@astrid yes. According to Eric Schmid (chair of Google), the whole world will be online by 2020, mostly via mobile devices
@rohanhay very good question. if we say connectivity is aid then the question becomes: how do we support restoration of the network, or provision of network in areas where there is none?
So far, emergency telecommunications in aid has been the work of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC). Their mandate has been providing connectivity for aid workers in crisis. They are now considering changing that so they become about providing connectivity for all
Agree with @rohanhay & @imogenwall: Infrastructure needs to be in place and working in order for information to be delivered across it
In the countries where we work, we liaise directly with mobile networks to ensure that base stations & connectivity gets restored ASAP.
@grohanvey. We need to work with the private sector. @unocha and @gsma are in discussions on this: how can humanitarians and the private sector in country work together to meet connectivity needs in a crisis?
The recent report we published on the Japan Triple disaster shows that for many communities struggling to recover
, rather than the high technology for which Japan is known - in the absence of power and with telecommunications networks damaged - it was the lowest of low tech media such as handwritten newspapers that proved invaluable. ‘
The report we recently published on the Japan Triple Disaster shows that for many communities struggling to recover from the triple disaster
, rather than the high technology for which Japan is known - in the absence of power and with telecommunications networks damaged - it was the lowest of low tech media such as handwritten newspapers that proved invaluable. ‘
@Internews can answer well your question about local media. Over the next year the CDAC Network will work with Internews and other Network partners to establish in-country multi-media centres that will address directly how humanitarian responders and local media can work together. Local media certainly has the capacity.
@rohanjay: in Haiti, there were lots of local radio stations that were extremely capable and functioning, and were far more trusted than the UN radio. They just needed basic support to stay on air - eg generators for their transmittors, fuel for generators, food and tents for journalists
@rohanjay many good questions - for the Red Cross Red Crescent, disaster comms never relies on one channel - radio stations can be easily set-up and broadcasting within a few hours with the right pre-positioned equipment, but we also rely on our network of community based volunteers
How are aid agencies adapting – do aid workers “learn as they go” in the field about communication as aid?
Agree with @rohanjay. From our experience it's crucial to get information from multiple sources--ie. a mix of citizen & traditional journalists
@alertnet - the need for information is evident and manifest. What would really help is strong analysis of the communications environment: what tools and channels people prefer, and how they intermesh to generate an information ecology. These networks of course get damaged so the patterns change, but evidence to date shows that people revert to what they like and know as fast as they can.
"triangulation" of info from these sources helps paint a clearer picture of the realities on the ground.
Astrid: on your question about aid workers 'learning as they go'.
Experience from CDAC-N members has shown that, by and large, this is an overlooked area of work. This is not helped because agencies don’t know where to put it. They ask: Is this accountability? Is this human rights? Should this be part of our psychosocial programming? Is it protection? In order for the provision of life-saving information and communication to be ‘mainstreamed’ and to become part of standard humanitarian practice this has to be recognised in agency policy documents and fully resourced. Of course field workers ‘learn as they go’. They always have done and always will. And in the case of communications, they very likely learn from the affected populations they are attempting to serve. However, much work needs to be done to make sure the communication as aid becomes a consistent, predictable and recognised part of humanitarian response.
A number of organisations – for example, the IFRC, IOM and infoasaid – have produced some really excellent learning resources to help field staff in this area. See, for example, the infoasaid e-learning module here. Many of these resources are housed on the CDAC-N website.
@Astrid do we mean adapting to digital technologies and social media for communication as a form of aid? yes it is a work in progress for us and we are trying to adapt for the benefit of those we serve.
@timothylarge asked earlier on about "white noise" -what do you think?
What about the problem of white noise in an emergency? If everyone's connected, is the conversation intelligible?
@Rohanjay: In Haiti nine days after the January 2010 earthquake, we began producing a daily humanitarian news program called Enfòmasyon Nou Dwe Konnen - ''News You Can Use'' - (ENDK). The program was broadcast for free by more than thirty Haitian radio stations.
@katherine - I mean is it now standard for aid agencies to have training programmes on communication as aid, or is it more like 'on the job learning' depending on circumstances?
Thanks @Astrid - yes it is for us we are integrating it into our disaster preparedness and response programmes
Incorporating the voices of people we serve is always an adaptation process - each context will present different needs and challenges but in turn that is our challenge as an aid organization: to delivery the most effective form of beneficiary-centered humanitarian aid.
@Katherine: The IFRC is only one of few agencies integrating comm as aid into their disaster preparedness and response programmes. It would be really useful to understand how you institutionalised this within your organisation. Do you have any 'tips' and 'lessons' that other organisations could use?
@timothylarge @TRF I think it depends what you mean by 'intelligible'. This is a question usually asked by those looking at a many-to-many, real time information system and trying to turn it into a single narrative. This isn't how many to many works. Anyone on twitter knows that the art is to tune into what you want to hear and tune out the rest and build your own narrative stream, and source the information you want. We all tune out vast amounts of white noise every day and sort out what we need. People in disasters do the same. So I'm wary of saying that just because a piece of information isn't seen as relevant to an aid worker, it isn't relevant to someone. Hence the need for connectivity and facilitating information flow, not trying to control it. For aid workers, yes, this is an issue, and one best addressed to people like the Digital Humanitarian Network. Or tune in later at our event to hear the BBC User Generated Content hub explain how they sort the wheat from the chaff against the clock in a news environment.
Thanks @Rachel - as a global organisation with a very wide network it is hard to pinpoint one specific approach but learning by example is key.
We are working globally at a policy and programme level, but also pushing initiatives in the field and during operations - so working at both ends is important.
