Jeremy Johnstone – Crisis and Technology
How can the international technology community help support disaster response efforts? In the summer of 2009, Crisis Camp attendees met in Washington, D.C. to try and answer this very question. This “bar camp” style event was the genesis to the creation of Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), a global community of technologists dedicated to solving problems for NGO, charities, non-profits and social enterprises by organizing recurring Hackathons around the globe, the first of which (RHoK #0) was in November of 2009. RHoK’s goal is to combine technologists together with disaster response subject matter experts based on the theory that technology solutions and out of the box thinking could aid global disaster response.
This was first put to the test in January 2010 when a massive earthquake destroyed the island of Haiti. Engineers, including Jeremy Johnstone, took the call to action to create a distributed response to the emergency. Seemingly overnight the island was mapped, key infrastructure and leadership was identified, relief networks established, and lives were saved.
Crisis and Technology
Explore the process of technology solutions during a crisis. Learn how global engineers can work with local leaders to build solutions quickly, while also creating universal solutions for the next community.
About Jeremy Johnstone
“To connect people to their passions, communities, and the world’s knowledge.” — The first time I heard this former corporate mission statement, I realized that this is the best way to describe my own personal objective in life. I love helping people to find things they are passionate about and helping them grow and leverage those passions to do good. I love developing tools and experiences that help people to connect with their communities and loved ones in better and richer ways. I am passionate about teaching others and sharing my own knowledge and experience with my coworkers, colleagues, and contacts. I excel at creating out of the box ideas to solve challenging problems. Through all of these things, I impact my workplace, my personal life, and subsequently on the world as a whole.