We’re gearing up for our annual community wide gathering at the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM). Our focus for our time in Portugal will be planning the future course of Sahana: a review of our successes, a discussion of our lessons learned and formation of a concrete action plan to move our community’s sustainability forward. While the majority of that strategic discussion will take place at the Sahana Software Foundation Annual Meeting, we’ve also planned a series of events that support our mission by bringing a wider set of contributors into the fold.
First, we’ll kick off our activities at ISCRAM with Sahana BarCamp, a two day, unstructured convening of subject matter experts in crisis management and disaster relief. Sahana BarCamp will be an excellent opportunity for Sahana developers and volunteers to collaborate on our software projects with input from the wider community on how best to address the needs of those preparing for crises and deadling with their aftermath. Many thanks to Google, IBM and ISCRAM for supporting our efforts, and make sure to register so we can let our hosts know how many guests to expect.
We’re also holding a Distaster Simulation Workshop and Simulation geared toward showcasing how Sahana software can help manage response to a large scale, sudden-onset disaster. No prior experience with Sahana is required, and attendees at all levels of knowledge and tecnical skill are welcome and encouraged to attend. Key points will include:
- preparing an emergency deployment plan
- registration of shelterees
- missing and found persons reporting
- collection of assessment data and incident reports
- management of supplies and requests for aid
All you need to do is bring yourself, your laptop and register for the event. Note that we’re currently waitlisting new attendees, but will do our best to accommodate all those interested in attending.
If you’re not able to join us in Lisbon, we’ll be posting regular updates on Twitter and event reports on this blog. If you will be joining us, we hope you’ll consider sharing your stories with the community; just tag your blog posts, tweets and photos with “sahanaiscram11.”