Category
Maplify
OCT 2023
A digital platform for disaster readiness, resilience, and recovery using data populated by local communities.
Topic
Hackathon
UI/UX
Finalist
Role
Researcher
UI/UX Designer
Tools Used
Figma
Illustrator
Photoshop
Team
Sunjoo Park
Yiyang Zhang
Richard Fu
OVERVIEW
Hack for Humanity 2023, held by Brown University CHR&HS, focused on how to better prepare for and respond to humanitarian emergencies through community-centered design. Our team worked together over the span of 24 hours to develop creative ideas that could improve the humanitarian user experience in responding to natural disasters.
Community-driven Information
Builds a resilient community network by gathering up-to-date information on what people need, provided directly by the residents themselves.
Localized Aid
Turns community-generated information into actionable insights, providing localized aid for the community's specific needs.
Streamlined Communication
Serves as a platform where communities and NGOs can connect, embracing a more inclusive, participatory model of disaster response.
BACKGROUND
What's the problem?
Disaster relief is hindered by slow and misdirected aid.
The disaster revealed critical flaws in current disaster relief methods. A significant example was the influx of donations that failed to meet the actual needs of Turkish people, illustrating the mismatch between well-intentioned aid and real, on-ground necessities. These challenges underscored the vital need for a more accurate, community-based approach in managing and responding to acute disasters.
On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit regions of Turkey and Syria, followed by a 7.7 magnitude aftershock, resulting in over 50,000 casualties.
Why aren't current strategies working?
We recognized that the dissemination of on-site information — arguably the most crucial element for an effective disaster response — is impeded due to two main problems:
Limitations of Top-Down Approaches
Top-down methods are often slow and inflexible, causing an information disconnect between organizations and the impacted population. It is difficult for organizations to be up-to-date on the rapidly changing needs of a disaster situation, and people's needs are not met in time.
Disjointed Information Management Tools
Existing information management tools such as Sahana Eden and Afetbilgi need to relay up-to-date disaster information to people on-site as fast as possible. However, they often experience delays in providing updates, as they collect data off-site.
How might we streamline the dissemination of local information to ensure that impacted communities receive accurate and timely support?
SOLUTION
We need…
A Community-Driven (Bottom-Up) Approach
Because aid from top-down external organizations can take longer to implement, it is crucial that impacted individuals have tools at hand to build community networks and quickly identify on-site resources in the meantime.
Dissemination of Data Directly Within Communities
The people who know best about on-site circumstances are, obviously, people who are on-site. Instead of off-site data-collecting bodies which are slower and less specific in capturing data, local residents should have a quick way to access up-to-date information (needs, resources, and hazards) in their communities.
PRE-DISASTER
Readiness
Education & Awareness
Promote disaster preparedness through posts, local organizational announcements, and collaborative mapping.
Community Engagement
Foster community engagement by sharing information about potential risks, safety measures, and available resources.
DURING DISASTER
Resilience
Resource Mobilization
Facilitate rapid mobilization of resources to affected areas, based on real-time needs and requests posted.
Collaborative Mapping
Provide real-time updates on the disaster, including affected areas and safe zones, through community announcements.
POST-DISASTER
Recovery
Community Rebuilding
Facilitate community-driven rebuilding efforts by providing a space for community members to support each other.
Aid Distribution
Coordinate effective aid distribution by assessing disaster impact, reporting damages, and identifying areas of need.
FINAL PRODUCT
Maplify —
a digital platform that uses data populated by local communities for local communities.
App Feature 1
Community Posts
Real-time sharing of needs and emergent situations are made through community posts. They are categorized using tags for easy navigation.
App Feature 2
Resource Map
This collaborative map lets users drop pins on hazard zones, discovery points, and resource locations, fostering a shared awareness to local challenges.
Internet outages are common in disaster situations. The built-in auto-save feature in the resource map keeps a local copy of the latest map updates, ensuring community information is always available.
App Feature 3
Insights
Insights help gain a real-time understanding of the number of individuals impacted, the challenges they face, and the resources they urgently require.
