Sustainable, Affordable Support to Stressed Populations

TIDES is a research project dedicated to open-source knowledge sharing to promote sustainable support to populations under severe stress—post-war, post-disaster, or impoverished, in foreign or domestic contexts, for short-term or long-term (multi-year) operations. The project provides reach-back "knowledge on demand" to decision-makers and those working in the field. It helps catalyze public-private, whole-of-government, and trans-national approaches to encourage unity of action among diverse organizations where there is no unity of command. TIDES maintains this website, where anyone in the project’s network (called STAR-TIDES) can publish their work for feedback and critique.
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REGISTER FOR 4TH ANNUAL TIDES FALL DEMO

Posted Tue, 07/20/2010 - 17:48 by louelin

Registration is now open for the 4th annual STAR-TIDES* Fall field demonstration in Washington, DC at the National Defense University (NDU) campus from Tuesday, October 5 to Friday, October 8.
This event will be live all week, so please feel free to visit anytime during normal working hours to interact, see, and discuss the policies, practices, technologies, and organizations that affect Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief, Stabilization and Reconstruction, Building Partnership Capacity, and Defense Support to Civil Authorities. All activities will be independent of the power grid, and communications will be live.

Register for free at: http://tidesfalldemo2010.eventbrite.com/

Briefing Kit for Pakistan Floods

Posted Wed, 08/18/2010 - 16:44 by bryce.mcnitt

ReliefWeb has put together a comprehensive briefing kit for the ongoing floods in Pakistan, which are reported to have affected 20 million people to date, and killed an estimated 1,600. This is an excellent resource for comprehensive overview of the disaster.

http://wiki.ict4peace.org/f/Pakistan_Floods__Jul_2010-OCHA-88FJ4Q.pdf

TIDES published in CHIPS

Posted Wed, 08/04/2010 - 17:12 by bryce.mcnitt

CHIPS, the Department of the Navy Information Technology Magazine, has published an article on the ways that Haiti earthquake response teams used widespread collaboration to facilitate more effective relief operations. This reflected the leveraging of distributed talent and public-private partnerships that TIDES has long advocated. The article also covers ways in which TIDES helped catalyze knowledge sharing for relief efforts between the U.S. Southern Command and a global community of civilian technologists dedicated to the use of geographic information systems tools in crisis response.

Read the full article at: http://www.chips.navy.mil/archives/10_Jul/web_pages/STAR_TIDES.html

Safe Water and Small business development

Posted Wed, 07/28/2010 - 10:25 by Walker

Recently read about the Aquaya Institute, which does research into water purification, and specifically focuses on the technology, the delivery, and measuring the results. They also are developing their "Water Business Kit" which can help entrepreneurs and small-businesses provide safe water to customers in areas where there is little infrastructure to purify water.
We added them to our Water Infrastructure page - www.star-tides.net/infrastructure/water where you can read about them and many other organizations focused on providing clean water

And you can check them out at www.aquaya.org

Highlights from the Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF)

Posted Mon, 07/26/2010 - 16:50 by louelin

Last week TIDES exhibited at the Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF) at the Washington Convention Center in DC. We had a great time at the show and continued to spread the word about the TIDES project. TIDES helped AIDF organize the Experiential Zone, an interactive area which allowed visitors to experience elements of relief and development. Inside the Experiential Zone, Mark Prutsalis, President & CEO of Sahana Software Foundation, talked about crisismapping and shared some of the stories from Haiti. Additionally, Pat McArdle,Board member of Solar Cookers International, discussed the benefits of solar cooking on the panel "How to Address Extreme Poverty & Hunger". Special thanks to AIDF and everyone inside the TIDES Pavillion for a great show!

Gauging the Impact of New Media in Crisis Situations

Posted Thu, 07/08/2010 - 17:46 by bryce.mcnitt

Bryce McNitt
July 8, 2010

Social media, or new media if you desire, has only made a significant mainstream splash in the realm of international crises in the past six to twelve months. However, it’s already an accepted technology that shapes the course of major political movements – both government and opposition– violent conflicts, and long-term static conflicts like Armenia and Azerbaijan. In fact, it’s so accepted that in many cases its role can be greatly overstated. What is its true role in the development of major social events around the globe, what are its pitfalls, and what other tools of communication are being overlooked?

Distributed Essential Services (DES)

Posted Mon, 06/28/2010 - 16:15 by louelin

The Distributed Essential Services (DES) concept leverages three enabling capabilities: reliable communications, stable power and the ability to share information - to help people obtain services that they value and can sustain with resources they’re likely to have available.

THE FIRST HEXAYURT HAS BEEN BUILT IN HAITI

Posted Mon, 06/14/2010 - 15:20 by louelin

The Hexayurt project provides cheap housing for those in need. The first Hexayurt has been built in Haiti and it's currently being evaluated for use in the country.

To read more about this project please visit: http://hexayurt.com/

USAID Report on Shelter in Haiti

Posted Fri, 06/11/2010 - 14:53 by Walker

Document from USAID on its "Approach to Shelter in Post‐Earthquake Haiti:
Providing Security, Dignity and Work".

Good overview of the challenges and problems being faced in Haiti with regard to providing shelters.
Find the pdf here - http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACP673.pdf

Archived Newsletters

Posted Tue, 06/08/2010 - 11:13 by Walker

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