MAPPING DIGITAL HUMANITARIANISM: CONFRONTING OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

To identify and discuss the current state of knowledge, research gaps and a future research agenda in the field of digital humanitarianism, we are holding a workshop in London, UK. Through the workshop we aim to establish a global network of scholars, development practitioners, digital developers and policy-makers working on digital humanitarianism.

The workshop will combine case studies and roundtable discussions with a mapathon (‘mapping marathon’). The mapathon will deploy the data emerging from the discussions to actively illustrate the main topics arising from digital humanitarianism and will be virtually open world-wide to anyone with a laptop, internet connection and interest in participating.

The workshop will be organised around three thematic areas:

1. Data and Governance:investigating how data and digital platforms are reshaping humanitarian governance.
2. Applied Data: examining how public and private institutions make use of data to support decision-making in humanitarian work.
3. Resilience: analysing how digital humanitarianism can engender resilience.

Held on Friday 15^th February 2019 at Strand Campus, King’s College London (KCL), the programme is shown below with speaker biographies available here.

10:00–10:10 Opening by David Nelken, KCL

10:10–12:00 Session 1: Data and Governance. Chair Serena Natile (Brunel)

• Jonathan Gray (KCL, Digital Humanities and Public Data Lab) Data Witnessing: Attending to Human Rights Situation with Data in Amnesty International’s Decoders Initiative
• Mirca Madianou (Goldsmiths) Data and Innovation in Humanitarianism
• Fleur Johns and Caroline Compton (UNSW) UNSW Digital Humanitarianism Project
• Ana Camelo and Vitor Ido (FGV Brazil and South Centre Geneva) Digital Humanitarianism in time of socio-environmental disasters: A view from Brazil
• Discussion

12:00–13:00 Lunch

13:00–14:40 Session 2: Applied Data. Chair James Millington (KCL)

• Derek Groen (Brunel, Computer Science) Mapping data to refugee simulations: where could they arrive and how could society help them?
• William Derban (GSMA Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation)
• Allan Davids (Digital Financial Innovation Lab University of Cape Town) Financial Innovation Lab: FinTech in South Africa
• Blessing Mancitshana (SDI South Africa Alliance) [remotely] Community Organisation Resource Centre Digital Data Collection
• Discussion

14:40–15:00 Coffee

15:00–16:30 Session 3: Resilience. Chair Faith Taylor (Uni of Portsmouth)

• Innocent Maholi (Ramani Huria, Dar es Salaam) Community Mapping for Flood Resilience
• Maud Borie (KCL WhyDAR Project) Mapping (for) resilience across city scales: Insights from Cape Town and Nairobi
• Ian Coady (DFID and MapAction) Using geospatial as a framework for development
• Discussion

16:30–17:00 Closing Comments

17:00–19:00 Mapathon

A mapathon is a ‘mapping marathon’ in which people get together to work on a mapping task, often to contribute to Open Street Map with the aim of aiding humanitarian efforts. All are welcome to participate; bring a laptop if you have one or we may be able to provide.