NGO Portal Feature 1
Organized Posts
The main page is where all community requests and needs are categorized for easy navigation. Here, NGOs can easily identify needs and plan specific relief plans (immediate or long-term).
NGO Portal Feature 2
Saved Collection
The Saved Page allows NGOs to bookmark and organize posts into custom collections for future reference. This helps with efficient planning and targeted response strategies.
NGO Portal Feature 3
Resource Planning
The Planning Page features a Kanban board, designed to help NGOs track and manage tasks effectively. This visual toolkit helps prioritize activities, monitor progress, and ensure timely responses.
NGO Portal Feature 4
Insights Dashboard
On the Insights Page, NGOs gain access to crucial data analytics and trend infographics. This feature enabling data-driven decision-making for more impactful interventions.
Leveraging community-generated data, Maplify transforms raw data into meaningful insights, and those insights to tangible aid.
STRATEGY
How will this solution reach our target audience?
Cultural Context
The dissemination of this platform starts with the community members. Historically, in times of crisis, community members have communicated their needs to their leaders, such as priests, who then relay these needs to organizations to form a need assessment. This traditional method lays the groundwork for our approach.
How will this solution be implemented?
Technical Aspects
Full implementation requires the development of the user-facing app, the NGO web app, and a backend database and API.
While internet access is required for the initial installation of the app, recent posts and messages will be downloaded locally whenever an internet connection is available.
This allows users to look back on previous data when they are offline. Users can still create posts and reply to messages offline, and these activities will be synced to the database the next time internet access is available.
How will this solution be sustained?
Business Model
Our goal is to create Maplify as an open-source project that other developers can contribute to, significantly decreasing implementation costs. For initial deployment, the backend infrastructure should cost no more than $25 a month to operate, only increasing when we reach more than 100K active users.
Some ways to support this cost is to explore donation-based funding, a strategy branching out from Maplify’s humanitarian roots.
TAKEAWAYS
Embarking on a 24-hour sprint to create a solution to disaster management was an exciting challenge that proved to be deeply rewarding — it demanded quick thinking and a laser focus on essentials.
As I delved the world of disaster response, I relearned the importance of a user-centered design approach. Leaning too heavily on a deficit-based mindset could blind us to the real issues, making us assume that users are always missing something. This project showed me the power of rethinking and streamlining processes instead of adding more to them.
Special Thanks to:
Amy Smith (MIT D-Lab) | Dr. Malabika Sarker (BRAC, Bangladesh) |. Dr. Rabiul Islam (Disaster Management)
Richard Fu | Yiyang Zhang
Category
Maplify
OCT 2023
A digital platform for disaster readiness, resilience, and recovery using data populated by local communities.
Topic
Hackathon
UI/UX
Finalist
Role
Researcher
UI/UX Designer
Tools Used
Figma
Illustrator
Photoshop
Team
Sunjoo Park
Yiyang Zhang
Richard Fu
OVERVIEW
Hack for Humanity 2023, held by Brown University CHR&HS, focused on how to better prepare for and respond to humanitarian emergencies through community-centered design. Our team worked together over the span of 24 hours to develop creative ideas that could improve the humanitarian user experience in responding to natural disasters.
Community-driven Information
Builds a resilient community network by gathering up-to-date information on what people need, provided directly by the residents themselves.
Localized Aid
Turns community-generated information into actionable insights, providing localized aid for the community's specific needs.
Streamlined Communication
Serves as a platform where communities and NGOs can connect, embracing a more inclusive, participatory model of disaster response.
BACKGROUND
What's the problem?
Disaster relief is hindered by slow and misdirected aid.
The disaster revealed critical flaws in current disaster relief methods. A significant example was the influx of donations that failed to meet the actual needs of Turkish people, illustrating the mismatch between well-intentioned aid and real, on-ground necessities. These challenges underscored the vital need for a more accurate, community-based approach in managing and responding to acute disasters.
