In June, I had the terrific opportunity to participate in the inaugural CrisisCamp held in Washington, D.C. It was a gathering of folks from throughout the U.S. and the world with an expertise or interest in crisis management/disaster response, particularly in the role of new technology and communications. I wrote about the event on the blog (“Postcard From This Weekend’s “CrisisCamp”: No Swimming, Hiking Or S’Mores, But Progress On Improving Emergency Preparedness/Response…And A Lot Of Fun Too”).
CrisisCamp came out of similar gatherings using the “BarCamp” format. It started with one idea: “How can technology help people worldwide during times of crisis?” For a good overview of CrisisCamp, check out the CrisisCommons page here. There is also a Ning site.
Future CrisisCamps are now being organized in other cities, and I wanted to bring those plans to your attention — in case you wanted to get involved in the organizing and/or were interested in attending them. The Camps are totally volunteer-driven so they could use whatever help you can provide.
San Francisco: The next CrisisCamp is scheduled for San Francisco on November 3-4. For more information on helping out and/or participating, send a tweet to @CrisisCampWest or email me at jsolomon@incaseofemergencyblog.com and I will forward it.
New York: There will be an initial organizing meeting for the NYC CrisisCamp on Saturday, September 12th. If you are interested in being involved in the planning as I will be, tweet @CrisisCamp or email me. There is a NYC Ning site email me. There is a NYC Ning site here.
London: There are also plans for a CrisisCampUK at some point in the future. Its Ning site is here.
Washington: This Saturday, there will be a CrisisCampDC Meetup at 11am at Whitlows on Wilson in Arlington, Virginia.
I found the initial CrisisCamp to be a great experience. I learned a great deal and met a lot of people doing some fascinating things. I encourage anyone interested in the intersection between disaster/crisis management and technology to get involved in some way.
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