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When disaster strikes, what is the best way to collect and make sense of the information? How do we transform the information overload of the 21st century into a solution that amplifies emergency response coordination and informs decision-making, rather than cluttering it?
The Coordinated Data Scramble helps to establish common situational awareness through procedures designed to improve data sharing
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in case of an emergency. It is about establishing a digital collaboration space to facilitate:
Community
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building and open collaboration – enabling open, immediate, and dynamic conversations during emergency response, using tools such as Skype and Slack.
Effective use of tools to support collaboration
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– such as Google Spreadsheets and Trello
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CDS also
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calls for pre-emergency planning and collaboration to help to identify emergency situations:
Who are the decision makers
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?
What are the key questions that decision-makers need
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to answer?
What data (
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and analysis techniques) are needed to help
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clarify the answers to these questions?
What tools and techniques can be used to monitor the
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availability of information
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in real time and to improve access to this information?
When to use
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Coordinated Data Scramble?
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Coordinated Data Scramble can be activated just before
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and just after an emergency event.
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To
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be most
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effective, it requires internet connectivity, but some components of the work could be done
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offline.
The CDS will
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be more effective if the work to determine who should be involved,
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what tools should be used, what should be the priority activities
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, etc. are done before an emergency.
Who to involve?
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CDS is designed to be open and
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cooperative, therefore there is no
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fixed group of people who need to be involved.
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However, it will
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work more efficiently if it involves
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on-
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site and remote
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stakeholders,
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including representatives
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of all
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United Nations,
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NGOs, and local
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stakeholders.
Steps to
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complete a CDS
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Step | Details | Advices |
1. Identify a collaborative communication platform |
A common communication platform will be needed to |
serve as the focal point for |
coordinating CDS activities. | Skype or Slack have |
proven to be immensely helpful in previous emergencies. |
Verify that in-country |
stakeholders are |
happy with |
the use. |
|
chosen platform must allow the addition of multiple participants and |
allow instant communication, as well as |
keeping the chat history |
. |
2. |
Create a group on the chosen platform |
Form a group on the chosen platform and invite a few key in-country and remote |
stakeholders to join the chosen platform. |
The idea is that: people are added to the platform/group by existing members, as |
their participation |
is beneficial to the process of improving data and information sharing. |
3. Decide what other tools will be needed to |
facilitate collaboration. |
Things to consider at this stage |
are:
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In previous emergencies, |
Google spreadsheets have been used to create a |
contact list |
with all members of the group |
and to produce |
"daily summaries |
" of |
key information that has been |
communicated during the day. Trello |
cards were used to track data needs, data analysis activities, and data availability. |
Toolkit
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Board Template : This database has been pre-
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filled with
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twenty-five priority data sets and tasks to complete for each of these
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data sets.
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Please make a copy
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/upload the document for each new emergency.
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:
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This is a spreadsheet template
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that can be used to help
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summarize important information shared via
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instant messaging platforms.
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Make a copy
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/upload the document for each new emergency.
Resources
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Presentation by the Data Subgroup of the Information Management
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Blog by Andrej Verity
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DRAFT Dataset taxonomy - includes a draft list of over 230 datasets categorized using the MIRA framework (thanks to
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for their significant
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contribution to the development of this framework), as well as a more detailed
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tentative list of
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twenty-five priority datasets that
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includes analytical guidelines on how to
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proceed.
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Work has also been
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initiated on disaster-specific
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practical guidance to provide analytical guidance specific to earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.
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All of this will
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be shared as soon as possible.
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of CDS
Example of an emergency
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created to
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make maps easier to access, filtering them according to the key questions
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the map aims to
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document, or the key datasets
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displayed on the map.
Example of
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using data from the map filter to
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shared daily during an emergency.
Haiti Case Study (Hurricane Matthew)
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A
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digital collaboration space has been set up to facilitate
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the coordinated data scramble for the humanitarian response to Hurricane Matthew, and to
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assist in the production of the Haiti Flash Appeal.
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The following tools were used:
Skype was used for instant messaging
A google spreadsheet was used for
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the compilation:
o daily summaries of
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conversations
o a
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contact list of participants
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o Collaborative key datasets
A Trello
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Board has been established to manage the flow of
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coordinated data scramble.
There were three digital coordinators dedicated to maintaining these tools and
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keeping the focus on
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producing the Haiti Flash Appeal.
Representatives from HDX (for curating public datasets) and
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HumanitarianResponse.info (for curating products) were
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on skype
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, to ensure that all data and products were properly curated
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.
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The diagram below shows the flow of Coordinated Data Scramble
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from Skype chats, to data sharing on HDX, to
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information kept on the Trello board
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.
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The
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was created to improve access to emergency maps, and
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map analysis was created to show in near real
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time which datasets and information needs were being met through the sharing
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maps.
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An information visualization
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shared through the Hurricane Matthew Skype
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group (link
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to come)