PS - For the people registry I was planning to recommend a schema based on
the top level of the Interpol Disaster Victim Identification Guide - This
has mostly been adopted as the standard protocol post Tsunami (info at:
http://www.interpol.int/Public/DisasterVictim/guide/ )

I'm also planning (hoping) to get over to Thailand early next month to see
first-hand some of the post-disaster efforts under way. Any suggestions on
places to visit would be very welcomed!

Rgds, Don

Hi Chamindra, all,

If you would like a completely "raw" draft schema I'm more than happy to put
one together - If OK I'll do this without referencing existing work for two
reasons. Firstly it allows any commonalities to be highlighted as important,
and secondly it might offer a different 'take' for consideration.

Back in '97 I wrote a relational database for one of our Govt Departments to
track persons impacted by an emergency on lands adjacent to Government owned
lands - The DB had a similar requirement for remote operation and batch data
uploads to the master DB whenever the portable device was docked (noting
this was well before everyone had a 'net connection!). I'll take some of the
schema from it and see if it can be incorporated.

Any specific time-frame for this?

Rgds, Don



-----Original Message-----
From: humanitarian-ict@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:humanitarian-ict@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of chamindra de silva
Sent: Tuesday, 10 May 2005 10:10 PM
To: humanitarian-ict
Subject: RE: [humanitarian-ict] sahana Phase 2 master doc


Sure Don, please do go ahead and make the first stab at this.

AFAIK You are spot on in that:

1) one of the challenges we face is the dynamic extensibility of the
database during a disaster situation. There will always be fields that we
have not accounted for in the schema that would be required for some
specific organization use (e.g. org specific tracking codes).

2) We should look to utilize existing standards and protocols to enhance the
ability of this system to integrate with others (especially those supported
by UN, NGOs and Gov) to coordinate the relief effort and avoid data
redundancy.

3) In addition we have one more complexity on the database side, which is
that we are looking to deploy mobile and intermittently disconnected mobile
installations of Sahana containing subsets of the data/applications based on
use and location. We can expected them to synchronize with central
repository at least 1 every 2 days or so.

Some tough requirements/constraints, but an interesting challenge :-)

I could collate and document the existing Sahana phase I schema, however as
it was done in a hurry it did not take these aspects into consideration and
I would anyway like to do a rewrite. Let me know if you still would like to
have it.

Appreciate you taking a first stab at this..

Chamindra

Paul Currion is presently in Sri Lanka and we had a meeting around
Sahana. Here are the main points of discussion:

- We agreed defining the data dictionary is a good first step. We will
eagerly wait for Don's first draft of this.

- We felt that our target user groups should primarily be NGOs
especially as they have the capacity, are flexible in policy, very
mobile ready and most cannot afford developing their own software. The
secondary target group was to be national authorities / UN

- The module that would be in greatest need right now would be the camp
registry. However the people registry needs to be in place for this to
work. Next the damage registry would be next on the list. Here will be
focusing more on rehabilitation aspects of disaster management

- An Org registry already exists in propitiatory form, so it would be
good for us to be able to interface to that. However even if it exists
in developing an FOSS equivalent still has great benefits and a large
set of potential users.

- We should design multiple interfaces for each app targeted to the 3
levels of users of:
   - The general public/international community, requiring information/
general statistics on the crisis
   - NGO and national authorities/field offices needing a place to record
authorized data and custom reports/info to make decisions
   - The field operatives/users, who are mobile with limited
access/processing power

- Paul work at the UNFP includes building a logistics management system
and he is hoping to release this as FOSS. This is one project that we
will look to integrate with Sahana.

- Finally we discussed the possibility of hosting this project in a
dedicated UNFP sponsored set of servers (using GForge, subversion and a
wiki). I personally think this is a good idea, because it gives us much
more flexibility/space on administering/extending the configuration
management system. As other UN FOSS project will be hosted on it we can
centralize this as _the_ place for humanitarian FOSS project
development.

Paul, please add to this if I have missed anything.

chamindra


---------------------------
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Wonder if you have any ideas on this. I am in the process of reviewing a
few wikis with the following features to complement the Sahana
sourceforge project site:

1. Export to PDF allows us to collaboratively document something online
2. Access control
3. Record discussions, IRC/yahoo transcripts, general action items
4. Web CMS like system to display other information on the project
website
5. Light weight to fit within the web space allocated by sourceforge

Right now I am gravitating to TWiki as it has all these features and an
interesting draw plugin which allows people to have draw diagrams
online. TikiWiki was the second best but it has a still buggy PDF export
feature.

Or would a lightweight web CMS be more suitable?

chamindra



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Sure Don, please do go ahead and make the first stab at this.

AFAIK You are spot on in that:

1) one of the challenges we face is the dynamic extensibility of the
database during a disaster situation. There will always be fields that
we have not accounted for in the schema that would be required for some
specific organization use (e.g. org specific tracking codes).

2) We should look to utilize existing standards and protocols to enhance
the ability of this system to integrate with others (especially those
supported by UN, NGOs and Gov) to coordinate the relief effort and avoid
data redundancy.

3) In addition we have one more complexity on the database side, which
is that we are looking to deploy mobile and intermittently disconnected
mobile installations of Sahana containing subsets of the
data/applications based on use and location. We can expected them to
synchronize with central repository at least 1 every 2 days or so.

Some tough requirements/constraints, but an interesting challenge :-)

I could collate and document the existing Sahana phase I schema, however
as it was done in a hurry it did not take these aspects into
consideration and I would anyway like to do a rewrite. Let me know if
you still would like to have it.

Appreciate you taking a first stab at this..

Chamindra

On Tue, 2005-05-10 at 20:33 +1000, Don Cameron wrote:
> Chamindra as always this is excellent and inspirational work. Looking
> towards Phase II, would it be possible to peruse the underlying database
> dictionaries? - I am interested in the specific information currently
> captured and any potential for additional informational requirements during
> an EM scenario; also any possible integration opportunities (terminology
> standardizations with existing EM systems and protocols etc.)
>
> At this stage I would only like to look at the database field names if this
> is OK.
>
> Don
>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
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intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is intended for the
addressee only. Any unauthorized disclosure, use, dissemination, copying, or
distribution of this message or any of its attachments or the information
contained in this e-mail, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly
prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender
immediately by return e-mail and delete this message.

Chamindra as always this is excellent and inspirational work. Looking
towards Phase II, would it be possible to peruse the underlying database
dictionaries? - I am interested in the specific information currently
captured and any potential for additional informational requirements during
an EM scenario; also any possible integration opportunities (terminology
standardizations with existing EM systems and protocols etc.)

At this stage I would only like to look at the database field names if this
is OK.

Don

Hi All,

I have collated our current high-level plan and extracts on the Sahana
Vision into one live master doc. I hope to transport this to the Wiki
site as soon as we have it up and running.

Meanwhile you can find it at:
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/sahana-phase2-masterdoc.pdf

Sections you might not have seen before
- The vision for an ideal disaster management system
- Sahana phase 2 technical components (tentative)
- High level work breakdown and roadmap
- Further work: ASP model and voice portal extensions to Sahana
- Tthe domain/architecture leadership team.

