''Digital Humanitarians: How Big Data is changing the face of humanitarian response'' is a 2015 book by
Patrick Meier
Patrick Meier (born 15 March 1976 in Winterthur) is a Swiss former competitive figure skater. He is the 1995 Karl Schäfer Memorial silver medalist and a seven-time Swiss national champion.
Meier began skating at the age of six. He represente ...
.
The book focusses on how to ethically use digital data when responding to a sudden onset humanitarian emergencies. Content includes use of drones for aerial imagery and effective use of Big Data.
Contents
''Digital Humanitarians'' documents the start of digital
Humanitarian Action, and the volunteers who respond to emergencies.
It is written from the perspective of Meier who is both a digital humanitarian himself, as well as being an academic in the same area.
Within the book is a best practice guide and various tools and resources to help practitioners navigate
big data and use of social media in humanitarian emergencies.
The book includes a glossary of digital humanitarian terminology and is written in plain English.
Contents include the important areas of privacy, information veracity and the role of technology in humanitarian response.
It documents how traditional humanitarian agencies find the volume of data available them overwhelming, and how issues of data accuracy can steer digital-amateurs in the wrong direction.
There is a strong focus on ethics and the safety of people throughout the book.
Noting the risk of error, Meier advocates for good regulation of technology.
Included case studies include digital humanitarian responses to the
2010 Haiti earthquake
A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's c ...
,
Typhoon Pablo
Typhoon Bopha, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Pablo, was the strongest tropical cyclone on record to ever affect the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, making landfall as a Category 5 super typhoon with winds of 175 mph (2 ...
where the Philippines government coordination of digital response was praised,
an earthquake in Chile, the
Libyan revolution, a fire in Russia, a US
superstorm, and political instability in
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...
.
The book has a strong emphasis on the value of
aerial imagery
Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography.
Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircra ...
and the value of
unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controll ...
s (i.e. drones) to gather images.
The book includes Meier's commentary on the phycological and emotional impact on digital humanitarians exposed to images and accounts of injuries and unmet needs, with the
Boston Marathon bombing
The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...
used as a case study.
Meier encourages readers to take up digital humanitarianism and gives examples of free and low cost activities that people can do to help others.
Critical reception
''Digital Humanitarians'' is described by
the ''Guardian'' as a "rousing manifesto urging readers not to feel alone or worthless."
The book was described as "essential reading" for people interested in the intersection of humanitarian response and digital tools by Dimitrinka Atanasova at the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
.
Writing for the ''
Stanford Social Innovation Review'', Lucy Bernholz praised the books encouragement for humanitarian organizations, volunteers and companies to collaborate:
See also
*
Crisis mapping
Crisis mapping (also known as disaster mapping) is the real-time gathering, display and analysis of data during a crisis, usually a natural disaster or social/political conflict (violence, elections, etc.). Crisis mapping projects usually allows ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official website
2015 non-fiction books
Books about human rights
Current affairs books