GDIN 2.0:

UA-805 Spring 2011

May 9th 2011

Stacy FoxIndhira MercedesMike PayneSpring Payne

C

Harnessing a New Era of the Information Age in

Disaster Management

What is a Compounded Disaster?

A clear failure of emergency preparedness and management;

the inability to respond quickly and adapt to changes and unforeseen circumstances

…as seen in the reaction to natural or manmade disasters

Information

How can we make the best decisions with…

What needs to be fixed?

Too Slow

The Problem: Indecision

The Results: Compounded Disasters

1. indecision - doubt concerning two or more

possible alternatives or courses of action;

2. indecision - the trait of irresolution; a lack of

firmness of character or purpose

in·de·ci·sion \ˌin-di- s̩i-zhən\

Poor information is a root of indecision

Actions

Event

Information

Decisions

Mitigation Preparedness

Recovery Response

When is a solution needed?

Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN 1.0)• 1997 Federal Initiative to create a “Fusion

Center” for disaster related information

• Disaster Information Task Force (DITF) led by Al Gore and Leon Fuerth

• Early warning systems for disaster managers

Better information is…

…the RIGHT info in the RIGHTformat, to the RIGHT people, in time to

make the RIGHT decisions

Know-ledge

InfoData

Fee

db

ack

Users: Policy makers, general public, & practitioners

Part

ne

rsh

ips

Providers: Private/Public sector, NGOs, & Academics

Hurricane Mitch

What we need today…

GDIN 2.0

GDIN 1.0 GDIN 2.0

“Those responsible for emergency management learned long ago that their performance in such times of duress often was contingent upon being able to deal with critical and useful information, which in turn was dependent upon communication between key analysts utilizing the best ‘systems’ available including those drawing upon computer and communications technologies.”

-U.S. Senator 1988 (responsible for the internet)

“…harness technology to confront the biggest challenges that America faces…”

-Barack Obama 2008

GDIN 2.0 (2011)

Reactivate the GDIN to take advantage of the last 14 years of new technology for Disaster Managers

SAME mission, NEW leaders, NEW tools

New Leaders

Executive Leadership

• Barack Obama

Congressional Leadership• House Committee on Homeland Security

• Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications

New Tools

What we have today…

HardwareMobile computing devices: smart phones, laptops, & tablets

Software Free open source software, GIS

Imagery, Information Databases, Web indexing

InfrastructureIncreased network capacity and redundancy

User CultureInternet Interface Trends

User CultureSocial Media, Video Chat, Connectivity, Accessibility

Recent Initiatives

Recent Examples of ICT in Disasters

Images courtesy of John Crowley

Major Challenges as identified by John Crowley co-author of the UN’s ‘Disaster Relief 2.0’

Volume, Velocity and Heterogeneity of information increasing exponentially (faster than we can handle)

Organizations are using new technology with old methods

Little to no integration across organizations

Action PlanPolicy: Executive Order to implement GDIN 2.0

»Creating a policy environment that fosters interagency cooperation and data sharing

» Improving state and local utilization of federal capabilities

»Building consensus among public and private stakeholders at all levels of government

» Incorporating user driven design features

Questions?

Definitions

• ICT: Information and Communication Technology

• Data: a piece or pieces of raw and unorganized information, present

everywhere in the universe

• Information: a set of data organized in both time and space

• Knowledge: pre-existing information that helps to inform decision

making in the disaster management process