This is just the initial draft to get started, I hope to build this and
successive descriptions of the project collaboratively through the wiki

chamindra
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra


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Hi All,

Sorry for the slight lull on the mailing list, but this has been due to
the preparations we have been making over here to start the Sahana
project. Here is a quick update on progress:

- Need to finalize a good configuration management process and we are
looking through that used by Mozilla, debian and Apache. The key is to
find a good one that utilizes a deadicated core (+ release) team and the
volunteer community effectively as one cohesive group and focuses on the
user. Any ideas or references? Ultimately we have to implement this
process on sourceforge

- Based on this I was thinking of supplementing the sourceforge site
with a Wiki to corroborate on ideas and make them explicit as
documentation. I was thinking of using something like Tikiwiki, however
it might be a overkill as sourceforge already has good features.
Alternatively I might use a simple one like dokuwiki. Only think left is
chat+voice for which I was thinking we could stick to good ol yahoo chat
+ their voice server.

- Funding for the development effort for phase II is 99.99% approved by
our local ICTA agency and we are looking to tentative have the core team
setup by July (6 in all - with LAMP, XHTML/CSS/javascript,
documentation, FOSS development skills).

- I will be cleaning up the sourceforge site (the CVS modules, issue
tracker, mailing lists, website). Will setup a dedicated mailing list to
discuss architectural and domain discussion (which will be archived for
our reference) mainly for this group.

- Ideally we should plan to have a domain/architecture meeting in July
itself to define the requirements on the Sahana apps and come up with a
resilient and futureproof architecture. I will work out with Sanjiva on
the best way to do this.

Let me know if you have any thoughts as of now on the items above.

chamindra
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra


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FYI: This is a problem area that we will probably come across in our
architecture discussion. This was in response to a request on schema
mapping and resolving duplicate data, a problem that was faced with
Sahana phase I during the Asian Tsunami.

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: chamindra de silva <chamindra@...>
To: Felix Naumann <naumann@...>
Cc: louiqa <louiqa@...>
Subject: Re: Research in duplicates and record linkage and schema
mapping
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 12:14:26 +0600
Thanks Felix, Louiqa, for the URLs to these papers. We are still to
decide the exact database deployment structure for Sahana, however this
should serve as a good read in preparations for this.

Another area which I have to look into is on ensuring data privacy to
address problems with data abuse during disaster situations, such as
identity theft and property theft. Though this is as much an application
layer problem, I cannot assume that the database access is entirely
secure in these scenarios, so the security will have to be passed to the
data itself probably using public/private key encryption. Any good
papers or well known design patterns on the above?

Secondly on the deployment side we hope to have disconnected (or
intermittently connected) mobile stations which will hold the identical
database schema to our central system, however a subset of the data
based on location and sub-application being used. What are the best data
synchronization strategies in these instances?

I am sure some of these are probably well-defined in the database arena,
however appreciate your help in directing me to the right content.

thanks,

Chamindra



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Hi Guys,

I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier .. thanks Chamindra
for getting this going!

I used to work in IBM Research until last Friday .. since '97! My
area of work is Web services stuff, where I've been leading much
of the technology development in IBM (have co-authored many of
the Web services specs, including WSDL). Now I'm technically
unemployed .. but in the process of setting up my own software
technology company.

My other passion is open source. I am the co-founder of Lanka
Software Foundation, whose mission is to use open source as a
vehicle to improve the Sri Lankan software industry. I'm also
the current chairman of executive director of LSF. (Hmm, I guess
that makes me technically not unemployed, but this all volutary
stuff for me.) I'm a member of the Apache Software Foundation
and on the board of the Open Source Initiative (www.opensource.org).

LSF organized groups of developers are very active in a bunch of
Apache projects (primarily in the Web services area so far)
and we look forward to taking Sahana forward the same way.

Thanks to everyone for your support and contribution. The only
way Sahana can succeed is with active participation from a truly
global community and I'm glad that such a community is slowly but
surely forming.

Bye,

Sanjiva.

Hi Clinton,

Thanks for the question. I am going to copy our Sahana leadership team
(which includes Don) as it is a decision we all would have to make.

On Mon, 2005-04-18 at 11:45 -0600, Clinton Adams wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've been discussing the implications of choosing the GPL with a Don
> Cameron who says that he is a 'domain expert' with Sahana.  Here's the
> discussion for reference -
>
>
http://techsoup.com/forums/index.cfm?fuseaction=read&forum=2016&id=57941&cid=117
>
> Will Sahana remain under the GPL, or is there consideration to move it
> to another license to avoid this supposed risk of profiteering?  I see
> no such risk, but Sahana was mentioned as a case for such.
>
> Best regards

AFAIK Apache license lends itself more to the "free as in freedom to do
whatever you want" with the software than GNU/GPL does. In a non-NPO
scenario it will encourage use and commercial utilization of the
software. But this also means that a commercial org can build a value
added propitiatory layer above the Apache software and resell it (as IBM
does). Firstly in the Domain that Sahana is focused on, there is very
little commercial interest, but if there were to be a company that did
this IMO they are serving an urgent need in this domain that someone
might be willing to pay for and for which a volunteer effort might not
be ready to meet in terms of time-line and requirement. Nothing is
stopping the volunteer effort catching up in their own time though.
However most of the time these licenses tend to be provided free at the
time of a disaster as part of good CSR, which is why I think there is
very little commercial interest in this domain.

So my vote is leaning toward an Apache license for Sahana Phase II, but
it is a decision our leadership team needs to make. It also depends on
the FOSS components we end up using as all you need to do is to link to
one GNU/GPL component to make the entire project GPL.

chamindra
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra


---------------------------
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prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender
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Hi David,

Sanjiva wanted me to keep you in the loop on the next phase of Sahana.
My name is Chamindra de Silva and I will be leading phase II of the
Sahana project, where we will be extending and generalizing the system
to handle a larger subset of disaster management scenarios.

We have captured our learned lessons and a little on the road ahead in a
paper published to BCS, which you might be interested in reading. You
can find it at the following URL ->
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/humanitarian-FOSS-casestudy-sahana.pdf

Funding for phase II of the development effort through SIDA is almost
finalized, with and the scope of Phase II was proposed to include
missing/IDP people registry, organization + contacts (NGO,GOV,etc)
registry, camp management, damage database and request/assistance
trading system. But I guess we can be flexible to a certain extent
provided we keep SIDA in the loop.

As a group we are quite focused to find immediate uses of the system and
improve it incrementally based on user feedback, thus we are on the hunt
for potential "user" organizations of these components.

We are hoping to start developing on Sahana in July, however right now
we have formed a small domain/architecture leadership team consisting of
disaster management and Open Source experts across Thailand, UK,
Australia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia so far.

Collaboration is over a yahoo mailgroup and I would welcome you (or
someone you could nominate) to join us in directing this project and
helping us to connect with "user" organizations (NGO, UN Orgs, etc).

The URL to join is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/humanitarian-ict/
(or just let me know and I can add you to the list)

Anyway I hope we can have you support on this initiative,

Regards,

Chamindra

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Hi to everybody, those I've met and those I haven't.  My name's Paul
Currion, and my details are mainly as Chamindra outlined.  Although
currently with WFP, I've worked for a range of government,
inter-government and non-governmental organisations in the humanitarian
sector, focusing almost entirely on humanitarian coordination and
information management.  More details are on the website at
http://www.currion.net/imho.htm!

cheers,

Paul C


--
Paul Currion
www.currion.net
www.ict4peace.org

ONLINE / MSN ID: paulcurrion / SKYPE ID: paulcurrion
London / CELL: + 44 7946 82 45 46
Bangkok / OFFICE: + 66 2 655 4115 ext. 3410 / CELL: + 66 1 913 2745

Thanks for the introduction Tom. The user interface of Sahana will be a
critical piece. As you said it needs to be very accessible for use by a
layman at the time of a disaster, it needs to be bandwidth efficient and
also available through different clients from web browsers to pda to
mobile phone. Your leadership on how to do this effectively will be of
great value to our team.

