A Personal Technology for Good Redux: Call for Code

July 12, 2018 / G C Network / Comments Off on A Personal Technology for Good Redux: Call for Code
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Transformation Network

By pwsadmin | May 15, 2021

The Achilles heel of every transformative business model is their reliance on ever increasing amounts of data that need to be transported quickly across wide area networks and processed at…

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Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing as Digital Transformation

By pwsadmin | May 15, 2021

Hybrid IT blends traditional datacenters, managed service providers, and cloud service providers to deliver the necessary mix of information technology services. This IT consumption model enables a composable infrastructure which…

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Transformation Innovation

By pwsadmin | May 15, 2021

4 Factors Driving Digital Transformation ROI The critical assessment factors for cloud ROI risk probability are the following:      Infrastructure utilization Speed of migration to cloud Ability to scale business/mission processes…

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Transformation Frameworks

By pwsadmin | May 15, 2021

Digital transformation necessitates changes in an organization’s operational processes. According to Harvard, a focus on operations can lead to business process optimization and entirely new revenue streams. Three common routes…

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Transformation Infrastructure

By pwsadmin | September 26, 2020

Hybrid IT enables a composable infrastructure which describes a framework whose physical compute, storage, and network fabric resources are treated as services. Resources are logically pooled so that administrators need…

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Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing as Digital Transformation

By pwsadmin | September 25, 2020

A survey of 2,000 executives conducted by Cognizant in 2016 identified the top five ways digital transformations generate value:      Accelerating speed to market      Strengthening competitive positioning      Boosting revenue growth      Raising…

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Embrace Transformation

By pwsadmin | September 22, 2020

From a business perspective, differentiating business processes and quality customer service are central to overall success. Business leaders must therefore clearly identify and measure how information technology contributes to the…

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Computer Vision Advances Zero-Defect Manufacturing

By pwsadmin | July 25, 2020

by Kevin L. Jackson Electronics manufacturers operate in a challenging environment. It’s hard enough to keep up with the ever-accelerating rate of change in the industry. Now customers want increasingly…

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Real-Time Analytics Power the Roadway of the Future

By pwsadmin | July 25, 2020

By Kevin L. Jackson The complexities of citywide traffic are pushing the limits of existing transportation management systems. Outdated infrastructure is based on proprietary, single-purpose subsystems, making it costly to…

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Thriving on the Edge: Developing CSP Edge Computing Strategy

By pwsadmin | March 6, 2020

Communications Service Providers (CSPs) are facing significant business model challenges. Referred to generally as edge computing, the possibilities introduced by the blending of 5G networks and distributed cloud computing technologies are…

In 2013 I had the opportunity to manage a $2M demonstration of how cloud computing could be used to support natural disasters. In that NCOIC Geospatial Community Cloud (GCC) demonstration, multiple regional clouds were managed using a cloud brokerage platform in a simulated response to a massive earthquake. Modeled after the disaster that struck Haiti in 2010, the project showed how interoperability and movement of data in an open, cloud-based infrastructure could be used to deliver a global, multidisciplinary disaster response capability. The relief simulation also showed government leaders how data sources from a variety of organizations coupled with cloud technology could improve capability and effectiveness while reducing cost, time and risk. These were critical lessons that, back then, I looked forward to maturing.
Now it’s 2018, and technology advances have continued to revolutionize our society.  The democratization of data and information have since changed our lives in many unexpected ways.  A sad fact though is that, although some government leaders have tried, our global society has not yet found a way to institutionalize the lessons we learned back then.  While cloud computing continues to upend industry norms, the disaster response community is still stuck with antiquated processes and technologies.  This unfortunate reality is but one reason why I have decided to put my energy behind the “Call for Code” initiative.
 
IBM is the founding member of the Call for Code Global Initiative, which was created by David Clark, a renowned leader in cause-related initiatives. David Clark’s work includes iconic people and humanitarian organizations, such as President Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Prince, the United Nations, Amnesty International, and The Anne Frank Center.  The Call for Code Global Challengeis designed to leverage technology for good by asking software developers to create solutions that significantly improve preparedness for natural disasters and relief. This competition encourages developers who want to pay their skills forward for a specific mission to alleviate human suffering.  A broad cross-section of experts humanitarian and international organizations are supporting this initiative which includes the United Nations Human Rights Office and the American Red Cross’
GRAMMY nominatedsongtress Andra Day

International team. They will also benefit from the inaugural Call for Code Global Prize Event & Concert on October 13th, United Nations International Day for Disaster Reduction.  The initiative also boasts some star power with GRAMMY-nominated singer and human rights advocate Andra Day, whose 2015 global smash hit song “Rise Up” quickly became the voice for the voiceless, leading a celebrity coalition.

 

Another motivation for joining this initiative was a recent video from Brad Kieserman, Red Cross Vice President of Disaster Operations and Logistics.  In that video, he highlighted the importance of visualizing data in a way that helped responders make better decisions about the movement of resources during a disaster.  His vision of using technology to address unmet disaster need for me pointed out the value of the cloud as the application delivery platform and data repository.  The same value proposition we proved back in 2013.
 
Brad Kieserman, Red Cross Vice President of Disaster Operations and Logistics
Over the next few months I will be blogging, tweeting, podcasting and vlogging on the many “Call for Code” activities and events.  Please join me in supporting this effort by retweeting, liking and reposting this content to your friends.
Let’s all work together to help each other when disaster strikes.

This post was brought to you by IBM Developerworks. For more content like this, visit https://developer.ibm.com/code/

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