PressRelease
From Katrina Help Info
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1 draft press release, used 7 sept |
PRESS RELEASE COPY
draft press release, used 7 sept
--Paola2 01:38, 7 Sep 2005 (EDT)Content-wire.com Katrina Data Standard Format and XML 07 Sep 2005 07:55 GMT
Katrina Data Standard Format and XML by pdm
Refugee data formats should be compatible to be useful
The Katrina Hurricane disaster, like the Tsunami disaster last December, has created an unprecedented challenge for the information society.
On the one hand, we have increasingly efficient technology capable of connecting people worldwide in real time. We are all sitting on capable machines, have screens, have keyboards, phones, browsers, voice links.
On the other hand, data and information about the displaced is being created and sourced in various locations, but in different formats, that are incompatible. That's no use.
In order to allow this data to be used 'interchangeably' by different users, it is vital to adopt a common data format.
Teams are currently working at developing a common data format that, if adopted evenly by all data source producers, can facilitate the automated search and retrieval of people data.
Common data will help automated systems to connect displaced individuals via automatic categorization and matching.
Anyone working at making lists of people that should be matched, should try to get up to date with the current data format being developed
VOLUNTEERS SURF and SCRUB THE WEB TO HELP RECONNECT FAMILY AND FRIENDS
FOR MEDIA ONLY
Contact: Sue Cline Volunteer : Katrinalist.net : Communications & Media Phone: (804) 230-3456
Marty Kearns Volunteer : Katrinalist.net : Communications & Media (C ) 202-487-1887
VOLUNTEERS SURF and SCRUB THE WEB TO HELP RECONNECT FAMILY AND FRIENDS
WASHINGTON, Friday, September 09, 2005 — The largest collection of data on the web about evacuees and survivors has been pulled together by volunteers and programmers working long hours for the last week. The http://www.katrinalist.net is a collection of over 345,000 survivor records from across dozens of sites. The project was launched to provide information on survivors to family and friends across the web. The http://www.katrinalist.net site forms a needed complement to a pending launch of newer efforts to organize data by the Red Cross, FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.
The "official sites" will be focusing on new more structured data collected from people in shelters and from those interacting with government programs and relief organizations. http://www.Katrinalist.net is the complement to whatever official collection all the informal data from bulletin boards, discussion forms and sites across the web. Katrinalist.net will provide data to Katrinasafe.com
Those seeking information on family should first search www.katrinasafe.com and then www.katrinalist.net. These sites represent the best collection of data and the best hope for helping family and friends locate each other.
Evacuees wishing to inform loved ones of their location can register or post information about survivors at http://www.katrinasafe.com/WebEntryApplication/entryform.aspx
Report a Missing Person at http://www.katrinasafe.com/WebEntryApplication/InquiryEntryForm.aspx
These are all voluntary and self-reporting tools. All media outlets and those hosting discussion boards, search tools and other information on survivors or offering connections to families are asked to redirect search traffic and data input to these sites.
Additional Background:
The project was launched as the core team started to realize that too many sites were collecting data and stories on families looking for or posting the status of their friends and neighbors. In the moments leading up to the storm dozens of sites launched services to help their members, including: New Orleans Newspapers (NOLA.com), TV and radio sites, Craigslist, CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo, Blogs and the Red Cross. In the hours following the storm companies, college students and volunteers began to set up databases for people to add and search information.
On Friday the 9th, The American Red Cross, with support of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement launched a web site and hotline to help assist family members who are seeking news about loved ones living in the path of Hurricane Katrina.
Dozens of message boards have sprung up around the country since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, promising to throw a technological lifeline to families that have been ripped apart. At the same time, the proliferation of registries has also made it increasingly difficult to figure out where to find information on missing loved ones.
"If I'm a refugee trying to find my brother, I would have to search 20 databases and 25 online forums," said David Geilhufe, chief executive of the Social Source Foundation, a charity set up to create software for other non-profits. "It's a huge problem."
"If I'm a hurricane survivor trying to find my brother, I would have to search 20 databases and 25 online forums," said David Geilhufe, of the Social Source Foundation, a charity set up to create open source software for nonprofits. "It's a huge problem."
Enter Katrinalist.net. The all volunteer team created a searchable directory of persons displaced or affected by Hurricane Katrina, consolidating over 25 different online resources into one central, searchable repository. PeopleFinder Interchange Format, (called 'PFIF') is a new, standardized data format implemented in XML.
Katrina People Finder (www.katrinalist.net) helps in the organization of data about people affected by major storms such as Hurricane Katrina and speeds searches by allowing many organizations to contribute to a central repository.The interchange format of Katrina People Finder makes automated search and retrieval of data about people quick and easy. Common data will help automated systems to connect displaced individuals via automatic categorization and matching.
The PeopleFinder database now contains just barebones information -- such as name, phone number, last known address and status. But Dean Robison of Salesforce.com, a San Francisco software firm that is providing the technology to run the consolidated database, said it could easily be expanded in the future to speed rescue and relief operations in further disasters.