Other people also on this mailgroup, who I am sure will get round to
introduce themselves in more detail are (based on the little info I
have):
- Dr Sanjiva Weerawarna - One of the founders of the Web Services spec
and an OSI board member (Sri Lanka)
- James Clark - Thailand Open Source representative (Born in UK), well
known author of GROFF and EXPAT xml parser
- Veriy - Indonesian Open Source representative
- Paul Currion - Works as a consultant for information management in
humanitarian operations. Currently working with UN WFP, ICT4Peace (UK)
- Jivaka Weeratunga - Founding director of LSF (Lanka Software
Foundation) with Sanjiva (Sri Lanka)

chamindra


On Tue, 2005-04-12 at 10:23 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote:
> At 07:43 PM 4/11/2005, chamindra de silva wrote:
> >...  briefly talk about ourselves (the orgs we represent) and our
> >motivation ...
>
> My name is Tom Worthington (Tomw). I would like to help design an efficient
> web based user interface for Sahana which adapts to multiple languages, low
> bandwidth links and small devices.
>
> I am an Australian citizen living in Canberra and my experience of other
> countries is limited to a few weeks holiday and business trips
> <http://www.tomw.net.au/travel/Tourist.htm>. I am a self employed IT
> consultant working mostly for Australian government agencies and private
> companies on web use and IT development strategies. Also I am a Visiting
> Fellow at the Australian National University, where I teach web design and
> e-commerce <http://www.tomw.net.au/twpubs.html#courses>.
>
> I am an old war horse in IT, having spent twenty two years in IT
> development with the Australian government, the last nine years on policy
> at the Australian Defence Headquarters. At Defence I advocated the use of
> the Internet and the web. With this I have had an interest in social
> aspects of IT use, holding a number of positions with the Australian
> Computer Society and making submissions to the Australian parliament
> <http://www.tomw.net.au/nt/>.
>
> My interest in disaster management comes partly from a defence background,
> partly from a fire in 2003 which destroyed 400 houses and killed four
> people in Canberra. During the emergency a satellite fire tracking system
> became overloaded and I volunteered to help modify the web interface to fix
> it <http://www.tomw.net.au/2004/enetp.html>.
>
> My approach to web design has been strongly influenced by accessible design
> for the disabled. In 2000 I gave evidence to the Australian Human Rights
> and Equal Opportunity Commission on the design of the Sydney 2000 Olympic
> web site and in 2003 the Beijing Olympic committee asked me about it
> <http://www.tomw.net.au/2003/bws.html>.
>
> Last year one of my ANU students did a study of what was needed for
> emergency web sites. This semester I am teaching the ANU students how to
> design accessible web interfaces for such systems, using Sahana as an
> example <http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/sahana.html>. Also I have a
> postgraduate student researching multimedia and I have suggested they look
> at disaster management uses.
>
>
>
> Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@... Ph: 0419 496150
> Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
> http://www.tomw.net.au                PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
> Visiting Fellow, Computer Science, Australian National University
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

---------------------------
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At 07:43 PM 4/11/2005, chamindra de silva wrote:
>...  briefly talk about ourselves (the orgs we represent) and our
>motivation ...

My name is Tom Worthington (Tomw). I would like to help design an efficient
web based user interface for Sahana which adapts to multiple languages, low
bandwidth links and small devices.

I am an Australian citizen living in Canberra and my experience of other
countries is limited to a few weeks holiday and business trips
<http://www.tomw.net.au/travel/Tourist.htm>. I am a self employed IT
consultant working mostly for Australian government agencies and private
companies on web use and IT development strategies. Also I am a Visiting
Fellow at the Australian National University, where I teach web design and
e-commerce <http://www.tomw.net.au/twpubs.html#courses>.

I am an old war horse in IT, having spent twenty two years in IT
development with the Australian government, the last nine years on policy
at the Australian Defence Headquarters. At Defence I advocated the use of
the Internet and the web. With this I have had an interest in social
aspects of IT use, holding a number of positions with the Australian
Computer Society and making submissions to the Australian parliament
<http://www.tomw.net.au/nt/>.

My interest in disaster management comes partly from a defence background,
partly from a fire in 2003 which destroyed 400 houses and killed four
people in Canberra. During the emergency a satellite fire tracking system
became overloaded and I volunteered to help modify the web interface to fix
it <http://www.tomw.net.au/2004/enetp.html>.

My approach to web design has been strongly influenced by accessible design
for the disabled. In 2000 I gave evidence to the Australian Human Rights
and Equal Opportunity Commission on the design of the Sydney 2000 Olympic
web site and in 2003 the Beijing Olympic committee asked me about it
<http://www.tomw.net.au/2003/bws.html>.

Last year one of my ANU students did a study of what was needed for
emergency web sites. This semester I am teaching the ANU students how to
design accessible web interfaces for such systems, using Sahana as an
example <http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/sahana.html>. Also I have a
postgraduate student researching multimedia and I have suggested they look
at disaster management uses.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@... Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au                PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
Visiting Fellow, Computer Science, Australian National University

Don, it is great to have your experience on this team.. Don't worry you
will not be expected to code, but we would greatly value the direction
on the requirements definition of the disaster management domain and
also on the overall architecture..

chamindra
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra


On Mon, 2005-04-11 at 23:35 +1000, Don Cameron wrote:
> Hi team,
>
> Chamindra thank you for the introduction and this opportunity to meet each
> other.
>
> My name is Don Cameron. In two months time I am celebrating my 20th wedding
> anniversary with my beautiful wife and four children in our home of Mudgee,
> NSW Australia.
>
> I am presently employed as Systems Engineer for Xstrata PLC responsible for
> IT systems and infrastructure throughout our NSW mining assets. This
> includes systems used in support of mines rescue (my current area of
> interest), as well as investigative technologies used for Mines Collapse and
> Earthquake Early Detection Systems working with scientists from CSIRO.
>
> My stereotype could be that of an "old IT war veteran", having started as a
> programmer with IBM in 1977 and enjoying joint careers spanning nearly 30
> years within the IT industry and as a volunteer with the NSW Fire Services.
> In this later capacity I Captained a Brigade for 7 years, was promoted to
> the position of Group Officer and later (salaried) Regional Officer
> responsible for 13,000 firefighters. During this period I participated as an
> IMT executive at many major fires, floods and other disasters. My EM
> qualifications include Emergency Management (NSW Police Academy), AIIMS ICS
> (the Australian Inter-Agency Incident Management System, NSW RFS) and
> Incident Management "Train the Trainer" (NSW RFS).
>
> During the '90's I held the position of "IT Special Projects Officer" for
> our Fire Brigades and was responsible for the design and implementation of
> computerized Incident Management and Communications Systems throughout the
> Service.
>
> My motivation for this project is less about Open Source (albeit I am a
> supporter); more about the urgent need to improve the systems used in
> support of Incident Management throughout the developing world. The
> objective being to reduce the horrific levels of human suffering brought
> about by the lack of appropriate supportive systems.
>
> In terms of contributions, I probably lack the time to help with detailed
> coding other than in a very limited capacity - however I would dearly love
> to help in any way that I can with systems design, interactions and
> integration supportive of project objectives. I am also able to offer the
> help of a network of IM professionals should the need arise.
>
> Don
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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Hi team,

Chamindra thank you for the introduction and this opportunity to meet each
other.

My name is Don Cameron. In two months time I am celebrating my 20th wedding
anniversary with my beautiful wife and four children in our home of Mudgee,
NSW Australia.

