Edward G. Happ, the Global CIO of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and Chairman of NetHope, came to speak with us this week. He is one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in IT, and is also one of the Top 100 CIOs. The NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) presented Mr. Happ with a Lifetime Achievement Award for technology leadership in the nonprofit community in 2010. Through his presentation he noted three take away points: Crisis, Connections & Collaboration.
Crisis- The world stage is becoming more challenging.
No matter how much training you’ve had in crisis response there will always be two steps; a disarray will occur and then your training will kick in. Catastrophic events have been on the rise in terms of both man-made disasters and natural catastrophes from less than 100 crises in 1970 to over 300 in 2010. In crises there are generic needs that everyone wants met, especially when it involves information. Is my family okay? Can I get to food? Water? Shelter? Can we communicate via voice or data? These are often the most sought after tidbits of knowledge during a crisis. The new information crises that are starting to arise. An example of such a problem was the social response to the Virginia earthquake on August 23rd at 1:51 p.m. of this year. Tweets were faster at reporting what was happening than the seismometers because the tweets were nearly instantaneous. “In the social media world, everyone is a sensor…data source…and in some cases that data is faster and better than the data we have typically relied on,” stated Mr.Happ. He started discussing eight information challenges in need of solution shortly there after.
Relevance- is it actionable?
Verification- It is true, or is it a hoax?
Duplication- Has this already been dealt with?
Access- Do the most vulnerable have the tools?
Privacy- Is confidentiality being respected? Are there security risks?
Expectations- Are we creating unrealistic expectations?
Impact- Are we converting data into aid delivery?
Impact- Are we converting data into aid delivery?
Proximity- Are we understanding new proximity dynamics?
Connections- Responding to crises with technology is becoming increasingly social
Cell-phones are becoming the dominant gateway to the internet in Kenya and other non-first world countries across the world. Smart phones are slowly replacing SMS-dumb phones. (BTW China is rumored to have a sub-$75 smart phone coming out soon.) In Haiti and the after effects of its devastating earthquake, a company named Trilogy used an app called TERA that allowed targeted SMS texts to be sent to survivors. Over six million texts were sent to survivors in seven days; 385k SMS per day were received; 1.1 million early warning SMS texts were sent out; and one million cholera health SMS texts were also sent out.
Collaboration- Working together isn’t an option; it is imperative.
That definition speaks for itself. However, if you’d like some more to read I’ll gladly reiterate the story that Mr. Happ shared with us in class. He was in Zaire doing humanitarian relief work when they were driving on a road and came to a HUGE tree that fell across the road blocking their way. It was too large of a tree to cut through without taking an absurdly long time, it was too large to go around, and it was too large to try to simply go over it, or try to move it on their own. After a half an hour or so, some locals had heard of their troubles and had come to see if they could help. The local tribe shaman started to chant in a rhythm that went up and down, as the rhythm went up the local tribesmen lifted the tree and moved it about an inch until the rhythm went down and they put down the tree. This process lasted about an hour until the tree was moved, inch-by-inch, out of the way so Mr. Happ and his crew could pass. This story exemplifies the fact that working together to achieve a goal is not an option; it’s imperative.
Overall, I feel that this was by far the best presentation of the set so far. I truly learned from Mr. Happ’s presentation, and I implore you to view his personal youtube cannel at http://www.youtube.com/user/ehapp99
I'll agree with you that this was easily the most interesting and informative speaker we've hosted thus far. Mr. Happ was quite informative and knowledgeable, plus he was rather personable and memorable to boot. The story you mentioned in relation to "Collaboration" - the power of people working together and gradually moving the tree - was one of the three interesting stories that, just like Mr. Happ said, will stick with us even after we've forgotten everything else he had to say.
ReplyDeleteI also believe the three main points of Crisis, Connections, and Collaboration are important, but they mostly just reinforce topics that we've already spoken about in class. I feel the most important thing he mentioned was actually about IT budgeting. As Mr. Happ put it, most IT departments within humanitarian organizations have a certain hunger for funding because they receive such a small portion of the funding pie. Due to this hunger, they need to think outside of the box, adopt new technology, and require greater collaboration to accomplish their goals. This fosters a positive environment that requires greater communications and cooperation between humanitarian organizations and departs from the over-funded and under-effective model the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs follows.