On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit regions of Turkey and Syria, followed by a 7.7 magnitude aftershock, resulting in over 50,000 casualties.
Why aren't current strategies working?
We recognized that the dissemination of on-site information — arguably the most crucial element for an effective disaster response — is impeded due to two main problems:
Limitations of Top-Down Approaches
Top-down methods are often slow and inflexible, causing an information disconnect between organizations and the impacted population. It is difficult for organizations to be up-to-date on the rapidly changing needs of a disaster situation, and people's needs are not met in time.
Disjointed Information Management Tools
Existing information management tools such as Sahana Eden and Afetbilgi need to relay up-to-date disaster information to people on-site as fast as possible. However, they often experience delays in providing updates, as they collect data off-site.
How might we streamline the dissemination of local information to ensure that impacted communities receive accurate and timely support?
SOLUTION
We need…
A Community-Driven (Bottom-Up) Approach
Because aid from top-down external organizations can take longer to implement, it is crucial that impacted individuals have tools at hand to build community networks and quickly identify on-site resources in the meantime.
Dissemination of Data Directly Within Communities
The people who know best about on-site circumstances are, obviously, people who are on-site. Instead of off-site data-collecting bodies which are slower and less specific in capturing data, local residents should have a quick way to access up-to-date information (needs, resources, and hazards) in their communities.
PRE-DISASTER
Readiness
Education & Awareness
Promote disaster preparedness through posts, local organizational announcements, and collaborative mapping.
Community Engagement
Foster community engagement by sharing information about potential risks, safety measures, and available resources.
DURING DISASTER
Resilience
Resource Mobilization
Facilitate rapid mobilization of resources to affected areas, based on real-time needs and requests posted.
Collaborative Mapping
Provide real-time updates on the disaster, including affected areas and safe zones, through community announcements.
POST-DISASTER
Recovery
Community Rebuilding
Facilitate community-driven rebuilding efforts by providing a space for community members to support each other.
Aid Distribution
Coordinate effective aid distribution by assessing disaster impact, reporting damages, and identifying areas of need.
FINAL PRODUCT
Maplify —
a digital platform that uses data populated by local communities for local communities.
App Feature 1
Community Posts
Real-time sharing of needs and emergent situations are made through community posts. They are categorized using tags for easy navigation.
App Feature 2
Resource Map
This collaborative map lets users drop pins on hazard zones, discovery points, and resource locations, fostering a shared awareness to local challenges.
Internet outages are common in disaster situations. The built-in auto-save feature in the resource map keeps a local copy of the latest map updates, ensuring community information is always available.
App Feature 3
Insights
Insights help gain a real-time understanding of the number of individuals impacted, the challenges they face, and the resources they urgently require.
NGO Portal Feature 1
Organized Posts
The main page is where all community requests and needs are categorized for easy navigation. Here, NGOs can easily identify needs and plan specific relief plans (immediate or long-term).
NGO Portal Feature 2
Saved Collection
The Saved Page allows NGOs to bookmark and organize posts into custom collections for future reference. This helps with efficient planning and targeted response strategies.
NGO Portal Feature 3
Resource Planning
The Planning Page features a Kanban board, designed to help NGOs track and manage tasks effectively. This visual toolkit helps prioritize activities, monitor progress, and ensure timely responses.
NGO Portal Feature 4
Insights Dashboard
On the Insights Page, NGOs gain access to crucial data analytics and trend infographics. This feature enabling data-driven decision-making for more impactful interventions.
Leveraging community-generated data, Maplify transforms raw data into meaningful insights, and those insights to tangible aid.
STRATEGY
How will this solution reach our target audience?
Cultural Context
The dissemination of this platform starts with the community members. Historically, in times of crisis, community members have communicated their needs to their leaders, such as priests, who then relay these needs to organizations to form a need assessment. This traditional method lays the groundwork for our approach.
How will this solution be implemented?
Technical Aspects
Full implementation requires the development of the user-facing app, the NGO web app, and a backend database and API.