I am presently employed as Systems Engineer for Xstrata PLC responsible for
IT systems and infrastructure throughout our NSW mining assets. This
includes systems used in support of mines rescue (my current area of
interest), as well as investigative technologies used for Mines Collapse and
Earthquake Early Detection Systems working with scientists from CSIRO.

My stereotype could be that of an "old IT war veteran", having started as a
programmer with IBM in 1977 and enjoying joint careers spanning nearly 30
years within the IT industry and as a volunteer with the NSW Fire Services.
In this later capacity I Captained a Brigade for 7 years, was promoted to
the position of Group Officer and later (salaried) Regional Officer
responsible for 13,000 firefighters. During this period I participated as an
IMT executive at many major fires, floods and other disasters. My EM
qualifications include Emergency Management (NSW Police Academy), AIIMS ICS
(the Australian Inter-Agency Incident Management System, NSW RFS) and
Incident Management "Train the Trainer" (NSW RFS).

During the '90's I held the position of "IT Special Projects Officer" for
our Fire Brigades and was responsible for the design and implementation of
computerized Incident Management and Communications Systems throughout the
Service.

My motivation for this project is less about Open Source (albeit I am a
supporter); more about the urgent need to improve the systems used in
support of Incident Management throughout the developing world. The
objective being to reduce the horrific levels of human suffering brought
about by the lack of appropriate supportive systems.

In terms of contributions, I probably lack the time to help with detailed
coding other than in a very limited capacity - however I would dearly love
to help in any way that I can with systems design, interactions and
integration supportive of project objectives. I am also able to offer the
help of a network of IM professionals should the need arise.

Don

Hi All,

We will be looking to start working on Sahana phase II from July. As we
now have a sizable leadership group, I though it would be good if we
could "break the ice" and briefly talk about ourselves (the orgs we
represent) and our motivation in being involved in this initiative. That
way we will know how to make the most of the individual contributors
here. I believe we already collectively have a strong and extremely
experienced leadership team to drive this initiate.

In term of myself:

My name is Chamindra de Silva (Cham for short if it is convenient). I am
a citizen of Sri Lanka, however I have lived in 4 other countries
including Oman, PNG (Papua New Guinea), Singapore and UK. I work for an
organization called Virtusa, which is a software engineering services
company for the UK and US markets as the R&D Manager, however I am going
to take a 1 year sabbatical to work on Sahana (FOSS disaster management)
phase 2. I was one of the members that lead the Sahana project which was
initiated immediately following the recent Asia Tsunami.

I am also a Open Source advocate in Sri Lanka having being involved with
both the Lanka Software Foundation or LSF (http://www.opensource.lk )
and the Lanka Linux User Group or LKLUG (http://www.linux.lk ). And that
is where my area of competence lies, namely FOSS project engineering. I
am by no means an expert in the area of disaster management and am
dependent on the direction of this group.

In terms of my motivation on this project, I believe there is a strong
alignment for humanitarian ICT projects or any ICT project's that
alleviate human suffering to be implement as Free an Open Source model.
And I am keen to make Sahana a success for that vision in the area of
Disaster management.

If you were to use a character stereotype to describe me I guess you
would call me a Christian-professional-geek ;-)

Please do share with a little about yourself too.. It does not have to
be as long as mine..

Chamindra
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra




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Thats great Tom. The more people we can get involved in terms of
contribution and awareness from a global community the better this
project will do in terms of engineering, awareness and usability to
handle different disaster scenarios..

Do keep us posted..

thanks,

chamindra
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra


On Tue, 2005-04-05 at 10:25 +1000, Tom Worthington wrote:
> At 06:33 PM 3/31/2005, chamindra de silva wrote:
> >... generalizing the system to handle disaster  management in
> >general and would greatly welcome your involvement in this too. ...
>
> I would be delighted to assist. I am giving a talk to IT professionals and
> government people in Canberra this week to propose Australia assist in such
> efforts.
>
> >... might be interested in reading the following article ...
> >Also I welcome you to the Sahana mailing list ...
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@... Ph: 0419 496150
> Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
> http://www.tomw.net.au                PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
> Visiting Fellow, Computer Science, Australian National University
>

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At 06:33 PM 3/31/2005, chamindra de silva wrote:
>... generalizing the system to handle disaster  management in
>general and would greatly welcome your involvement in this too. ...

I would be delighted to assist. I am giving a talk to IT professionals and
government people in Canberra this week to propose Australia assist in such
efforts.

>... might be interested in reading the following article ...
>Also I welcome you to the Sahana mailing list ...

Thanks.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@... Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au                PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
Visiting Fellow, Computer Science, Australian National University

Hi Tom,

Sorry for replying so late on this query. Yes definitely we are
interested in coveting the existing Sahana stuff to XHTML/CSS. In fact
that would have been our normal approach had not it been the urgency of
these requirements.

You will be happy to know that we will furthering development work on
Shahana and generalizing the system to handle disaster  management in
general and would greatly welcome your involvement in this too. As you
have indicated it is important to minimize the Internet traffic and ease
the transformation of the site for different interfaces such as mobile
phones by the effective use of XHTML/CSS, especially as bandwidth can
often be a limiting factor in the scenarios of use.

If you are interested in finding out more about Shahana and where we
hope to take it you might be interested in reading the following article
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/humanitarian-FOSS-casestudy-sahana.pdf

Also I welcome you to the Sahana mailing list (which will get
reactivated as soon we start phase 2) and also join the yahoo mailing
group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/humanitarian-ict/. Here we are
looking to gather a good set of representatives/contributors on
humanitarian FOSS projects and consolidate our efforts.

Chamindra

On Wed, 2005-03-16 at 18:40 +1100, Tom Worthington wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 I wrote:
>
> >This is to ask if I could assist with the Sahana disaster management
> >system. I can help make the web interface so it will work on different
> >devices, minimize network use and translate into multiple langiuages. I
> >have assisted with and teach web design for emergency systems:
> >http://www.tomw.net.au/2003/enet.html
>
> I have made an attempt at reformatting the Sahana home page using XHTML and
> CSS: <http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/sahana/index.html>.
>
> This reduces the data transmitted by about 70% and allows it to display on
> a mobile phone and be machine translated into other languages.
>
> For an explanation and screen prints of Sahana on a mobile phone and
> translated into Chinese and Spanish, see:
> <http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/sahana.html>.
>
> Please note this is only a demonstration of one page. Corrections and
> comments would be welcome.
>
>
>
> Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington@... Ph: 0419 496150
> Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
> http://www.tomw.net.au                PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
> Visiting Fellow, Computer Science, Australian National University
>
>
>
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Hi Gavin,

Pleased to meet a fellow advocate for the use of FOSS in "Humanitarian
ICT". Please feel free to download the current system and try it out,
however I would like to set the expectation that it was very much a hack
to address the specific needs of the Asian Tsunami and in Phase 2 we are
looking to generalize it further to better handle the domain of disaster
management. You can find out more about our current tentative plan for
Sahana in the following article
[ http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/humanitarian-FOSS-casestudy-sahana.pdf ]

However this plan probably needs to be modified based on what other work
is happening out there in this solution area as we do not want to
reinvent the wheel. Additionally we need to corroborate on design
decisions to ensure that such system work well with each other. Sahana's
scope will be restricted to disaster management (which is quite wide in
itself)

Currently we are pooling together a group of people who are interested
in working in this area or have worked in this area.

