Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy - Tufts University

“Facebook and interactive media are being touted asthe next big thing, but what does that mean? How doyou separate the hype from what’s really happening?How do you harness what is possible?”PATRICK MEIER F12Photo credit: Jan Grarup/NOOR/ReduxInformation communication technology is changing the way we view the world—especiallyhow we view those places in crisis. In my research, I’m exploring how governments,activists, and revolutionaries employ new media and how it has transformed our abilityto map conflicts, respond to uprisings, and provide humanitarian response. Sure,Facebook and interactive media are being touted as the next big thing, but what doesthat mean? How do you separate the hype from what’s really happening? How do youharness what is possible?In 2010, while earning my PhD at The Fletcher School, I had the occasion to explorethese possibilities firsthand when a devastating earthquake hit Haiti. In the immediateaftermath, I put together a Ushahidi map to pinpoint the locations of those in need ofservices and available resources. With the help of more than one hundred Fletcher students,Tufts undergraduates, and other volunteers, we created what FEMA called “themost comprehensive and up-to-date map available to the humanitarian community.”The project fielded thousands of Tweets and SMS messages and saved hundreds of lives.The Haiti crisis map marked the beginning of what’s becoming an increasinglyimperative and exciting aspect of international relations. Just look at the repressiveregimes that have fallen recently—look at the impact that decentralized, distributed, andmobile technologies have had in those revolutions. As one Egyptian activist asserted:“We use Facebook to schedule our protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tellthe world.”At the Qatar Foundation Computing Research Institute (QCRI) we are workingon the next generation of humanitarian technology solutions. I like to think of it as“Computing for Good”—backed by some serious resources.Patrick Meier is an internationally recognized leader on the application of new technologies for crisis early warning, humanitarian response, humanrights, and civil resistance. He is the Director of Social Innovation at the Qatar Foundation Computing Research Institute (QCRI) and was previouslyDirector of Crisis Mapping at Ushahidi. He holds a PhD from The Fletcher School, a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship from Stanford, and an MIA fromColumbia University. He was born in Abidjan and raised in Nairobi.(21)