Following the earthquake of January 12, 2010, the current situation in Haiti provides an important opportunity to perform a feasibility study of the potential for mobile communications to enhance coordination between stakeholders both during and after the crisis. It is essential to conduct time sensitive research on the role of telecommunications in the Haitian disaster relief effort. The research team combines technical expertise with effective ground-level liaison through higher education and community association networks in Haiti. The goals are to (1) Assess network accessibility during and after the crisis; (2) Assess the level of interagency coordination; (3) Assess current use of mobile communication technology. The research questions address some of the principal considerations in the implementation of next generation coordination and response systems. This study is intended to provide a foundation for future research including the creation of collaborative tools, training approaches, and simulation materials for respondents to future extreme events. A partnership with the University of Fondwa, Haiti is an integral element of the research plan. The proposing team has made specific arrangements for transportation, housing, food, and water in Haiti.
This award is co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).
Bruce Hamilton Program Director Environmental Sustainability 3/19/10
Our project studied the use of mobile communication devices after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. With a team comprised interdisciplinary U.S.-based scholars, research experts from the University of Fondwa (UNIF) and the University of Nouvelle Grand’Anse (UNOGA), and community-based partners in Haiti, we collected information on how mobile phones and computers contributed to relief efforts and impacted on interagency coordination. As the grant period progressed, we experimented with ways to include mobile communication in a range of rural learning environments. An initial round of fieldwork in May 2010 resulted in the collection of 220 structured quantitative surveys, and 49 semi-structured qualitative interviews. This data set included responses from Port-au-Prince, Leogâne, Fondwa, Jacmel, and Jeremie, meaning that we heard from people in rural and urban areas, and from places that experienced earthquake impacts ranging from maximum and moderate devastation to no physical devastation at all. 18 different institutions were represented in our data sample, including 13 community-based organizations (CBOs), 2 rural universities, 1 international NGO, 1 governmental agency, and 1 corporate entity. In part, we looked for information on usability, feasibility and normative practices and gathered the following findings: Mobile service was restored in 2-7 days. While there was low awareness of disaster relief-related mobile apps, e.g., Ushahidi, there was high interest in learning more, and moderate to high levels of comfort with and confidence in mobile technology. People used radio and internet for gathering information. People used cell phones to mobilize formal and informal support networks. People used cell phones in a Haitian cultural context. Particularly in rural areas, mobile devices blended with traditional patterns of information flow such as foot travel, and word of mouth/ teledjol; results were less clear how about mobile devices in turn shape those traditional patterns of information flow. We also sought information on levels of interagency coordination by asking questions about goal alignment, mutual respect, competitiveness, and communication. We gathered the following findings on interagency dynamics: Agency goals were relatively non-aligned across agencies and regions. Survey responses on respect and communication varied widely in Port-au-Prince, suggesting snafu conditions in the city, but were more consistent in other regions, suggesting more harmonious dynamics in the countryside. We presented these initial findings in a briefing to the U.S. Army Southern Command in July 2010, led by Dr. Tracy St. Benoit, and to the NSF at the Haiti RAPIDS Workshop in September 2010, led by Dr. Kevin Meehan and Mr. Amenold Pierre. Following these presentations, we organized a second round of fieldwork in October 2010. The results of this fieldwork can be summarized as follows: Through the UCF Mixed Emerging Technologies Integration Lab (METIL), Dr. Metcalf made a teaching technology package available to one of our Haitian research partners, Mr. Waldinde Germaine, an educator located in Jeremie. The package consisted of an Android phone, a palm-sized projector, portable audio speakers, and resource materials on Information Technology translated into French and was made available through a micro-credit loan agreement. Mr. Germaine used this system in a French class to project French music videos, then project song lyrics, after which he had students recite the lyrics. Mr. Germaine thereby blended traditional recitation teaching methods with a mixed-media approach that addressed multiple competencies and learning styles with positive outcomes such as faster language acquisition by Kreyol-speaking students and higher test scores. Dr. Meehan taught a complete World Literature course as part of UNOGA’s general education program, also using face-to-face lectures and (after returning to Orlando), videotaped lectures delivered to Haitian students via internet. While in the field, Dr. Meehan also observed that, except for lag times in the morning and evening, indicating lack of bandwidth availability, mobile communication devices supported tasks such as web browsing, uploading and downloading files, email, chat, and video conferencing via Skype, Gmail, and Adobe Connect. These functions were only possible, though, while electricity was available. The lack of reliable energy sources remains a primary barrier to successful integration of mobile communication in Haiti. Out team culled these experiences and results and presented them in public lectures in Orlando and elsewhere. In January 2011, Dr. St. Benoit organized ESD937 Geospatial Leadership, an intensive seminar for colleagues from MIT’s Geospatial Datacenter. From February-June 2011, we drew on networks developed during the grant period to support collection and delivery of surplused smartphones and computers to community-based learning centers in Leogâne and Fondwa. Moving forward, we plan to publish our research on Haiti; place this work in a broader global context by comparing it with similar projects underway in Kenya and Afghanistan; and continue to work with our Haitian partners to develop reliable energy sources through renewable energy learning centers, while helping them use mobile communication to enhance resource materials in projects ranging from education development and livelihoods recovery to public health and climate change adaptation.