Our temporarily means of collaboration is a yahoo group called
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/humanitarian-ict/
(please do join)

BTW our tentative approach will be to continue using the LAMP stack,
most probably in PHP, so your skills will be valuable. Additionally you
concept on using egroupware plugins sounds interesting and we should
explore that further.

Would be happy for you to join us in this endeavor..

thanks,

Chamindra
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra


On Thu, 2005-03-24 at 00:59 +1200, Gavin Treadgold wrote:
> Hi Sanjiva and Chamindra
>
> Not a problem! I've been pretty busy with work recently. Hope things
> are settling down for you somewhat.
>
> It sounds like some of our territorial authorities down here are about
> to start looking at IT systems for response and recovery so I'm about
> to try and educate them on open source, and the benefits of this to
> emergency management professionals. It will be interesting to find out
> some of their issues with collaborative IT development.
>
> Anyway, just letting you know I'm still keen to find out what you're
> doing, and see if I can help out in any way.
>
> Cheers Gavin
>
>
> On 27 Jan 2005, at 05:32, Sanjiva Weerawarana wrote:
>
> > Hi Gavin,
> >
> > It would be great to get you involved. I've copied Chamindra who
> > will be the primary contact from our end as we stabilize stuff.
> >
> > Let's keep in touch; sorry for keeping this short.
> >
> > Sanjiva.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Gavin Treadgold" <gt@...>
> > To: <sanjiva@...>
> > Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 8:25 AM
> > Subject: Sahana
> >
> >
> >> Hi Sanjiva.
> >>
> >> I've just found out about Sahana and I'm very interested in what your
> >> team is doing.
> >>
> >> I have long had an interest in open source Emergency Management (EM)
> >> software. Here in New Zealand we don't have that much money to spend
> >> on
> >> EM software, and as you're probably learning, its hard to get
> >> organisations to purchase software that they may never actually use!
> >> Open source is a perfect fit, especially given that it will be used
> >> primarily by tax-payer funded organisations.
> >>
> >> I hope to download Sahana this weekend and see how it works.
> >>
> >> Around 18 months ago I started an attempt to create some OS EM
> >> software, but the two of us that started never managed to get it off
> >> the ground. We called it OpenEOC after Emergency Operations Centres
> >> which are a commonly recognised term for locations used for managing
> >> emergencies and crises. My more recent thoughts had revolved around
> >> taking a package like eGroupware <http://www.egroupware.org> and
> >> writing EM specific plugins rather than build everything up from
> >> scratch.
> >>
> >> OpenEOC (it was initially called Open Source Virtual Emergency
> >> Operations Centre)
> >> http://sourceforge.net/projects/osveoc/
> >>
> >> I also belong to the International Association of Emergency Managers
> >> (IAEM <http://www.iaem.org/>) and last year I wrote an article on OSS
> >> for the monthly bulletin. I've attached it to this email.
> >>
> >> Once the immediate needs for Sahana settle down, I'd like to become
> >> involved in the project in whatever way/shape or form may be suitable.
> >>
> >> I have done a fair amount of webmastering
> >> (<http://www.kestrel.co.nz/>,
> >> <http://www.gps.org.nz/>, <http://www.gis.org.nz/>,
> >> <http://www.response.net.nz/>, <http://www.rmt.org.nz>) utilising OS
> >> packages including phpBB, Mambo, Gallery and MediaWiki.
> >>
> >> I have done a little development in php/mysql, but I find that I am
> >> better suited to testing and suggesting improvements unfortunately.
> >> One
> >> benefit however is that I have studied, and practice both as a
> >> professional and as a volunteer in Emergency Management - as some of
> >> the websites I manage above suggest. My day job involves working with
> >> government agencies and businesses in New Zealand to develop their
> >> response plans for emergencies, and to deliver exercises to test their
> >> response.
> >>
> >> Anyway, when things have settled down, please contact me as I would
> >> like to be involved in Sahana.
> >>
> >> Regards Gavin
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -----
> > ----
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> ** Gavin Treadgold * gt@... * P 03 3436169 * M 021 679 335
> >> **
> >> ** Kestrel Group * Risk and Emergency Management * www.kestrel.co.nz
> >> **
> >> ** Response.Net.NZ Emergency Management Forums * www.response.net.nz
> >> **
> >
> >
>

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Hi Paul, Don,

Firstly it is great to have both of you as domain experts involved in
providing leadership on this project. I myself have no exposure to SEMS
and ICS methodologies, however if such standards are in place (and are
being or going to be used) I think we should plan to incorporate it into
our implementation in an incremental way. I am for whatever will improve
the utilization of Sahana and similar projects by NGOs, Gov and UN
organizations.

I think the first step would be to find some users and requirement
providers for the system to help prioritize our features and incremental
development plan. The next phase of requirements can be based on usage
and feedback.

BTW we still are awaiting funding from SIDA to get this project going.
Shall keep you posted as soon as we are ready to get developing.

