International Small Organization

Definition:
An International Small Organization has between 1 and 20 employees who manage mission goals or volunteer groups to accomplish tasks. Group led and individual initiatives drive the small dynamic and creative organization for community well being. Often the presence of outside assistance or intervention requires sporadic, highly detailed and sophisticated reporting requirements. Organization communications occur via email, SMS or voice communications which can include phone, FM transmitter, HF/UHF systems and Satellite phone/internet on occasion. Word of mouth, flyers, SMS, voice, and community meetings all contribute to localized communication mechanisms. SMS and Voice is often prohibitively expensive, Internet can be intermittent and very slow, Power supply is often not reliable, Literacy and Technology availability varies a great deal between users.

Needs can be anything from "drinking water" to "employment" to "Medical support" organized through iconic menu structures Resources can be any relevant response to an existing need or posted proactively in order to stimulate responses The System is a local or distributed network of entities related through location coordinates in a database

The Need
A means to share information between the community (stakeholders) as groups or individuals and the organization A means to share information between selected outside Aid Agencies, Governmental Actors and the organization A means to convey the status of outside activity to the stakeholders in a dynamic and 'alive' manner A means for Resource Providers (NGO, GO or Big Aid Org) to offer a response - with the final arbiter being the individual on the ground (need generator) keeping them in control of the interaction.

Technology

Standards Compliant Database containing needs and resources, with communications surrounding each need and resource. Means of visualizing individual and aggregated needs / resources. Means of providing context through either historical or forecast conditions. Means for every user to generate their own perspective on priorities; individually and as self-identified groups.

Interface

• A 3D globe paradigm presents information in an intuitive manner that removes ambiguity and crosses barriers of literacy and language.
• Augmented Reality provides haptic feedback for visually impaired users and removes computing overhead from generating a 3D globe.
• Most resources will be viewable within 30 degrees of horizontal, further reducing the computational load.
• With Geographic Location being the orientation point, SMS can become an effective information exchange medium.
• Every operation and interaction through the interface should be historically viewable by members of the affected region and individually.
• Anonymity is a per-user setting and alerts will be provided to the user on every profile view. Administrators can access all profiles.
• Private access to personal information and aggregated data will be left to the individual choice, but push notifications will alert users to potentially relevant information streams without notifying senders (e.g. sender sees: "notifications sent to all relevant parties" and user sees: "potential resource sent by: [username+link]"
• Each user publishing a resource openly or anonymously will also accrue "karma" points verifying their reliability. This is a community assessment measure as well as a responsivity measure; meaning individuals who perform more action will rank highly as will those with large peer approval numbers.
• Profiles and 'reliability' measures will be viewable in graphic mode that does not require literacy for comprehension.
• Intelligently designed social introduction to reduce/eliminate risk to all parties
• Realtime tracking of Resource delivery through GPS or dead reckoning to catch fraud quickly and for deliverer's safety.

SmartPhone:

• Augmented View - conveys the need or resource and an indicator of distance, ground view displays political boundaries, direction of travel, proximity of alerts or special messages
• Overview map displays layer choices and reflects user preferences for alerts
• 3D globe provides overview but with tilting perspective to better assess terrain impact on needs and resource provision (a simple map would not convey presence of obstacles like forest or mountains. 3D representations are very effective to support resource planning and predictive understanding across cultures, languages, age barriers)
  

FeaturePhone:

• Need generator can be entirely text based (SMS) or with graphic representations and potentially voice input through IVR system (Asterisk).
• Neighbor Community Needs List can be available for accomplishment.
• Collective Decision Making can be provided based upon Needs In Common or High Priority through SMS and Graphic Display
• Feedback for the lifetime of the Need is ubiquitous as well as after-action remarks for lessons-learned.
• "Send Photo" based Need reporting

Tablet:

• Phone functions with the addition of:
  • Statistical View of Needs or Resources by region or organization
  • Preferences configuration pane
  • More elaborate message view and creation
  • Feedback and Interaction area
  • Creation of a 'Perspective' comprised of layers unique to that person's interests. Layers may be altered by mathematical operators in the RGB space (e.g. 'color blob' map of precipitation may be "multiplied" by average crop yield to determine preferred locations for new farming, or historical reports of Aid Theft can be accrued to show areas needing increased security or further research.

Computer:

• Tablet functions plus:
  • More detailed statistical information
  • Import/Export and Conversion tools
  • Administrative Dashboard