We all know technology is changing the world we live in. Some would argue for the better, and some for the worse. But recently I found a concrete example of how all this new, emerging technology is changing the world in a big way--for the better.
On Ted.com, you can find all sorts of educational-type videos. I stumbled across one entitled “Digital Humanitarianism” and was immediately interested to watch it.
Paul Conneally works for the Red Cross and was therefore very involved in the humanitarian efforts that took place after the major earthquake in Haiti in 2010.
“Haiti was something we hadn’t seen before. But Haiti provided us with something else unprecedented. Haiti allowed us to glimpse into a future of what disaster response might look like in a hyper-connected world where people have access to mobile smart devices.”
The disaster response in Haiti relied heavily smart devices. People in Haiti were sending SMS texts and tweets. There was an outpouring of mobile charging stations popping up. Because of all of this, people outside of Haiti; the public, the media, government, was able to quickly see what the people of Haiti needed. Through this situation people everywhere were made aware of “people’s innate need to be connected”
“Out of this rubble of Haiti and from this devastation came something that we call TERA--the Trilogy Emergency Response Application-- which has been used to support the aid effort ever since. It has been used to help communities prepare for disasters. It has been used to signal early warning in advance of weather-related disasters. It’s used for public health awareness campaigns such as the prevention of cholera. And it is even used for sensitive issues such as building awareness around gender-based violence.”
They wanted to build a two way communication system, using the amazing technology that we have available to us, to make a difference in the world.
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