Chamindra
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra


On Wed, 2005-03-23 at 20:32 +1100, Don Cameron wrote:
> Hi Paul,
>
> Thank you for your response, and I agree entirely with your assessment of
> much of the humanitarian sector.
>
> As a brief background; one of my more recent roles at a major incident was
> that of IMT Resource Officer where part of my function was to coordinate all
> aid agencies utilized in support. This included the Red Cross, Salvation
> Army, various contractors and about half-a-dozen other welfare entities.
>
> The incident was a large wildfire and in scope it cannot be compared to the
> Asian Tsunami; however we did have more than 2,500 combat agency troops on
> the ground working with a variety of aid agencies (helping with evacuations,
> conducting disaster victim registrations and providing relocation aid etc.).
> The incident itself was significant in the context of interagency
> cooperation, liaison and management.
>
> As you correctly note - Most of the aid agencies lacked a formalized
> structure meaning we had to fast-track the induction of agency liaison
> officers into SEMS and ICS. It also meant we had to implement (as best we
> could) adhoc EM protocols suited to the structure of those agencies managed
> in a manner incompatible with SEMS. This included such basics as providing
> radios and training people in how to use them, to the complexity of
> developing information systems 'on-the-fly' for such fundamentals as remote
> disaster victim registration by agencies inexperienced in this role.
> Inexplicably (and probably inexcusably), a number of agencies even lacked a
> formalized liaison position. Working in the context of a large multi-agency
> response was something quite new to several of these groups.
>
> As a comment in passing, the escalation phase of a developing incident is
> definitely not the time to be training people and developing adhoc
> information systems! There were many lessons learned from this incident;
> most significant was the need for pre-planning and coordination between
> agencies prior to an incident. To this end we now provide EM training to
> many aid agencies, most of which have incorporated an understanding of SEMS
> and ICS into localized management protocols (the Red Cross being one).
>
> I guess where I am leading with these comments is that eventually all
> significant aid agencies will adopt SEMS and ICS protocols if for no other
> reason than because Government and combat agencies will enforce such a
> course of action. The legislature of most countries places overriding
> emergency management responsibilities with Government agencies (or the
> military), and without doubt the Tsunami and 911 have focused political will
> on the need for these protocols. Most aid agencies are now in the process of
> SEMS implementation.
>
> Planning for the future; would it not be better if Sahana supported these
> protocols at design stage? - I am not suggesting Sahana be a comprehensive
> SEMS solution, however adopting the underlying structure would negate the
> inevitable need to completely rebuild the system once SEMS is ratified as a
> global incident management protocol. IMHO such a course of action would
> significantly raise the value and potential of Sahana while simultaneously
> reducing future redevelopment efforts.
>
> Best regards, Don
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: paulcurrion [mailto:paul@...]
> Sent: Monday, 21 March 2005 5:32 PM
> To: humanitarian-ict@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [humanitarian-ict] Re: Article on Sahana a case study for
> humanitarian FOSS
>
>
> Dear Don
>
> Thanks for your thoughts on Sahana.  I'm not one of the developers,
> but I thought I'd reply in any case.
>
> You have hit one of the key problems in the humanitarian sector.
> Humanitarian organisations (particularly Red Cross movement, UN
> operational agencies and NGOs) do not, in general, follow SEMS
> practices in their work.
>
> This is partly because of the historical background to this sector in
> a non-state, unregulated environment.  It is also partly because the
> 'professionalisation' of the sector is happening only slowly.  There
> is a need to encourage the humanitarian community to incorporate
> standardisation into their responses more, but it will be a long struggle.
>
> In this process, however, it is important NOT to confuse large-scale
> humanitarian operations with what is generally referred to as
> "emergency management."  This is because the two activity ranges,
> while sharing perhaps the same intentions, are fundamentally different
> in scale and scope.
>
> This has been one of the problems we have faced in civil-military
> relations and public-private partnership work during humanitarian
> crises.  I hope we can move towards introducing existing standards
> into the humanitarian sector.
>
> Sahana is interesting because it takes an approach which fits with the
> working culture of the humanitarian sector.  Rather than imposing
> top-down standards, Sahana is looking at support applications that can
> be proved in the field by operators, and then introduced through peer
> adoption.
>
> cheers
>
> Paul C
>
>
> --- In humanitarian-ict@yahoogroups.com, "Don Cameron" <donc@i...> wrote:
> > Hi Chamindra and all interested persons on this list.
> >
> > The article is very positive and congratulations on your efforts and the
> > work completed thus far.
> >
> > I have particular interest in the components of Sahana and the way
> by which
> > each component supports organizations involved in emergency
> response. I am
> > however a little unclear on where Sahana sits in the overall management
> > scheme and would offer the following for consideration.
> >
> > 911 and the Asian Tsunami have reinforced the need for aid agencies and
> > organizations to formalize response management doctrines and most now
> > incorporate SEMS and ICS methodologies to better their response
> > capabilities.
> >
> > The four phases of any emergency are mitigation, preparedness,
> response and
> > recovery. It seems fair to suggest Sahana is designed as a tool to
> support
> > response and recovery (not primarily designed to aid mitigation or
> > preparedness). In this context Sahana would probably be used in
> conjunction
> > with ICS (the tactical aspect of a SEMS management regime utilized in
> > support of response and recovery). ICS tasks and doctrines are
> formalized
> > under a methodology designed to manage communications and the
> functions of
> > Planning, Operations, Logistics and Management Support (finance
> etc.) under
> > the overriding responsibility of Incident Control.
> >
> > An assessment of Sahana modules draws close parallel to the Logistics
> > function of ICS (Org and Camp registry; Contacts and Offers of
> Assistance),
> > with crossover to Operations (People Registry and Requests for
> Assistance).
> > Acknowledging these functional areas have additional informational
> > requirements, they could nonetheless utilize Sahana in conjunction with
> > specialized management systems.
> >
> > In practice Sahana seems designed as a 'Control Aid' not specifically
> > designed to support any single function (automated T-Card systems as
> used by
> > Logistics Managers, or Operational Boards by Ops Managers); yet can
> be used
> > in support of these functions as a generic informational storage and
> > retrieval tool.
> >
> > The question asked by Incident Controllers would be - Is Sahana
> sufficiently
> > all-embracing to be utilized or would Logistics and Ops managers
> require a
> > more comprehensive event logging system? - How can Sahana be tied to
> ICS in
> > the context of a SEMS management regime or should Sahana be treated
> as an
> > external informational tool? - If the later, it is unlikely
> resources would
> > be available to provide input into Sahana during an escalating
> incident. If
> > the former, Sahana would be adopted under the expectation it meets all
> > information requirements. This would mean full compliance with ICS
> > informational requirements.
> >
> > I'm just not sure where Sahana would fit into an escalating Control
> > methodology.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Don Cameron
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: chamindra de silva [mailto:chamindra@v...]
> > Sent: Saturday, 19 March 2005 10:58 PM
> > To: humanitarian-ict
> > Subject: [humanitarian-ict] Article on Sahana a case study for
> humanitarian
> > FOSS
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi All,
> >
> > We were asked to write a small article for the local BCS magazine on
> > Shahana and the potential for humanitarian FOSS. You can find our final
> > draft at the following location:
> >
> >
> http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/humanitarian-FOSS-casestudy-sahana.pdf
> >
> > Let us know if you have any comments on this..
> >
> > Chamindra
>
>
>
>
>
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Hi Paul,

Thank you for your response, and I agree entirely with your assessment of
much of the humanitarian sector.

As a brief background; one of my more recent roles at a major incident was
that of IMT Resource Officer where part of my function was to coordinate all
aid agencies utilized in support. This included the Red Cross, Salvation
Army, various contractors and about half-a-dozen other welfare entities.

The incident was a large wildfire and in scope it cannot be compared to the
Asian Tsunami; however we did have more than 2,500 combat agency troops on
the ground working with a variety of aid agencies (helping with evacuations,
conducting disaster victim registrations and providing relocation aid etc.).
The incident itself was significant in the context of interagency
cooperation, liaison and management.

As you correctly note - Most of the aid agencies lacked a formalized
structure meaning we had to fast-track the induction of agency liaison
officers into SEMS and ICS. It also meant we had to implement (as best we
could) adhoc EM protocols suited to the structure of those agencies managed
in a manner incompatible with SEMS. This included such basics as providing
radios and training people in how to use them, to the complexity of
developing information systems 'on-the-fly' for such fundamentals as remote
disaster victim registration by agencies inexperienced in this role.
Inexplicably (and probably inexcusably), a number of agencies even lacked a
formalized liaison position. Working in the context of a large multi-agency
response was something quite new to several of these groups.

As a comment in passing, the escalation phase of a developing incident is
definitely not the time to be training people and developing adhoc
information systems! There were many lessons learned from this incident;
most significant was the need for pre-planning and coordination between
agencies prior to an incident. To this end we now provide EM training to
many aid agencies, most of which have incorporated an understanding of SEMS
and ICS into localized management protocols (the Red Cross being one).

I guess where I am leading with these comments is that eventually all
significant aid agencies will adopt SEMS and ICS protocols if for no other
reason than because Government and combat agencies will enforce such a
course of action. The legislature of most countries places overriding
emergency management responsibilities with Government agencies (or the
military), and without doubt the Tsunami and 911 have focused political will
on the need for these protocols. Most aid agencies are now in the process of
SEMS implementation.

Planning for the future; would it not be better if Sahana supported these
protocols at design stage? - I am not suggesting Sahana be a comprehensive
SEMS solution, however adopting the underlying structure would negate the
inevitable need to completely rebuild the system once SEMS is ratified as a
global incident management protocol. IMHO such a course of action would
significantly raise the value and potential of Sahana while simultaneously
reducing future redevelopment efforts.

Best regards, Don






-----Original Message-----
From: paulcurrion [mailto:paul@...]
Sent: Monday, 21 March 2005 5:32 PM
To: humanitarian-ict@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [humanitarian-ict] Re: Article on Sahana a case study for
humanitarian FOSS


Dear Don

Thanks for your thoughts on Sahana.  I'm not one of the developers,
but I thought I'd reply in any case.

You have hit one of the key problems in the humanitarian sector.
Humanitarian organisations (particularly Red Cross movement, UN
operational agencies and NGOs) do not, in general, follow SEMS
practices in their work.

