[OpenRelief Outreach] [PR] Who do we need to communicate with and how should that happen?

Mon Mar 19 20:19:07 GMT 2012

Dear All,

Shane - first, thank you for driving this project. I can't think of
anything more worthwhile.

All - welcome on board. I'm Jane. I've made open source conferences;
written communications packages for open source servers and proprietary
mobile software; and now use digital media to communicate about traditional
/ heritage ideas.

Reading your excellent summaries Shane, a pressing question for comms is
whether you see deployment to be mainly:

1) Top down - Authorised by, then provisioned by NGOs / governments via
standard procurement routes

OR

2) Bottom up - Driven by pro-active technologists, interested individuals
and aid-workers on the ground

This will shape all communications strategies. I would be firmly on the
side of 2) -- get it right, and 1) will follow --- with dramatically
reduced procurement cycles.

If standards for interconnect with the existing, traditionally procured
aid-worker tool-kit are met, there should be no (communications) reason why
2) could cause harm / interfere with existing disaster solutions?  Thoughts?

On an initial PR note:

Additional real estate to be snapped up:
- Pinterest (bear with me on this!)
- Twitter for non-techies?

We need to start producing a low-tech, project update feed (twitter would
be fine) for interested non-techies. Standard subscribe-me buttons on
openrelief.org / openrelief.com

On 18 March 2012 14:28, Shane Coughlan <shane at openrelief.org> wrote:

> Dear All
>
> This mail is about explaining OpenRelief to our target audience. Please
> comment freely. I'm well aware that we need to formulate a communications
> plan so that we have a successful launch in June. :)
>
> We are preparing a project based around disaster solutions for situation
> mapping, restoring communications and coordinating on-going recovery. The
> goal is to create tools that can be quickly customized when needed and to
> build a community that improves and shares these solutions around the
> world. Ultimately, technology is not about tools. It is the story of how we
> use science to solve problems. This is about communication, and we need to
> bridge technology and art to create a story that allows the knowledge to
> pass onwards. The story of OpenRelief is about how technology can help
> solve the problem of gathering information and communicating in very
> difficult times.
>
> As Jane - our communications ninja - pointed out in a private mail last
> week, the key information to get start is about who, externally, the
> project needs to communicate with. Who will be using the technology in the
> field? Who will be making the decision to deploy? Once we define our
> audience we can create the story to connect, reassure and motivate our
> target audience(s), tailored to each communication channel we choose to use.
>
> At this point I envision that we have four distinct audiences that need to
> be addressed:
>  - Developers and other people who can help contribute to making our
> solutions
>  - The government agencies or NGOs needed to authorize the technology and
> its procurement for disaster relief
>  - Volunteer and professional emergency relief crews who need to deploy
> and use the solutions
>  - The media
>
> To help shape the discussion of how we can best address them I thought it
> might be useful to briefly summarize the projected workflow of each
> audience when they first approach us.
>
> Developers and other people interested in contributing may have a workflow
> like the following:
> - Discover that OpenRelief provides a way to gather information and
> communicate more effectively in disasters
> - Coming to OpenRelief seeking information about solutions
> - Discovering the area where they can assist
> - Joining the correct list/accessing the correct repository
>
> Government agencies or NGOs may have a workflow like the following:
> - Discover that OpenRelief provides a way to gather information and
> communicate more effectively in disasters
> - Coming to OpenRelief seeking information about solutions
> - Discovering how OpenRelief can help accomplish their goals
> - Exploring how OpenRelief solutions are delivered and deployed
> - Handing over to their volunteer and professional emergency relief crews
> for test deployment
>
> Volunteer and professional emergency relief crews may have a workflow like
> the following:
> - Discover that OpenRelief provides a way to gather information and
> communicate more effectively in disasters
> - Coming to OpenRelief seeking solutions
> - Getting solutions delivered and starting deployment
> - Getting solutions active in the field
> - Monitoring everything
>
> The media may have a workflow like the following:
> - Discover that OpenRelief provides a way to gather information and
> communicate more effectively in disasters
> - Coming to OpenRelief to learn how we help solve problems with advanced
> technology
> - Obtaining an overview of how it works in practice
> - Getting in contact for further information via interviews etc.
>
> Jane also mentioned that one interesting question is how Open Source
> principles can be applied to marking and communications, a concept she
> likened to the free sharing of stories around a product or innovation. Once
> we frame the narrative about the "who, what, why, where and how" of
> OpenRelief, the community itself may be able to provide on-going outreach.
>
> Going back to the core problem we are seeking to solve, let me extract a
> small illustration from my experience in Tohoku. This was shared with
> Noriaki by private email last week, but probably bears repeating here.
>
> Two weeks after the tsunami in Tohoku, there was no gas, there was little
> medicine outside of the official shelters, and there was a serious lack of
> situation awareness for NGO supply provision. I went to help with mapping
> so the NGO trucks from my area in West Japan could get to places that
> needed them most. I remember that as we assembled in Sendai city and
> prepared to drive into the local countryside with doctors and aid, we had
> no idea if - for example - the village of Ogatsucho Osu still existed. Long
> before we could reach that distance it became quite terrible, with towns
> like Onagawa and Ogatsu proper almost totally destroyed. Throughout the
> first stage of discovery we were repeatedly asked for heating oil and
> batteries, two things we did not have due to limited logistics and lack of
> knowledge over precisely what was required. Much of what we did bring -
> medicine, sanitary provisions - was still needed, but the load carried was
> not optimal.
>
> In short, information and communications were really lacking and that had
> a big impact on how quickly and how effectively we could assist people.
> There was almost no data outside of places like Onagawa main shelter. We
> can fix this problem with technology, and using open innovation we can fix
> it at an extraordinarily low price. That's why we are bringing together
> people around the OpenRelief concept. The idea is to develop solutions for
> situation mapping, restoring communications and coordinating on-going
> recovery. The goal is to create tools that can be quickly customized when
> needed and to build a community that improves and shares these solutions
> around the world.
>
> Let's get started.
>
> Shane
>
> PS: It's not super important right now, but I have been securing some
> communications channels for future use. I've been slowly getting the basic
> profile data online and I notice Karl has posted a small development note
> on Facebook already explaining the types of technology that we can apply to
> massively increase situation awareness. He also uploaded a placeholder
> logo. Please let us know if there are other channels we need to secure
> before squatters move in.
>
> OpenRelief on Twitter:
> https://twitter.com/OpenRelief
>
> OpenRelief on Facebook:
> https://www.facebook.com/OpenRelief
> _______________________________________________
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>
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