By Priyanka Pathak, Director of ICTs and Mobile for Development
This past week, technology enthusiasts met up in major cities around world for Social Media Week – a week dedicated to discussions and idea exchanges surrounding social media and its emerging trends. Many events were held right here in New York City, and Nadia (Director of Crisis Mapping) and I were fortunate enough to be able to attend an event on real-time technologies hosted by UN Global Pulse.
Titled “Open UN: Engagement in the Age of Real Time,” the program consisted of a presentation, keynote speaker, and two speaker panels all with the theme of applying real-time technologies to field work in developing countries. Nadia and I were only able to stay until the end of the first panel, although this was still enough time for us to learn a great deal about the ever-expanding uses of technology in development.
The opening presentation, given by PSFK, a research firm, highlighted several emerging trends in real time technology, such as those of human sensor networks, mobile communities, and instant mapping. While all the topics discussed were relevant to NMTF’s ICT and mobile tech focus, the instant mapping section was particularly relevant to us, given our commitment to crisis mapping. We were given a glimpse into the future of crisis mapping, including examples of grassroots mapping movements and uses of OpenStreetMap. The full report is available for download here.
Robert Kirkpatrick, the director of UN Global Pulse and a friend of NMTF, then gave the keynote address. Mr. Kirkpatrick explored the various aspects of crowd sourced information in development and the limitations and potential of having access to so much real-time data, citing the Haiti earthquake as an example of both what can be done and what should be done. His speech set the tone for the panel discussion to follow, and inspired everyone in the room to applaud and cheer loudly!
After a break for lunch (where we were treated to delicious food in the Paley Center’s John Lennon exhibit), we returned to the auditorium for the first panel discussion about real-time technologies in the field. The group of panelists was quite impressive, including Corinne Woods from the UN Millennium Campaign, Katrin Verclas from MobileActive.org, Sean Gourley from Oxford University, Jihad Abdalla from UNICEF, and Nigel Snoad from OCHA. All the panelists shared their experiences working with real-time technologies, in uses from digital democracy to mobile markets in Bangladesh. Nadia and I were particularly interested in hearing about new efforts in monitoring in Kenya, as well as the innovative uses for mobile phones, crowdsourcing, mapping technologies, and other tools that we have been trained to use.
In between sessions, we were also lucky enough to meet and get to know some of the speakers and other attendees, all of whom were enthusiastic about the idea of Columbia students being involved in their projects and efforts. Overall, we had a great time. Of course, it is a privilege to attend Columbia, but what’s even better is the amount of resources and people we have access to here in NYC. The Open UN event proved that to us yet again, and we look forward to continuing our work with these people in the future!
Video of event available here.