JUHAN

By: Jen Ziemke, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, International Network of Crisis Mappers, www.crisismappers.net/
Assistant Professor, John Carroll University
Fellow, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Libya Crisis Map (www.libyacrisismap.net/)

Something is happening right now. You hear a protest forming on the street around the corner; earlier, you were intimidated while trying to enter a polling station; last night I was tortured; you were harassed on the way home from work because of your gender; something outside your office just exploded. Perhaps you just logged on to see someone tweet or received a text: help, a tornado just destroyed my home; my property is now covered in oil; I need a tent; I am trapped under rubble; EARTHQUAKE.

Over the past year, the world has learned they can share their story about what is happening to them in real-time through SMS, twitter, and other social media. The proliferation of the cellphone and the internet coupled with new social practices emerging around the use of these tools facilitated this shift.  The crowd is engaged in the process of learning from one another and itself. During a disaster the crowd has learned to scour twitter for news: it is the place the world goes to tell its story. The crowd has also learned that it can stand up its own Crisis Map, even as the situation is still evolving. (www.crowdmap.com/)

To create these maps, volunteers help translate and comb through the stories and create reports. (Learn more at http://blog.standbytaskforce.com/). Volunteers from the diaspora are busy translating messages and helping fill in street names on local road maps. Together with someone who has never set foot in their neighborhood, networked communities around the world swarm around the crisis map to help trace roads and tag buildings. One edit at a time, one report at a time, they create fantastic maps for effective disaster response.  (see: http://hot.openstreetmap.org/weblog/, www.openstreetmap.org/& www.crowdflower.com/)

Blast from the past: Participants at ICCM 2009

We now have a torrent of real-time location-based information about what is happening around the world at our fingertips.  Crisis Mappers are busy developing new tools for the acquisition, visualization, and analysis of these new large datasets. Such analysis then helps inform operational and humanitarian response. For example, the UN-OCHA used real-time, live Crisis Maps to help identify and close gaps in their response to the evolving humanitarian crisis in Libya.

Crowd-generated Crisis Maps document snowstorms and fires, oil spills and tornados, conflicts, battles, genocides, famines, and earthquakes. We use maps to monitor repressive regimes, shed light on the human rights abuse and highlight intimidation, poverty or discrimination. Volunteers around the world can also be mobilized to comb thousands of satellite images, detecting evidence of forced evictions, troop movements , and mass graves (e.g. see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/sep/16/libya-syria-middle-east-unrest-live#block-8) .

The cat is already out of the bag. The map is going to be made. No one has control over this global crowd. Attempts can be made to tame, to pull, and to shape this trajectory, but Crisis Maps can and will be created by people all over the world, for free, and customized for the current crisis at hand.

The International Network of Crisis Mappers (link: http://crisismappers.net/) is an active, interdisciplinary community of practice whose conversations continue to create and shape how we collectively understand this new discipline. Our community is a neutral place to have discussions across fields, agencies, domains, and cultures. We are a network that grew from our modest beginnings as a group of 100 at the first International Conference on Crisis Mapping in 2009 to nearly 3,000 individuals who have collective work experience in every country on earth and who currently reside in 129 countries.

The network grew because there was a space to fill: the lack of cross-cutting fora around which to have these needed discussions, and the siloed nature of disaster response helped facilitate its growth. As such, we are a place where members of over 1,500 very different institutions and organizations are able to talk openly about the technical, ethical, privacy and security implications of our work via simple mechanisms: email, skype, and over beer at the annual conference, the ICCM.

Our community is open to anyone. The norm we are trying to foster is: “share until it hurts” with “as much openness as you can stand.” That means we hope people find ways to share code, imagery, documents, syllabi, ideas, articles, or algorithms. The incentive for sharing is this: it is the only realistic chance you have to get your voice and ideas heard in this new space. If you don’t, the wave will simply pass over you. Openness is the new competitive.

For more information, check out these new and evolving resources on Crisis Mapping: Course resources, syllabi, overview material, videos & webinars.

Creative Learning is a nonprofit that enhances the capacity of local organizations around the world to improve the lives of people in their communities. Through the creation of people-to-people partnerships, the 501(c)3 is especially dedicated to protecting human rights, supporting economic and social development, and building peace.

One of Creative Learning’s  programs is the America’s Unofficial Ambassadors (AUA) initiative. AUA’s objective is to build peace through service in the Muslim World. To achieve this goal, Creative Learning instituted AUA Mosaic Scholarships available for Americans over the age of 18 to help fund work in Muslim-majority countries. The scholarship covers program fees and/or travel costs up to $5000 to help fund volunteer work with a volunteer-sending organization listed on the AUA Directory of Recommended Organizations.

