Linking LocalThe wikiDOMO Blog

Organizing the organizers: Wikis to the rescue!

We've all been watching and reading the latest news reports from Haiti and the terrible consequences of the January 12th earthquake. But, there is also an important story behind the news. 

When disasters strike, most media coverage is focused (and rightly so) on the immediate needs of the relief efforts: locating victims, collecting and distributing food/water/medical supplies, and providing shelter. But, what about the effort required to keep all the rescue teams organized? And, what happens when more and more of the relief efforts are supported by virtual teams of people working all around the world? How do they keep organized?

That is exactly the issue faced by a new type of relief effort sweeping the cities across the world. Organized around local events called Crisis Camps (and organized by Crisis Commons), a whole movement of volunteers is using technology and mobilizing to help. And, the results are pretty impressive, as can be seen from this news coverage from a recent Crisis Camp held in Washington, DC.

But, with hundreds of volunteers working on dozens of projects all over the world, how do they keep organized and focused? There are many tools to help individuals and groups communicate and share knowledge/ideas (e.g. IRC chat, skype, Google Docs, etc). However, the most robust, flexible, and easy to use tool is still a central wiki http://wiki.crisiscommons.org, which anyone can access and contribute to. 

It is true that most "off-the shelf" and freely-available wiki solutions are not perfect for this purpose: there is often lack of structure from ad-hoc contributors; there is no easy way to assign tasks and track their progress; and, data is often difficult to aggregate and extract in meaningful ways. Yet, despite these problems, the underlying characteristics of wikis are certainly well aligned with the needs of crisis relief: they are quick to edit, flexible, and generally open to all. When disaster strikes and large numbers are mobilized to help, these are certainly huge strengths. 

So, if you are interested in helping out with Crisis Camps, find one in your community (yes, you can find the details on the wiki at http://wiki.crisiscommons.org, or follow twitter hash-tag #ccHaiti). Since we are based in Toronto, we are involved in Crisis Camp Toronto, and are looking forward to the next one on Saturday, January 30th. Hope to see you there (in person, or online - maybe with your contributions on the wiki)!

By: Dragan Stojanovic

From berries to apples, and everything in between...

Jose and I have been tied to our BlackBerry Curves from RIM for many months. Being the only true email device at the time, there really was no choice. A few days ago, I made the move to the new iPhone. And, while I have since been amazed by the device, I really wanted to share my experience – local and not-so-local – with “people, places, and things” in getting the phone and getting back to business.

Store #1: business as usual. It started with a trip to a local Rogers “Plus” store. The “Plus” certainly didn’t stand for the size of their inventory as they were completely sold out (understandable, as most places are). But, after interacting with a few of their employees, it became clear that it stood for “sold-out ‘Plus’ bad service”. No surprise to most Canadians, Jose and I have had some very bad experiences with Rogers in the past (I’m sure Jose will have more to say in future posts). But, when they tell you that they can’t give you phone numbers of their nearby locations because they “don’t have paper” – in one of their bigger stores – then… well, you get the point.

Store #2: nice surprise. We finally found a Rogers authorized dealer called Uptown Communication House at a nearby mall and it was like night and day. The Sales Rep, Armin Karimi held a couple units for us and then got us set-up in no time. As an aside, turns out the only monthly difference for us will be an extra $5 to go from the 7MB BlackBerry plan, to a 6GB iPhone plan. Hmmm… what a great deal the BlackBerry plan was! In any case, props to Armin for great service and for someone finally being a good face for Rogers. Let us know of others!

Setting it up: now that's service. Setting up the iPhone was a breeze and the new Microsoft Exchange support worked like a charm! After getting distracted with the “cool stuff”, it was already after 1 in the morning when I started to setup the wikiDOMO email. I called our provider ASP-One at almost 2 in the morning and immediately got connected to Ameya Aher from their Customer Support Services. Not only did he get me all the info immediately (server address), but he kept saying “Dragan, I just want to check something else to make sure it works once we hang up” (no, I didn’t actually write it down – I’m paraphrasing). Yes, at 2am – that’s service!

Long story short, I walked away with the following:
1 – People matter! It is not just about the companies and their products/services, but about people that provide them. But, where can you find this information? Stay tuned… we’re working on it.
2 – iPhone rocks. Jose, what are you waiting for?

Anyone else recently get an iPhone? Stories to share?

By: Dragan Stojanovic