Tonight’s class is the last class for the last guest speaker and I have been looking forward to it all last week. I have been interested to see if Patrick Meier can live up to the standards that the rest of the speakers set for him. At the beginning of the class we talked for one hour before we had to Skype the guest speaker for the lecture. During this hour we seemed to accomplish a lot of work. One of the things that we did was chose reading topics for the next few lectures. Another important part of tonight’s class was to choose our groups for the final project and then pick a topic that the group will focus on for the final project. Following the first hour we began our Skype lecture with Patrick Meier.
I feel that this Skype chat was a lot more productive than the last one we had around 3 weeks ago. This one was extremely clear and we could hear everything that the speaker was saying. I also thought that this speaker was the most interesting out of the four we have had. I would have preferred to see him speak in person to ask better questions, but overall the presentation was great. Patrick Meier is quite the expert on crisis mapping. He gave a virtual example of a map of Haiti that I thought was very interesting that showed an explosion to simulate the earthquake. Following this all of the earthquakes appeared slowing on the map to portray all the volunteers that worked on these maps. Patrick also showed us a global map in which the readers could see all over the world of the volunteers who translated Haitian Creole into English in order for rescue teams to be able to help.
Volunteers have been proven time and time again to be the heart and soul of the humanitarian society. Crisis mapping is a critical step for humanitarian agencies because it makes it possible for them to see what things are like on the ground and what is happening around them without them actually being there. This allows them to find areas that need aid and supplies more than other areas that need less. Without crisis mapping the humanitarian workers on the ground would not know what to do and exactly where to go. By the use of connectivity combined with crisis mapping information is shared in order to save lives.
I thought that this speaker was one of the best that we have seen yet for sure. Following the class period I searched for some interesting videos on YouTube and found this interesting clip. It was titled “The Future of Crisis Mapping in Disaster Response” and can be found at the following link:
The video was by the same speaker that we had in class this week and was very interesting. It reinforced the topics we covered last class and I highly advise watching it. This speaker was very impressive and I would like to hear him speak again someday.
I agree that the Skype chat with Dr Meier was a lot better than the first Skype chat we had, the clarity and information shared was better. He showed more interest into what he was talking about than the other speakers, definitely should be invited back again for future SRA 397A courses.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment that “Volunteers have been proven time and time again to be the heart and soul of the humanitarian society”, it speaks volumes about how ineffective the UN was at the time of Haiti and other NGOs that seem to look for fame or money. I also agree that crisis mapping is a critical part for any humanitarian agency to be effective now-a-days because it allows for faster and more effective response aid.
I believe you started to cover our group’s final project idea, which is to use these maps. However, I will not go in to more detail about this project idea. Classified! I liked how Dr Meier told us almost the play by play about how Ushahidi started and go underway. It was a story of unprecedented drive to help individuals they will most likely never meet, but it was a pure humanitarian effort to say the least.
One thing that I would like to add before I stop typing is that he seemed to be looking for more ways to expand the ways Ushahidi can help in time of disaster or crises so that they can help in a more effective way.
I agree with you that this Skype chat was a lot more productive than the last Skype speaker we had three weeks ago, although I would have rather seen the speaker in person. I thought the virtual example of the crisis mapping he showed us was interesting. I was also amazed by the amount of volunteers he had helping out with his Ushahidi and 4636 project. The video of the missing streets of Haiti being developed with satellite imagery was pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you that volunteers actually have proven time and time again that without them, the humanitarian organization society would not be nearly as strong. It good that organizations like the stand by task force group is will to volunteer their time in during or after disasters like Libya and the earthquake that struck Haiti. I think the future of crisis mapping still has a lot of room to grow and it will be interesting to see how far it goes. I think it will prove to be very helpful in disaster responses in the future. I am glad that there are groups like the stand by task force who are willing to train individuals to operate the crisis mapping. The link you provided was interesting.
I believe the most interesting and influential part of Patrick Meier's presentation was the graphic of the roads in Haiti and how in such a short period they created a satellite image of every road in the country. It was just fascinating how it grew from the center of the earthquake to eventually have an image of every road in the whole country.
ReplyDeleteI also want to agree that even though Patrick was not there in person, it was much easier to hear and understand what he was saying than the last video presentation. This allowed it to be comprehended easier and for us and the other guests watching to understand the more important facts easier.
Overall I am excited to follow the future of crisis mapping and see how it develops over the next few years and hopefully it will save thousands of lives in future disasters! Also nice video, very interesting to watch.
ERIK MATTHEW LEITZEL
Hello Mr. Jesse DelRossA!
ReplyDeleteI still can’t believe you spelled your own last name wrong! Anyways, this Skype session was definitely more productive than the last one, especially because there weren’t nearly as many technical difficulties this time. I also thought that Mr. Meier’s presentation, especially his maps, were an excellent way to show us what exactly crisis mapping leads to information wise, and how we can visualize the data we get from crises.
All NGOs are primarily made up of volunteers, and you are quite right when you say that they are the heart and soul of the humanitarian society. It is still amazing to me that Ushahidi was able to be more widely used than Google Maps when responding to the Haitian earthquake disaster. The maps that they produced were so amazing, and used in such widespread areas because, as you pointed out, it made it possible for them to see what things are like on the ground and what is happening around them without actually being there.
Overall I thought his presentation was pretty good, although I would have loved to have had him physically in our classroom. I thought your blog post was well done and went over the presentation well.