This is a really exciting opportunity for all JUHAN students interested in working abroad. Click on the hyperlinks to see the scholarship press release, scholarship rules and regulations, and the scholarship application form or go to the AUA scholarship webpage.

As the relief efforts begin and EMT start to allow volunteers to relief sites, it is important that JUHAN begins to think about possible responses. Because of the overwhelming destruction in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, many of the relief efforts are headquartered in Birmingham. If your university wants to know of organizations on the ground to donate to, check out the list below:

Hands on Birmingham:

Hands on Birmingham is a 501c(3) headquartered in Birmingham, AL. They organize volunteering opportunities in Birmingham, AL, specifically with other Birmingham-based non-profits. As soon as the tornadoes hit, Hands on Birmingham began organizing volunteers for clean-up and distribution in the hardest hit areas across the state. Also, HonB is working with other area non-profits to funnel volunteers and hotline workers so that they are as effective as they can be. If you have the opportunity to serve in Alabama, visit http://www.handsonbirmingham.org/specialevents/ where you can sign up for relief teams.

Christian Service Mission:

Christian Service Mission is also a Birmingham-based nonprofit established in 1970. They are accepting donations of sunscreen, tarps, batteries, flashlights, plastic tubs/containers, and raincoats/ponchos. They also need volunteer help sorting the donations. CSM is located at 3600 3rd Ave South, Birmingham, AL.

Salvation Army:

The Salvation Army is also in need of volunteers.The SA needs volunteers to work at our Command Center/Disaster Warehouse.  You will be assisting survivors through the registration process and shopping, unloading cars and trucks, loading Canteens (Mobile Feeding Vehicles), sorting clothes, food, toiletries, etc. You may also contact the Salvation Army to inquire about their current donation needs. The Birmingham Salvation Army is located at 350 Industrial Drive, Birmingham, AL 35211. You can contact them at to (205) 252-8151. You may also contribute monetary donations at their website, http://www.birminghamsalvationarmy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=54.

Red Cross:

The Red Cross is also on the ground in tornado stricken areas. If you would like to donate funds, please go to their website at http://www.alredcross.org/index.asp?IDCapitulo=DRGYJ0Q5XZ .

As with any humanitarian relief, it is best to work with groups already established on the ground. Before sending items or volunteering your services, please contact the organizations to make sure you are as effective as possible. The organizations can only take a set number of volunteers. A comprehensive list of donation and volunteer services can be found at http://www.handsonbirmingham.org/specialevents/viewSpecialEvent.php?_setFlag=specialevent&_clearFlag=course.

As mentioned in a previous post, Georgetown organized a campus-wide Town Hall on March 17 to discuss the disaster in Japan. This panel put together experts on Japanese, culture, government, security, nuclear power plants, and humanitarian aid. If you are interested in learning more about the disaster and its possible short term and long term implications in Japan, please view the videos at the below links.

First, Prof. Michael Green, Japan Chair and senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, introduces the town hall. In addition, Green discusses the impact of the disasters on society, politics, the economy, and security. To see the clip, click here.

Next, Prof. Andre Natsios talks about the disasters from a humanitarian response perspective.  Natsios is the former Administrator of USAID and was appointed as Special Coordinator for International Disaster Assistance and Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan. To hear his comments, click here.

Finally, Yuko Shimada and Richard Koo, students at Georgetown University heading up the relief efforts, introduce Georgetown University’s campus response as well as the D.C. metro student response to the disaster. To listen to the list of student responses in D.C. click here.

For more information on Georgetown University’s continued response, contact Caroline Williams at cmw76@georgetown.edu.

After a well-attended interfaith prayer service on March 15, the Georgetown community (with the support of JUHAN student fellows) got together to create a schedule of events to help Japan.  First, on March 17th, GU students and faculty held a Town Hall on Japan. This event presented a panel of experts on humanitarian assistance, Japanese culture, and nuclear disasters. In addition, the East Asian Studies department invited leaders from the school’s Japanese student group, J-Net, to speak about ongoing efforts on campus and in the DC community. To see a clip of this event, go to http://www.georgetown.edu/video/japantownhall.html. Below is a calendar of events that have and will happen to support Japanese Relief and Recovery.

Ongoing:

Raising Money at Outdoor Table on Campus

Selling Hope for Japan Wristbands and T-shirts

Student coffee shop collecting tips and donating proceeds from “Drink of the Month”

Letters and Prayers to Japan Blog

Future:

Matsuri (Japan Festival)

Academic Panel including Japan Expert – April 13th

Dr. Maorong Jiang, director of the Asian World Center, gives a lesson on East Asian cooking.

