robert fitzgerald, phd

Today I met with Romdoul Kim and Channe Suy from InSTEDD's innovation Lab in Phnom Penh. InSTEDD (Innovative Support for Emergencies Diseases Disasters) is a NGO that was brought into being by Larry Brilliant (TED Prize 2006 winner) who wanted to build an early-warning system for pandemics and other disasters. Google.org funded InSTEDD to build a rapid-reporting system to help health teams stay connected in emergencies (Just as an aside, Larry Brilliant left Google recently after three years to work with Skoll Urgent Threats Fund setup by Ebay founder, Jeff Skoll).

(From L-R: Tola, Dara, Ratha, Mann, John, Rob, Romdoul, Channe, and Chhovy)

During disease outbreaks rapid response teams are often dispatched to the affected areas. Communication is often difficult and in many cases preliminary paperwork may be slow to get back to head office. Enter Geochat, a sms-based chat system that provides alerts and broadcast sms that can be tracked on google maps. Geochat was recently featured in Mobile Phones: Sensors and sensitivity (The Economist, 4 June 2009) on the potential of mobile devices for surveillance and monitoring. InSTEDD use the term situational awareness to describe the way Geochat can be used to support a range of field work activities from connecting, visualizing, reporting, receiving and coordinating (see below).

I see situational awareness as related to John Seely Brown's idea of peripheral awareness that can arise from the application of presence technologies such as Twitter. Presence is often understood in terms of nearness though I think the term propinquity better captures the complexity of nearness by distinguishing between its different dimensions of proximity, kinship, similarity and time. I have talked a little about this recently in the context of online learning and the need to focus design efforts on supporting more complex social relationships.

Romdoul Kim (Director of Government Affairs, Mekong Region) talked to us about the work of the Phnom Penh office and explained how it works with six countries (Cambodia, China, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand & Vietnam) on the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance program under the Onehealth initiative. Geochat was recently used for an Avian Influenza simulation exercise in the Stung Treng Province of Cambodia. InSTEDD (Cambodia) has established a small team of software developers but is keen to work with interns and volunteers who have skills in software development and IT community training programs. We are looking at applications of Geochat within our current agricultural project and the possible synergies with our work with FrontlineSMS.