terror. 4.
The US Government doesn't have to give foreign aid, because Americans
have the heart to give through charity. In other countries, people
aren't naturally charitable, and so must be taxed so their countries
can give foreign aid. Holders of deep beliefs are rarely swayed
by facts or numbers, so I am afraid I converted no Red-Staters into
advocates for greater foreign aid or disaster relief. But some facts and myths simply deserve to be more widely-known. Thus: The US wasn't affected by this; anyway, we had our own disasters (hurricanes) in 2004. Myth: 4000-5000 Americans are still missing
as of this writing. Many, one must hope, will be found. But since many
who were in the tsunami are already back home argues that the number of
American dead and missing will be high. To say that America isn't
affected simply means you don't know anyone who travels in Asia. Fact: the US was struck by four hurricanes this year. But $13 billion was set aside for disaster relief. Yes, I agree that Florida is closer to home than Sri Lanka. But not 867 times closer. "The UN will just waste the money" Myth: While the UN is a favorite bête-noire of the Red-Staters, no aid money or disaster relief need be channeled through the UN. We can't divert funds from the War on Terror Myth:
With over $120 billion already allocated to the Iraqi Adventure, no
disaster aid contribution is likely to doom the effort. Anyway, the
funds don't come out of the Defense Department budget. The
US Government doesn't have to give foreign aid, because Americans have
the heart to give through charity. In other countries, people aren't
naturally charitable, and so must be taxed so their countries can give
foreign aid. Myth: Americans do give to a lot of charities: $3 billion a year, according to this article.But
that amounts to just 0.03 of Gross National Income. In comparison, the
US government gives $15 billion, or 0.15% of GNI. Even if no other
citizen in any other rich country gave a single dime, the US at the back of the pack of generosity. Public
giving is a public policy decision, ultimately decided by collective
public. Personal giving is a personal choice. So if it is the will of
Americans to give less, given the country's wealth, through public or
private choice, so be it. But, really people, let's stop kidding
ourselves that we are the most generous nation on earth. Update:
In the last few days, the Bush Administration either came to or was
shamed into its senses. So the disaster relief was put up into the
hundreds of millions. Still cheap, but getting there. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:01pm in Economics, Politics, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (2) December 27, 2004Evelyn Blogs Earthquake/Tsunami
Chilling on the spot reporting from Evelyn Rodriguez, blogger of Crossroads Dispatches PR blog Posted by Allan Jenkins at 09:24am in Bloggers, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) |
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