While internet access is required for the initial installation of the app, recent posts and messages will be downloaded locally whenever an internet connection is available.
This allows users to look back on previous data when they are offline. Users can still create posts and reply to messages offline, and these activities will be synced to the database the next time internet access is available.
How will this solution be sustained?
Business Model
Our goal is to create Maplify as an open-source project that other developers can contribute to, significantly decreasing implementation costs. For initial deployment, the backend infrastructure should cost no more than $25 a month to operate, only increasing when we reach more than 100K active users.
Some ways to support this cost is to explore donation-based funding, a strategy branching out from Maplify’s humanitarian roots.
TAKEAWAYS
Embarking on a 24-hour sprint to create a solution to disaster management was an exciting challenge that proved to be deeply rewarding — it demanded quick thinking and a laser focus on essentials.
As I delved the world of disaster response, I relearned the importance of a user-centered design approach. Leaning too heavily on a deficit-based mindset could blind us to the real issues, making us assume that users are always missing something. This project showed me the power of rethinking and streamlining processes instead of adding more to them.
Special Thanks to:
Amy Smith (MIT D-Lab) | Dr. Malabika Sarker (BRAC, Bangladesh) |. Dr. Rabiul Islam (Disaster Management)
Richard Fu | Yiyang Zhang
Category
Maplify
OCT 2023
A digital platform for disaster readiness, resilience, and recovery using data populated by local communities.
Topic
Hackathon
UI/UX
Finalist
Role
Researcher
UI/UX Designer
Tools Used
Figma
Illustrator
Photoshop
Team
Sunjoo Park
Yiyang Zhang
Richard Fu
OVERVIEW
Hack for Humanity 2023, held by Brown University CHR&HS, focused on how to better prepare for and respond to humanitarian emergencies through community-centered design. Our team worked together over the span of 24 hours to develop creative ideas that could improve the humanitarian user experience in responding to natural disasters.
Community-driven Information
Builds a resilient community network by gathering up-to-date information on what people need, provided directly by the residents themselves.
Localized Aid
Turns community-generated information into actionable insights, providing localized aid for the community's specific needs.
Streamlined Communication
Serves as a platform where communities and NGOs can connect, embracing a more inclusive, participatory model of disaster response.
BACKGROUND
What's the problem?
Disaster relief is hindered by slow and misdirected aid.
The disaster revealed critical flaws in current disaster relief methods. A significant example was the influx of donations that failed to meet the actual needs of Turkish people, illustrating the mismatch between well-intentioned aid and real, on-ground necessities. These challenges underscored the vital need for a more accurate, community-based approach in managing and responding to acute disasters.
On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit regions of Turkey and Syria, followed by a 7.7 magnitude aftershock, resulting in over 50,000 casualties.
Why aren't current strategies working?
We recognized that the dissemination of on-site information — arguably the most crucial element for an effective disaster response — is impeded due to two main problems:
Limitations of Top-Down Approaches
Top-down methods are often slow and inflexible, causing an information disconnect between organizations and the impacted population. It is difficult for organizations to be up-to-date on the rapidly changing needs of a disaster situation, and people's needs are not met in time.
Disjointed Information Management Tools
Existing information management tools such as Sahana Eden and Afetbilgi need to relay up-to-date disaster information to people on-site as fast as possible. However, they often experience delays in providing updates, as they collect data off-site.
How might we streamline the dissemination of local information to ensure that impacted communities receive accurate and timely support?
SOLUTION
We need…
A Community-Driven (Bottom-Up) Approach
Because aid from top-down external organizations can take longer to implement, it is crucial that impacted individuals have tools at hand to build community networks and quickly identify on-site resources in the meantime.
Dissemination of Data Directly Within Communities
The people who know best about on-site circumstances are, obviously, people who are on-site. Instead of off-site data-collecting bodies which are slower and less specific in capturing data, local residents should have a quick way to access up-to-date information (needs, resources, and hazards) in their communities.
PRE-DISASTER
Readiness
Education & Awareness
Promote disaster preparedness through posts, local organizational announcements, and collaborative mapping.
