C³M/ERCIS After-Work Panel Discussion on “Humanitarian Innovation and Information Systems”

The panel discussion is hosted by the ERCIS C³M and the NITIM ITN Graduate School. It takes place on Tuesday July 12 at 6pm. The panel focuses on the topics of innovations and information systems in the humanitarian context. The objective is to discuss existing challenges in designing information systems for humanitarian organizations. Besides, several topics discussed in the lunchtime seminar and related to appropriate design approaches in the humanitarian context will be deepened during this meeting. The discussion panel consists of Mark Haselkorn (UW), Dan McClure (Thoughtworks), and Robin Mays (UW) and will be moderated by Adam Widera (ERCIS/C³M).

SPEAKERS

Prof. Mark Haselkorn: Mark Haselkorn is Professor of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is Director of the new university Center on Collaborative Systems for Security, Safety & Regional Resilience (CoSSaR) and currently leads Project Interoperability in Puget Sound (PIPS), a research effort on behalf of the regional safety and security community and in partnership with four U.S. Federal Agencies – the Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate First Responders Group, the DHS Interagency Operations Center (IOC), and the National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office (NMIO). PIPS aims to better understand and enhance the interoperability goals to enhance information sharing for regional safety and security. Dr. Haselkorn is also an investigator on work to develop information-centered methods for achieving evidence-based health information technology. He has helped investigate humanitarian success factors (with Robin Mays) for the Red Cross Global Disaster Preparedness Center and has led a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) initiative to define the emerging frontier of “Humanitarian Service Science & Engineering.” Dr. Haselkorn has worked with the military on a number of projects, including the integration of DOD and VA electronic medical records and the Air Force’s strategic management of ICT under the threat of Y2K (a study published by the U.S. National Research Council). Dr. Haselkorn conducted foundational research in the area of intelligent transportation systems, which included the development of the first Web-based real-time traveler information system (Traffic Reporter, 1990). He is Past President of the IEEE Professional Communication Society, has served on ISO/IEC-JTC1, the IEEE Medical Technology Policy Committee, and was a founding Board Member of the International Community on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM).

Dan McClure: Dan serves as the Innovation Design Lead at ThoughtWorks, leading the ground-up development of a new business innovation practices, working with strategic visioning services alongside senior client executives. He is passionate about innovation … how it’s done well … and why we often stumble. He has spent 30 years as a hands-on practitioner of disruption, designing and applying new innovation practices in both private and public enterprises, including working with Humanitarian and public good organizations. He draws on a multi-disciplinary perspective that includes technology, business, and strategy.

Robin Mays: A NITIMesr Marie Curie Fellow at ERCIS and final year PhD candidate at the University of Washington school of Human Centered Design & Engineering, Robin is a humanitarian practitioner and ethnographic researcher who explores the human and contextual factors of disaster and humanitarian response systems that lead to effective response. Her research revolves around understanding contextualized and dynamic meanings of value and effectiveness within humanitarian work; the balance of structure and flexibility in effective rapid response; the role of decision-making and implications for design of technology. She has worked for over 18 years in rapid response operations and logistics, with an 11-year career as a humanitarian logistician. As a member of the response communities her research couples an insider perspective with a theoretical framework drawn from human-centered design, understanding hidden work, change adoption, and lowest level empowerment.