The Power of Community
The Katrina PeopleFinder Project mobilized hundreds of volunteers over the Labor Day weekend to make an immediate difference. That immediate difference is at http://www.katrinalist.net/, a searchable database of over 345,000 PeopleFinder Interchange Format-compliant, volunteer-entered, missing and found persons reports from across the web. Having a single, searchable resource is critical due to limited internet access for evacuees and their families. The team plans to turn its attention to housing and job solutions next, creating a centralized technology solution that aggregates a comprehensive resource set from sites all across the web, standardizes them, and makes them searchable from anywhere.
Project Contributors
CivicSpace Labs (http://www.CivicSpaceLabs.org) is a funded non-profit organization and community collaborating with the Drupal (http://www.Drupal.org) project to develop a free/open-source software platform for online community organizing. CivicSpace enables bottom-up people-powered campaigns to operate on a more level playing field with more traditional top-down organizations, and, similarly, allows top-down organizations to leverage the power of grassroots organizing.
Salesforce.com Foundation (http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/index.html) was officially launched in July 2000 by Secretary of State, Colin L. Powell. The launch of the Foundation came less than a year after the launch of the company with the goal of building philanthropic programs at the very beginning of the company's existence rather than waiting until the company had reached a certain level of 'comfortable success'. Our belief is if emphasis is placed on social programs from a company's inception, the value of service will be a core cultural value that is built into the fabric of the company.
Social Source Foundation (http://www.openngo.org/) is a charity that creates world-class, internationalized, open-source software specifically for nonprofit and non-governmental organizations. Social Source Foundation has joined with a community of nonprofit-technology and open source groups and individuals to create OpenNGO, a set of open source software tools including CiviCRM and CiviMail to offer small non-profits and international NGOs powerful technology capabilities to increase their efficiency.
Craigslist (http://www.Craigslist.org) From its humble beginnings as an e-mail newsletter sent to friends in San Francisco, Craigslist has grown to be one of the largest online community bulletin boards, with 180 Craigslist sites in all 50 US states, and 34 countries. Craigslist was one of the earliest community sites to coordinate hurricane relief, rescue and reunion for Katrina survivors.
PUT YOUR BIOS/BLURBS HERE
- COMPANIES/FOUNDATIONS
- CivicSpace Labs (http://www.CivicSpaceLabs.org) is a funded non-profit organization and community collaborating with the Drupal (http://www.Drupal.org) project to develop a free/open-source software platform for online community organizing. CivicSpace enables bottom-up people-powered campaigns to operate on a more level playing field with more traditional top-down organizations, and, similarly, allows top-down organizations to leverage the power of grassroots organizing.
- Salesforce.com Foundation (http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/index.html) was officially launched in July 2000 by Secretary of State, Colin L. Powell. The launch of the Foundation came less than a year after the launch of the company with the goal of building philanthropic programs at the very beginning of the company's existence rather than waiting until the company had reached a certain level of 'comfortable success'. Our belief is if emphasis is placed on social programs from a company's inception, the value of service will be a core cultural value that is built into the fabric of the company.
- Social Source Foundation (http://www.openngo.org/) is a charity that creates world-class, internationalized, open-source software specifically for nonprofit and non-governmental organizations. Social Source Foundation has joined with a community of nonprofit-technology and open source groups and individuals to create OpenNGO, a set of open source software tools including CiviCRM and CiviMail to offer small non-profits and international NGOs powerful technology capabilities to increase their efficiency.
- Craigslist (http://www.Craigslist.org) >From its humble beginnings as an e-mail newsletter sent to friends in San Francisco, Craigslist has grown to be one of the largest online community bulletin boards, with 180 Craigslist sites in all 50 US states, and 34 countries. Craigslist was one of the earliest community sites to coordinate hurricane relief, rescue and reunion for Katrina survivors.
- TEAM LEADERS
- Marketing
- Liza Sabater
- Andrew Hoppin: Andrew directs business development for CivicSpace Labs, and also co-founded and is a partner in a campaign technology firm (Trellon LLC). In 2003 Andrew founded the largest local organization in the "Draft Clark" movement (New York for Clark) and helped to create a national network of Draft Clark web sites before joining the Clark for President technology staff to help manage the campaign's data and "TechCorps" volunteer program. Email: andrew AT civicspacelabs DOT org
- Marketing
LIST OF VOLUNTEERS
Jon Orwant, jon at orwant dot com, is a director of research at France Telecom R&D's Boston lab, a co-author of Programming Perl, and the emcee of the Internet Quiz Show.
Paola Di Maio research at content - wire dot com I am scraping info to write story, i distribute widely lt me know if something I can do
Sue Cline wrote press release
David Geilhufe - dgeilhufe AT socialsourcefoundation.org
Ka-Ping Yee - author of PFIF specification
Kieran Lal - author of PFIF specification
PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAMES WITH LINKS/EMAILS (for electronic version of the press release)
