Blog

Google ICT4Peace Crisis Mapping Fellowship

I’m grateful to be one of ten fellows selected to attend the 5th International Conference of Crisis Mappers (ICCM) in Nairobi, Kenya from November 18-22. The ICCM brings together the most engaged practitioners, scholars, software developers and policymakers at the cutting edge of crisis mapping and humanitarian technology.

I’ve been volunteering as a crisis mapper since the Haiti earthquake, and have helped with the Japan earthquake, Typhoon Pablo and the recent Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. Having grown up in Jakarta and Manila, the cycle of devastation, international aid and corruption has been all too familiar. With the power of social media and the tools of crisis mapping, I believe we can develop a platform to track aid not only when it’s pledged in a press release, but through to when it is delivered at the village level. If citizens can participate in sending social media reports of aid delivery delays, then we can identify and track issues and the NGO, government and private sectors can collaborate more quickly and effectively to help communities.

A large part of the Philippines’ emergency response efforts are organized by a robust network of private citizens and their network of fixers who are able to act quickly through email, text and social media, and part of what I’m trying to do is help get their reports included in relief tracking initiatives. Through this network we have been able to update the disaster maps for under mapped and underserved areas. I’ve also connected with the Ateneo de Manila University who are currently using drones to map these areas, and am looking into the use of drones to verify data on aid delivery delays.

We’re also looking to fund the set up of a radio and SMS network in partnership with news networks to help communicate with remote communities.

I’m currently in Manila to help develop and launch this citizen reporting platform, and with anything else I can for the next little while. If you’re interested in donating to help Typhoon Yolanda victims, Gawad Kalinga and Tao Philippines are doing excellent work.

 

Maker Faire Toronto at Microsoft Yorkdale

We held a paper airplane event to promote Maker Faire Toronto at Microsoft Yorkdale on September 14, 2013. We used these terrific fold-a-day paper airplane calendars and they were a hit with kids and families. May thanks to Microsoft Yorkdale for donating the space, and for volunteering at Maker Faire Toronto. If you’re a non-profit organization, you can book event space free of charge at Microsoft Yorkdale. It’s a great space with moveable desks and tables right inside the store.

Take a look at our event photos. Many thanks to Chow Productions.

Plant Murals

Next maker project: plant murals. I love succulents and the idea of making plants into wall murals.

Me to We Style & Toronto Mini Maker Faire T-Shirt Design Contest

Maker Faire is an award winning, family friendly event celebrating technology, education, science, arts, crafts, engineering, food, sustainability, and more, in cities around the world. We’re expecting 5,000 people to attend Toronto’s Mini Maker Faire on the weekend of September 21 to 22 at Wychwood Barns.

We’re reaching out to design schools and students, and anyone who wants a chance to see their design become the official t-shirt sold at Toronto Mini Maker Faire.

We’ve partnered to produce our t-shirts with Free the Children’s sustainable clothing line, Me to We Style, who produce organic, recycled, sweatshop-free clothing made right here in Toronto, with 50% of their proceeds supporting the Free the Children.

Submissions will be accepted until midnight on Monday, August 26.

The Grand Prize:

• An Xbox party for you and your 14 friends at Microsoft Retail Store Yorkdale Shopping Centre
• Your design will be printed on the official Toronto Toronto Mini Maker Faire T-Shirt worn by staff, booth crew, volunteers, and sold to the public
• 1 Toronto Mini Maker Faire T-Shirt
• 2 VIP Weekend Passes with access to all parties without lining up and VIP lounge access
• Recognition as the contest winner at the event
• Your name, photo and design featured on Me to We Style and Toronto Mini Maker Faire’s websites, social media and press releases.

The other four finalists will receive 2 tickets to attend Toronto Mini Maker Faire.

The Toronto Mini Maker Faire Committee will select five finalists, and on Tuesday, August 27, we’re opening up the voting to the public to choose the winning design until midnight, on Friday, August 30. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, September 3.

Help us spread the word and post our contest flyer on your community board.
Hashtags: #mmfTO and for the t-shirt design contest:#mmfTOTee

Good luck!

>> We’ve announced the winner! 

Georgian College Fundraising Tech Tools

Georgian College invited me to lead a session at their 2010 fundraising conference. Titled, “Getting the Most out of Your Tech Budget,” I share my three page list of free and low cost international tools like free and open source software and $10,000 Google Adwords Grants. Here’s the session description:

Now more than ever, fundraisers are looking for ways to maximize resources. Learn how new free and affordable web tools can help improve the ways you plan and organize events and learn about new resources, grants and programs that help engage and sustain funders and supporters in your community.

Toronto Non-Profit Open Data Launch

Listen to the audio recording of the event on rabble.ca

On May 5, 2009, I created an event to launch open data to the Toronto Non-Profit Community with Toronto Mayor David Miller. Toronto was one of the pioneering cities to first launch open data. I screened Us Now, a documentary on the power of the open web, and led a panel discussion with Mozilla Foundation Executive Director, Mark Surman, MaRS Discovery District Director of Social Entrepreneurship Allyson Hewitt, Family Assoc. for Mental Health Everywhere (FAME) Executive Director Christine Cooper, ChangeCamp Co-founder Mark Kuznicki, and Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) Online Capacity Development Coordinator Marco Campana.

Open data is data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone – subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and sharealike.

Lifted from the Open Data Handbook, the key benefits to open data include:

• Availability and Access: the data must be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably by downloading over the internet. The data must also be available in a convenient and modifiable form.
• Re-use and Redistribution: the data must be provided under terms that permit re-use and redistribution including the intermixing with other datasets.
• Universal Participation: everyone must be able to use, re-use and redistribute – there should be no discrimination against fields of endeavour or against persons or groups. For example, ‘non-commercial’ restrictions that would prevent ‘commercial’ use, or restrictions of use for certain purposes (e.g. only in education), are not allowed.

Open data formats enable the interoperability of datasets across various operating systems, and tax payer funded research should be saved in open data format to ensure its use and access by the public.