Just got my bearings back after the Random Hacks of Kindness event. My team of two (Jeannie Stamberger and I) won 2nd place hacking for humanity - with our low-tech/no-tech solution for both citizens and crisis responders: Tweak the Tweet. We paired Jeannie's idea to use technology to train citizens on the ground to provide info during an emergency with my idea to use an existing technology (Twitter) and existing behavior within that technology (hashtags, RTs, Follow @s) to distribute that info. And viola, we won (runner-up, that is).
Here's an example of how we might Tweak the Tweet to allow citizens to provide machine readable information during an emergency that both responders and other citizens could use to inform them during the event:
[Joe Shmoe is tweeting using his normal patterns.]
2:05pm @Joe_Shmoe The fire is moving quickly, it's across the street now #okfires
2:06pm @Joe_Shmoe Fire's blocking the street up ahead, I'm going to head south instead #okfires
[Meanwhile, emergency response organizations begin to broadcast these tweets every few minutes, providing an ideal grammar for tweeting information in a machine-readable form. They hope that the tweets will get picked up by followers and propagated through the system using retweets.]
@RedCross #okfires use these tags for reporting, #fireline, #line_down, #addy, #city, #X_streets
@RedCross #okfires more tag reporting: #wind, #visibility, #road_close, #injury, #num, #comment
@RedCross #okfires use this format: #fire #city [city] #addy [address or cross streets] #floor [floor]
@RedCross #okfires use this format: #imok [name] #city [city] #location [place] #addy [address or cross streets]
[Bob, a follower of Joe's picks up his tweets and has seen the RedCross messages... so he lets Joe know]
2:12 @Bob: RT @RedCross #okfires use these tags for reporting, #fireline, #line_down, #addy, #city
2:12 @Bob: @Joe_Shmoe see RT @RedCross #okfires use these tags for reporting, #fireline, #line_...
[Joe begins to use the prescriptive grammar to craft his messages in a machine readable way.]
2:15 @Joe_Shmoe #okfires #fireline #city OKC #addy 245 Cresthill Ave
2:17 @Joe_Shmoe #okfires #road_close #addy Cresthill Ave & 3rd #comment stay south
2:52 @Joe_Shmoe #okfires #imok Joe Smith #city OKC #location Quik Stop #addy 58th & Spruce
[Other types of information become relevant...]
6:22 pm @RedCross: #okfires use this format: #shelter [shelter name] #city [city] #addy [address] #num [available]
8:20pm @Amy_Brine: #okfires #shelter Price Middle School #city OKC #addy 506 Lincoln Ave #num 200
Emergency responders could pick up and process the info quickly. Good samaritan tech-nerds could write algorithms to pull geo-location info and make mash-up maps (of firelines, shelters, road closures) almost instantaneously. IMOK lists could be automatically generated - with current locations. Etc.