Community Engagement
Foster community engagement by sharing information about potential risks, safety measures, and available resources.
DURING DISASTER
Resilience
Resource Mobilization
Facilitate rapid mobilization of resources to affected areas, based on real-time needs and requests posted.
Collaborative Mapping
Provide real-time updates on the disaster, including affected areas and safe zones, through community announcements.
POST-DISASTER
Recovery
Community Rebuilding
Facilitate community-driven rebuilding efforts by providing a space for community members to support each other.
Aid Distribution
Coordinate effective aid distribution by assessing disaster impact, reporting damages, and identifying areas of need.
FINAL PRODUCT
Maplify —
a digital platform that uses data populated by local communities for local communities.
App Feature 1
Community Posts
Real-time sharing of needs and emergent situations are made through community posts. They are categorized using tags for easy navigation.
App Feature 2
Resource Map
This collaborative map lets users drop pins on hazard zones, discovery points, and resource locations, fostering a shared awareness to local challenges.
Internet outages are common in disaster situations. The built-in auto-save feature in the resource map keeps a local copy of the latest map updates, ensuring community information is always available.
App Feature 3
Insights
Insights help gain a real-time understanding of the number of individuals impacted, the challenges they face, and the resources they urgently require.
NGO Portal Feature 1
Organized Posts
The main page is where all community requests and needs are categorized for easy navigation. Here, NGOs can easily identify needs and plan specific relief plans (immediate or long-term).
NGO Portal Feature 2
Saved Collection
The Saved Page allows NGOs to bookmark and organize posts into custom collections for future reference. This helps with efficient planning and targeted response strategies.
NGO Portal Feature 3
Resource Planning
The Planning Page features a Kanban board, designed to help NGOs track and manage tasks effectively. This visual toolkit helps prioritize activities, monitor progress, and ensure timely responses.
NGO Portal Feature 4
Insights Dashboard
On the Insights Page, NGOs gain access to crucial data analytics and trend infographics. This feature enabling data-driven decision-making for more impactful interventions.
Leveraging community-generated data, Maplify transforms raw data into meaningful insights, and those insights to tangible aid.
STRATEGY
How will this solution reach our target audience?
Cultural Context
The dissemination of this platform starts with the community members. Historically, in times of crisis, community members have communicated their needs to their leaders, such as priests, who then relay these needs to organizations to form a need assessment. This traditional method lays the groundwork for our approach.
How will this solution be implemented?
Technical Aspects
Full implementation requires the development of the user-facing app, the NGO web app, and a backend database and API.
While internet access is required for the initial installation of the app, recent posts and messages will be downloaded locally whenever an internet connection is available.
This allows users to look back on previous data when they are offline. Users can still create posts and reply to messages offline, and these activities will be synced to the database the next time internet access is available.
How will this solution be sustained?
Business Model
Our goal is to create Maplify as an open-source project that other developers can contribute to, significantly decreasing implementation costs. For initial deployment, the backend infrastructure should cost no more than $25 a month to operate, only increasing when we reach more than 100K active users.
Some ways to support this cost is to explore donation-based funding, a strategy branching out from Maplify’s humanitarian roots.
TAKEAWAYS
Embarking on a 24-hour sprint to create a solution to disaster management was an exciting challenge that proved to be deeply rewarding — it demanded quick thinking and a laser focus on essentials.
As I delved the world of disaster response, I relearned the importance of a user-centered design approach. Leaning too heavily on a deficit-based mindset could blind us to the real issues, making us assume that users are always missing something. This project showed me the power of rethinking and streamlining processes instead of adding more to them.
Special Thanks to:
Amy Smith (MIT D-Lab) | Dr. Malabika Sarker (BRAC, Bangladesh) |. Dr. Rabiul Islam (Disaster Management)
Richard Fu | Yiyang Zhang
Check out more projects!
Check out more projects!
© Sunjoo Park 2024
© Sunjoo Park 2024
© Sunjoo Park 2024