As the battle for Aleppo reached its brutal climax last December, the rest of the world was able to read and listen to the stories of civilians trapped in the battered city. The hashtag #Aleppo went viral on social media as residents provided a rolling commentary of the conflict, and to say their last goodbyes.
Technology has transformed how the rest of the world views and responds to crises. After the Haiti earthquake in 2010, NGOs and humanitarian agencies turned to crowd sourcing information to reach survivors: the mapping platform Ushahidi was used to map SMS requests for help. Since then, Google’s Person Finder has been used to help reconnect families after floods in Pakistan, the 2013 Japan earthquake, and more.
The current refugee crisis has even been defined by the digital age – BBC Media Action’s viral immersive film where your phone becomes a refugee’s phone showed just how vital these methods of communication are in connecting to families and sharing advice on migration routes. Food and water are no doubt a vital need, but so are phone charging facilities and mobile networks.
Technology has already transformed humanitarian action, so how can tech play a bigger role in the future? Are there ways technology can help with early warning of humanitarian disasters? And how can humanitarian organisations utilise the power of social media to reach those who need most help?
Join an expert panel on Thursday 19 January, 2-3.30pm GMT, to discuss these questions and more.
The panel
Patrick Meier, humanitarian technology consultant, WeRobotics, Washington DC, US, @patrickmeier, @werobotics
Patrick is an internationally recognised expert on humanitarian technology, is the author of Digital Humanitarians and executive director of WeRobotics
Jean-Martin Bauer, analyst, World Food Programme, Rome, Italy, @bauer_jm, @mobileVAM
Jean-Martin is a food security analyst exploring the use of mobile technology to collect data in emergency and conflict settings
Rosa Akbari, senior technology for development advisor, Mercy Corps, New York, US, @mercycorps_uk
Rosa helps leverage lowest common denominator technologies throughout Mercy Corps’ programming worldwide
Pete Masters, Missing Maps project coordinator, Médecins Sans Frontières, Glasgow, Scotland @pedrito1414, @TheMissingMaps
Pete manages Missing Maps, a crowdsourced mapping project, for MSF
Gisli Rafn Olafsson, Humanitarian Advisor, NetHope, San Francisco, US, @gislio
Gisli is the former emergency response director for NetHope. He coordinated the ICT aspects of most major humanitarian responses in the last decade
Daphne Jayasinghe, senior policy and advocacy adviser, economic programmes, International Rescue Committee, London, UK @djayasinghe
Daphne is the IRC cash relief advocacy lead. She was previously at ActionAid, Save the Children and Amnesty covering gender and food security policy
Kate Hargreaves, director of Crown Agents Foundation, London, UK @crownagents
Kate oversees the Crown Agents Foundation, focusing on delivering public good benefits for development. The Foundation draws on the experience of Crown Agents supporting supply chain, healthcare and financial management improvements in fragile and emerging economies
Dikolela Kalubi, programme manager, ICRC, Geneva, Switzerland
Dikolela is an ICRC engineer in charge of a partnership between the ICRC and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne aiming to carry out joint R&D projects
Ian McClelland, outreach and engagement adviser, Humanitarian Innovation Fund, Elrha, London, UK @ianmcclelland
Ian works to build and maintain links between the HIF team, the projects we fund, and the wider humanitarian community
Luke Caley, Crisis Anticipation Advisor, Start Network, London, UK @LukeCaley
Luke is an advisor for the first global humanitarian early action fund for NGOs, the Start Fund, and is interested in how technology can enable earlier response to forecasted crises
Daniel Ronen, co-founder, UAVaid, London, UK @UAVaid_UK
Daniel is co-founder of the UK based UAVaid, developers of multi-role UAV technology for humanitarian and development applications
Kyla Reid, head of disaster response & digital identity, GSMA Mobile for Development, London, UK
Kyla is responsible for working with mobile operators, governments and NGOs to identify the opportunities, barriers, and value of mobile as a scalable and trusted platform for enabling digital identity
The live chat is not video or audio-enabled but will take place in the comments section (below). Want to recommend someone for the panel or ask a question in advance? Get in touch via globaldevpros@theguardian.com or @GuardianGDP on Twitter. Follow the discussion using the hashtag #globaldevlive.
