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Enterprise 2.0 and Web Social Media in Operation in Haiti Relief

by Bill Ives

January 24, 2010 at 11:53 am · Filed under Enterprise 2.0, Social Media

The US military is using an enterprise 2.0 style collaborative network to help coordinate its relief efforts in Haiti. As reported by David Pierce in Wired in Pentagon’s Social Network Becomes Hub for Haiti Relief:

“TISC (”the Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation”) is a new iteration of APAN, the All Partners Access Network, which was developed by the Defense Department a few years ago. Initially, the military was using APAN to communicate across borders, particularly in countries without sophisticated communication technology. Even in third-world countries, Internet connection seemed to be frequently accessible, so the APAN system was built to work over the Internet, to facilitate the sharing of classified files, as well as things like coordinating calendars.

The system is designed to be as simple as possible, and is as easy to use as a site like Facebook, says Ty Wooldridge of the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. It uses file-sharing applications, wikis, blogs, and calendaring tools, among other things, to coordinate information and action among people, no matter where they are. Though there are obvious military implications to that kind of network, its first battlefield test is ongoing, on the ground in Haiti.”

The APAN system was developed by the government in partnership with Booz Allen. Walton Smith, who led the internal Booz Allen efforts I reported on in this blog (see Implementing Enterprise 2.0 at Booz Allen: Part Six – Plans for Enhancements) was involved in the development of APAN. We plan to speak in the coming weeks on this effort and I will provide more details in an upcoming post.

The Defense News said that the APAN system was first developed as an unclassified system to allow PACOM to communicate with nations across the region. Now it has evolved into a “broader communications and coordination tool that’s proving vital to those who want to help and those who need it. Governments, companies and private citizens are using it to post what they are offering, allowing disaster relief officials to pick and choose what they need.” Defense News also pointed out the usefulness of Web social media such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as geospatial systems such as Open Street that has been used to create detailed maps of damaged areas.

I remember how a very basic use of wikis helped with the Katrina efforts (see: Katrina PeopleFinder Project). In this case a call for virtual volunteers to help populate a centralized missing person database was meet with over 20,000 people within a day. It is great to see social media and its users helping out again and the evolution of its capabilities. However, the basic human drive to help others in need continues to drive these efforts. Social media just allows a much greater way to productivity channel this human drive.

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Rob PatersonJanuary 24th, 2010 at 8:06 pm

No excuse now Bill is there?

Bill IvesJanuary 24th, 2010 at 8:56 pm

Rob – agreed.