represent cholera treatment centers and by selecting one icon the user sees a pop-up window containing the following information: the author of the report, time of tweet, report type, geo-location including lat./long if possible, and the actual tweet. The following is an actual tweet from the field after it has been “tweaked”:
#haiti #cholera #loc Hospital Grande Riviere du Nord (latitude and longitude are given) #need all cholera supplies & nurses. (Note: the tweets read a bit strangely because they have been put into a machine-readable format).
The user can also mouse over to a list all of the individual tweets in spreadsheet format. I’m not really sure who is using this map in-country, that information is not listed and the UN also has a map of treatment facilities. However, the level of detail and the fact that someone in the hospital “tweeted” their needs leaves the reader with hope that someone with the ability to help is viewing all of this aggregated information. One critic of this type of crowdsourcing even asked the question directly “Is crowdsourcing raising expectations that cannot be met?”
(5.) Noula.ht is an organization in Haiti created after the earthquake. They also have a map. However, since it is in Creole its difficult for most westerners to discern. From the CNN piece, the founder of Noula states: “We wanted to provide a platform and have it available to reinforce our local capacity to face disasters.” Green circles with numbers inside them represent the location and concentration of cholera cases.
I think I could have found 10 more maps but decided to stop at five. I wish I could report on the impact these efforts are having on the ground, but that information is not yet available. When I find it, I will happily pass it along. While I do not expect anyone to achieve a quantitative measure of success, a qualitative measure would be interesting.
An important document that addresses some of these concerns, especially regarding developing a common operating picture, is from the ICT for peace foundation.
- The fight against cholera in Haiti (theworld.org)
- Haiti faces years of cholera (newscientist.com)
- The Haitian Cholera Outbreak: A Preventable Tragedy? (repeatingislands.com)