i've put a copy of ed's slides at http://change.washington.edu/2011/01/welcome-to-change-and-eduardo-jezierski-on-instedd/. he also has a blog post about what we talked about at http://edjez.instedd.org/2009/06/architecture-mobiles-and-health-10.html
On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 10:32, Eleanor O'Rourke <eorourke at cs.washington.edu> wrote: > Welcome back! This Thursday will be the first Change meeting of the winter > quarter. We will be introducing new members to the Change group, discussing > plans for the upcoming weeks, and hearing a talk from the chief technology > officer at?InSTEDD, Eduardo Jezierski. InSTEDD is a non-profit that > harnesses the power of technology for effective collaboration against global > health threats, natural disasters, and emergencies. Below is an overview of > the organization?s mission: > > The Problem: > It?s a familiar scene. Following the onset of a major disease outbreak or > natural disaster, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and > the local community must join forces and act quickly to alleviate suffering. > People need to communicate, assemble teams, share information, make plans > and coordinate a response. Yet despite every one?s best intentions, a wealth > of resources, deep expertise and tremendous effort, there are still > challenges in trying to work together. The response once again proves > confused, inefficient, and far less effective than it should have been. As a > population waits for help, delays mount, resources are wasted, and too > little arrives too late. > > The Collaboration Gap: > Effective collaboration requires people to establish a reliable flow of > timely, accurate and complete information. Yet the information technologies > required often fail in the difficult environments where humanitarian > organizations work. Today?s public health and disaster response workers need > to have access to the best possible information whenever they need it, > including satellite imagery, sensor data, media reports and all of the rich > resources of the web. Responders to a crisis need to have powerful tools and > services to help them make the right decisions. They need to be able to > communicate reliably with headquarters, with community leaders, and with one > another at any moment. At InSTEDD we help to ensure collaboration between > those who want it, just as soon as they need it. > > InSTEDD?s Strategy: > We work with governments, universities, corporations, international health > organizations, humanitarian NGOs and local communities around the world. We > go to the field ? in rural Asia, urban Africa, the rain forests of > Indonesia, and the slums of Haiti ? to learn about the challenges that > professionals face in those places. Where solutions already exist, we > integrate them. If another technology can be adapted to meet the needs we > find, we re-purpose it. If a genuine gap is found where no solution exists > and no market pressures are driving the necessary innovation, we build it > ourselves. Then we give it away, free and open source. We then test, train, > and deploy it within the areas of the world we find are most in need. We > support humanitarian organizations, local communities, and government > ministries by filling the collaboration gaps we find through sustainable > innovation ? a unique and effective combination of user-centered design, > software development, and on-the-job training. > > Join us for lunch this Thursday to learn more about InSTEDD! > > What:?Welcome to Change and Eduardo Jezierski on InSTEDD > When:?Thursday, January 6 at noon > Where:?Paul Allen Center, Room 203 > > _______________________________________________ > change mailing list > change at change.washington.edu > http://changemm.cs.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/change > >