At Creighton University, students volunteered with The Asian World Center to put on a two day benefit for the multi-disastrous situation in Japan. The event, which raised money for the Japanese Red Cross, was held on March 21 and March 22.

The events on both days were held between 12pm and 1:30pm, giving professors and students an opportunity to experience Japanese food and teas in their lunch hour. In fact, Creighton Executive Chef Dominic Long and guest chef Maorong Jiang presented a Japanese-style cooking show for those present. In addition, Creighton students presented on Japanese Tea Ceremonies, Buddhist Gardens, and Japanese culture. Japanese food recipes and teas were available for the guests to take with them after the events.

Also during the events, students and faculty from Japan, Korea, and China spoke about home and the disasters in Japan. The students and faculty also displayed hundreds of pictures and video clips taken before and after the earthquake and tsunami.

In addition to accepting donations at the two-day benefit, Creighton University has also established a Japanese Relief Fund at all Creighton Federal Credit Unions. Students, staff, and faculty can contribute to the Japanese Relief Fund at any of these credit unions.

Georgetown Orthodox chaplain Fr. Constantine White, who served as a missionary in Japan, offers a prayer during an interfaith service for Japanese earthquake victims. He is joined by President John J. DeGioia and Yuko Shimada (SFS’13) of Tokyo, president of the Japan Network, a student group.

Interfaith Prayer Service

GEORGETOWN IS MOBILIZING ITS resources to offer assistance to those affected by the horrific March 11 tsunami in Japan and held an interfaith prayer service today to honor Japanese victims and survivors.

The Office of Campus Ministry’s hosted the interfaith service, which included a Shinto ritual prayer, a Buddhist chant by Yukari Usuda (G’13), and the reading of Psalm 23 in English by Orthodox chaplain Rev. Constantine White and in Japanese by Nao Ooi (G’12).

Rev. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., executive director of Office of Campus Ministry, also spoke at the service.

“As a Jesuit and Catholic university, Georgetown stands in solidarity with all people throughout the world in times of suffering,” O’Brien said.  “And for our friends, our students, our benefactors, our alumni in Japan, this is a time of great sorrow and uncertainty and suffering.”

For more information about Georgetown’s spiritual response as well as to hear about students and alumns in Japan, go to http://www.georgetown.edu/story/japanprayerservice.html

Relief Efforts

Georgetown JUHAN Student Fellows have reached out to the schools undergraduate Japanese Network – J-Net in efforts to establish a university-wide relief effort. J-Net, JUHAN, and the President’s Office are working together to find the most effective means of response.

The JUHAN fellows are meeting tomorrow to discuss the university’s next steps. In preparation for this meeting, it would be very helpful to hear what your schools are doing. Who are you donating to? What are you donating? Do you have contacts at these organizations or in Japan?

Thanks for the help!

After a brief break, the JUHAN blog is up a posting regularly. The first issue JUHAN needs to address is the disaster in Japan. With loss of life, homes, transportation, and access to basic needs, Japanese citizens are facing a long and difficult road to recovery. As a group dedicated to humanitarian response, JUHAN on each campus needs to have a plan in place to respond to disasters and place that into action with the Japanese disaster.

With that in mind, we need to help each other in this process! Please post on the blog and let us know what your campus is doing for Japan! By sharing ideas and efforts, we can help each other and Japan while becoming a more effective organization. Any one can post! For instructions, click on the How to Post tab to the right.

For a list of organizations that are providing Japanese disaster relief and their responses, go to http://philanthropy.com/article/Many-US-Charities-Waiting/126706/

Let’s start helping each other help Japan!

The JUHAN Georgetown March Newsletter is now available! As we approach Spring Breaks throughout March, take a second to look at what’s going on with JUHAN at Georgetown.

You can read the newsletter at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1aZAXm6vN-5_FQZFCdvdvtoHe1ttceLuEDJwGbwH-7afI4mxlJTq-0Y4HBorU&hl=en .

The JUHAN website has been updated from your comments and suggestions. Now, the How To Post instructions are connected to the tab on the right side of the page. In addition, have posted the Log In and Register hyperlinks separately below our existing tabs for your convenience.

Also, we have omitted that Archive and Forum pages in lieu of the Search feature below our twitter remarks. Finally instead of Resources, we now have two pages: Faculty and Opportunities.  The Faculty button allows JUHAN professors and staff to access JUHAN university link, refugee camp simulations, and lists (and in the future syllabi) of JUHAN faculty at participating universities.  We also have a selection for students with the Opportunities page. This page contains a list of non-profits, NGOs, and government agencies that provide jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities for those planning on working in the humanitarian field.  In the future, we hope that this page will grow into a place for these organizations to post job opportunities.

If you have any questions about the changes we have made to the website, send an email to cmw76@georgetown.edu.