This is partly because of the historical background to this sector in
a non-state, unregulated environment.  It is also partly because the
'professionalisation' of the sector is happening only slowly.  There
is a need to encourage the humanitarian community to incorporate
standardisation into their responses more, but it will be a long struggle.

In this process, however, it is important NOT to confuse large-scale
humanitarian operations with what is generally referred to as
"emergency management."  This is because the two activity ranges,
while sharing perhaps the same intentions, are fundamentally different
in scale and scope.

This has been one of the problems we have faced in civil-military
relations and public-private partnership work during humanitarian
crises.  I hope we can move towards introducing existing standards
into the humanitarian sector.

Sahana is interesting because it takes an approach which fits with the
working culture of the humanitarian sector.  Rather than imposing
top-down standards, Sahana is looking at support applications that can
be proved in the field by operators, and then introduced through peer
adoption.

cheers

Paul C


--- In humanitarian-ict@yahoogroups.com, "Don Cameron" <donc@i...> wrote:
> Hi Chamindra and all interested persons on this list.
>
> The article is very positive and congratulations on your efforts and the
> work completed thus far.
>
> I have particular interest in the components of Sahana and the way
by which
> each component supports organizations involved in emergency
response. I am
> however a little unclear on where Sahana sits in the overall management
> scheme and would offer the following for consideration.
>
> 911 and the Asian Tsunami have reinforced the need for aid agencies and
> organizations to formalize response management doctrines and most now
> incorporate SEMS and ICS methodologies to better their response
> capabilities.
>
> The four phases of any emergency are mitigation, preparedness,
response and
> recovery. It seems fair to suggest Sahana is designed as a tool to
support
> response and recovery (not primarily designed to aid mitigation or
> preparedness). In this context Sahana would probably be used in
conjunction
> with ICS (the tactical aspect of a SEMS management regime utilized in
> support of response and recovery). ICS tasks and doctrines are
formalized
> under a methodology designed to manage communications and the
functions of
> Planning, Operations, Logistics and Management Support (finance
etc.) under
> the overriding responsibility of Incident Control.
>
> An assessment of Sahana modules draws close parallel to the Logistics
> function of ICS (Org and Camp registry; Contacts and Offers of
Assistance),
> with crossover to Operations (People Registry and Requests for
Assistance).
> Acknowledging these functional areas have additional informational
> requirements, they could nonetheless utilize Sahana in conjunction with
> specialized management systems.
>
> In practice Sahana seems designed as a 'Control Aid' not specifically
> designed to support any single function (automated T-Card systems as
used by
> Logistics Managers, or Operational Boards by Ops Managers); yet can
be used
> in support of these functions as a generic informational storage and
> retrieval tool.
>
> The question asked by Incident Controllers would be - Is Sahana
sufficiently
> all-embracing to be utilized or would Logistics and Ops managers
require a
> more comprehensive event logging system? - How can Sahana be tied to
ICS in
> the context of a SEMS management regime or should Sahana be treated
as an
> external informational tool? - If the later, it is unlikely
resources would
> be available to provide input into Sahana during an escalating
incident. If
> the former, Sahana would be adopted under the expectation it meets all
> information requirements. This would mean full compliance with ICS
> informational requirements.
>
> I'm just not sure where Sahana would fit into an escalating Control
> methodology.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Don Cameron
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: chamindra de silva [mailto:chamindra@v...]
> Sent: Saturday, 19 March 2005 10:58 PM
> To: humanitarian-ict
> Subject: [humanitarian-ict] Article on Sahana a case study for
humanitarian
> FOSS
>
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> We were asked to write a small article for the local BCS magazine on
> Shahana and the potential for humanitarian FOSS. You can find our final
> draft at the following location:
>
>
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/humanitarian-FOSS-casestudy-sahana.pdf
>
> Let us know if you have any comments on this..
>
> Chamindra





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Dear Don

Thanks for your thoughts on Sahana.  I'm not one of the developers,
but I thought I'd reply in any case.

You have hit one of the key problems in the humanitarian sector.
Humanitarian organisations (particularly Red Cross movement, UN
operational agencies and NGOs) do not, in general, follow SEMS
practices in their work.

This is partly because of the historical background to this sector in
a non-state, unregulated environment.  It is also partly because the
'professionalisation' of the sector is happening only slowly.  There
is a need to encourage the humanitarian community to incorporate
standardisation into their responses more, but it will be a long struggle.

In this process, however, it is important NOT to confuse large-scale
humanitarian operations with what is generally referred to as
"emergency management."  This is because the two activity ranges,
while sharing perhaps the same intentions, are fundamentally different
in scale and scope.

This has been one of the problems we have faced in civil-military
relations and public-private partnership work during humanitarian
crises.  I hope we can move towards introducing existing standards
into the humanitarian sector.

Sahana is interesting because it takes an approach which fits with the
working culture of the humanitarian sector.  Rather than imposing
top-down standards, Sahana is looking at support applications that can
be proved in the field by operators, and then introduced through peer
adoption.

cheers

Paul C


--- In humanitarian-ict@yahoogroups.com, "Don Cameron" <donc@i...> wrote:
> Hi Chamindra and all interested persons on this list.
>
> The article is very positive and congratulations on your efforts and the
> work completed thus far.
>
> I have particular interest in the components of Sahana and the way
by which
> each component supports organizations involved in emergency
response. I am
> however a little unclear on where Sahana sits in the overall management
> scheme and would offer the following for consideration.
>
> 911 and the Asian Tsunami have reinforced the need for aid agencies and
> organizations to formalize response management doctrines and most now
> incorporate SEMS and ICS methodologies to better their response
> capabilities.
>
> The four phases of any emergency are mitigation, preparedness,
response and
> recovery. It seems fair to suggest Sahana is designed as a tool to
support
> response and recovery (not primarily designed to aid mitigation or
> preparedness). In this context Sahana would probably be used in
conjunction
> with ICS (the tactical aspect of a SEMS management regime utilized in
> support of response and recovery). ICS tasks and doctrines are
formalized
> under a methodology designed to manage communications and the
functions of
> Planning, Operations, Logistics and Management Support (finance
etc.) under
> the overriding responsibility of Incident Control.
>
> An assessment of Sahana modules draws close parallel to the Logistics
> function of ICS (Org and Camp registry; Contacts and Offers of
Assistance),
> with crossover to Operations (People Registry and Requests for
Assistance).
> Acknowledging these functional areas have additional informational
> requirements, they could nonetheless utilize Sahana in conjunction with
> specialized management systems.
>
> In practice Sahana seems designed as a 'Control Aid' not specifically
> designed to support any single function (automated T-Card systems as
used by
> Logistics Managers, or Operational Boards by Ops Managers); yet can
be used
> in support of these functions as a generic informational storage and
> retrieval tool.
>
> The question asked by Incident Controllers would be - Is Sahana
sufficiently
> all-embracing to be utilized or would Logistics and Ops managers
require a
> more comprehensive event logging system? - How can Sahana be tied to
ICS in
> the context of a SEMS management regime or should Sahana be treated
as an
> external informational tool? - If the later, it is unlikely
resources would
> be available to provide input into Sahana during an escalating
incident. If
> the former, Sahana would be adopted under the expectation it meets all
> information requirements. This would mean full compliance with ICS
> informational requirements.
>
> I'm just not sure where Sahana would fit into an escalating Control
> methodology.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Don Cameron
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: chamindra de silva [mailto:chamindra@v...]
> Sent: Saturday, 19 March 2005 10:58 PM
> To: humanitarian-ict
> Subject: [humanitarian-ict] Article on Sahana a case study for
humanitarian
> FOSS
>
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> We were asked to write a small article for the local BCS magazine on
> Shahana and the potential for humanitarian FOSS. You can find our final
> draft at the following location:
>
>
http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/humanitarian-FOSS-casestudy-sahana.pdf
>
> Let us know if you have any comments on this..
>
> Chamindra

Hi Chamindra and all interested persons on this list.

The article is very positive and congratulations on your efforts and the
work completed thus far.

I have particular interest in the components of Sahana and the way by which
each component supports organizations involved in emergency response. I am
however a little unclear on where Sahana sits in the overall management
scheme and would offer the following for consideration.

911 and the Asian Tsunami have reinforced the need for aid agencies and
organizations to formalize response management doctrines and most now
incorporate SEMS and ICS methodologies to better their response
capabilities.

The four phases of any emergency are mitigation, preparedness, response and
recovery. It seems fair to suggest Sahana is designed as a tool to support
response and recovery (not primarily designed to aid mitigation or
preparedness). In this context Sahana would probably be used in conjunction
with ICS (the tactical aspect of a SEMS management regime utilized in
support of response and recovery). ICS tasks and doctrines are formalized
under a methodology designed to manage communications and the functions of
Planning, Operations, Logistics and Management Support (finance etc.) under
the overriding responsibility of Incident Control.

An assessment of Sahana modules draws close parallel to the Logistics
function of ICS (Org and Camp registry; Contacts and Offers of Assistance),
with crossover to Operations (People Registry and Requests for Assistance).
Acknowledging these functional areas have additional informational
requirements, they could nonetheless utilize Sahana in conjunction with
specialized management systems.

In practice Sahana seems designed as a 'Control Aid' not specifically
designed to support any single function (automated T-Card systems as used by
Logistics Managers, or Operational Boards by Ops Managers); yet can be used
in support of these functions as a generic informational storage and
retrieval tool.

The question asked by Incident Controllers would be - Is Sahana sufficiently
all-embracing to be utilized or would Logistics and Ops managers require a
more comprehensive event logging system? - How can Sahana be tied to ICS in
the context of a SEMS management regime or should Sahana be treated as an
external informational tool? - If the later, it is unlikely resources would
be available to provide input into Sahana during an escalating incident. If
the former, Sahana would be adopted under the expectation it meets all
information requirements. This would mean full compliance with ICS
informational requirements.

I'm just not sure where Sahana would fit into an escalating Control
methodology.

Best regards,

Don Cameron





-----Original Message-----
From: chamindra de silva [mailto:chamindra@...]
Sent: Saturday, 19 March 2005 10:58 PM
To: humanitarian-ict
Subject: [humanitarian-ict] Article on Sahana a case study for humanitarian
FOSS



Hi All,

We were asked to write a small article for the local BCS magazine on
Shahana and the potential for humanitarian FOSS. You can find our final
draft at the following location:

http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/humanitarian-FOSS-casestudy-sahana.pdf

Let us know if you have any comments on this..

Chamindra


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Hi All,

We were asked to write a small article for the local BCS magazine on
Shahana and the potential for humanitarian FOSS. You can find our final
draft at the following location:

http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/humanitarian-FOSS-casestudy-sahana.pdf

Let us know if you have any comments on this..

Chamindra


---------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This message, including any attachments, contains confidential information
intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is intended for the
addressee only. Any unauthorized disclosure, use, dissemination, copying, or
distribution of this message or any of its attachments or the information
contained in this e-mail, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly
prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender
immediately by return e-mail and delete this message.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
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This message, including any attachments, contains confidential information
intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is intended for the
addressee only. Any unauthorized disclosure, use, dissemination, copying, or
distribution of this message or any of its attachments or the information
contained in this e-mail, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly
prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender
immediately by return e-mail and delete this message.

Hi Paul, it was great meeting you too.. looking forward to setting up
the consortium of projects in Humanitarian ICT and develop a
consolidated framework so that our projects can work seamlessly
together..

Chamindra

On Wed, 2005-03-16 at 12:17 +0000, Paul Currion wrote:
> Great to meet all of you today, and for some very interesting discussion
> - I'll keep you updated in the next few weeks on next steps.  The two
> other projects that I am in active contact with are:
>
> Aidworld (www.aidworld.org) - very active and in full development
> Metascapes (www.metascapes.org) - just starting up, nothing on the site
> yet
>
> If you know of any other specific initiatives applying OS in a
> humanitarian or relief context, let me know - we should also involve
> them in starting up.
>
> cheers
>
> Paul C
>


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distribution of this message or any of its attachments or the information
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Hi Jopie,

Pleased to meet you. Right now we are pooling togeather people from
various groups who are interested in contributing to this project and
you are more than welcome to join us.

To start with what area of disaster management are you interested in
working on? And what are your present SE/Programming skills?

Our initial tentaive plan is to involve a few knowledgeable people in
the disaster management, work togeather to capture the main needs from
the governments/NGOs to better identify the requirements of such a
system and to ensure that it has an immidiate use.

Our immidiate use as of now is to help in the rehabilitation efforts
following the Asian Tsunami and thus will approach the govenment of
Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, however there is no restriction there
and we could include Zamiba in this survey as well if you are willing.

Susequently we look to have a workshop to work on the architecture and
carve our aspects of the system that different groups can build
relatively independantly to make things efficient.

As of now the best start would be to join our yahoo mailing list to
make colloboration easier. Just send a mail to
humanitarian-ict-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to surscribe.

Looking forward to working with you..

Chamindra




On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 02:22:58 +0600, Sanjiva Weerawarana
<sanjiva@...> wrote:
> Hi Jopie,
>
> Excellent! BTW the person who's going to be leading the Sahana
> work as a long term effort is Chamindra de Silva (cc'ed). He too
> is working towards a PhD in this area (with me but we need to
> formalize stuff more). Who's your advisor etc. BTW? I wonder
> whether we can set up some form of formal relationship..
>
> I'll let Chamindra drive the discussion with you! I suggest
> you guys introduce yourselves (background etc.) as this could
> be a very fruitful relationship!
>
> BTW please use sanjiva@... as my address.
>
> Bye,
>
> Sanjiva.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jopie Dullaart" <Jopie@...>
> To: <sanjiva@...>
> Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 2:58 PM
> Subject: Sahana involvement
>
> > Hi there, i am software developer who would like to get involved in the
> > Sahana project. I am enrolling this year for my doctorate with topic of
> > software solutions for disaster project management software. Is there a
> > way that i can get involved in your project? Is there specific areas
> > where you need development? I would very much like to have software
> > development as one of the outcomes of my doctorate and believe that one
> > can make greater contribution by working together on exisiting projects
> > rather than developing from scratch.
> >
> > kindest regards
> >
> >
> >
> > Jopie Dullaart
> > ITB - Netwerke
> > Noordwes-Universiteit
> > -27 -18 299 2132
> > -27 -72 502 0807
> >
> > =======================
> >
> > Hierdie boodskap (en aanhangsels) is onderhewig aan beperkings en 'n
> > vrywaringsklousule. Volledige besonderhede beskikbaar by
> > http://www.puk.ac.za/itb/e-pos/disclaimer.html , of by
> > itbsekr@...
> >
> > This message (and attachments) is subject to restrictions and a
> > disclaimer. Please refer to
> > http://www.puk.ac.za/itb/e-pos/disclaimer.html for full details, or at
> > itbsekr@...
>

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