Posted on

David Isenberg: Private Military Corporations – The Worst of All Evils

PMSC Not Ready for U.N. Prime Time Huffington Post, 11 July 2012 For many years now, private military and security contractor (PMSC) advocates have argued that utilization of PMSC in United Nations peace operations offers an alternative to doing nothing or trying to organize a frequently dysfunctional U.N.-sponsored, often ill-equipped and organized intervention. Indeed, about …

Continue reading “David Isenberg: Private Military Corporations – The Worst of All Evils”

Posted on

Patrick Meier: PeopleBrowsr – Next-Generation Social Media Analysis

PeopleBrowsr: Next-Generation Social Media Analysis for Humanitarian Response? As noted in this blog post on “Data Philanthropy for Humanitarian Response,” members of the Digital Humanitarian Network (DHNetwork) are still using manual methods for media monitoring. When the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) activated the Standby Volunteer Task Force (SBTF) to crisis …

Continue reading “Patrick Meier: PeopleBrowsr – Next-Generation Social Media Analysis”

Posted on

Patrick Meier: Surprising Findings – Using Mobile Phones to Predict Population Displacement After Major Disasters

Surprising Findings: Using Mobile Phones to Predict Population Displacement After Major Disasters Rising concerns over the consequences of mass refugee flows during several crises in the late 1970′s is what prompted the United Nations (UN) to call for the establishment of early warning systems for the first time. “In 1978-79 for example, the United Nations and …

Continue reading “Patrick Meier: Surprising Findings – Using Mobile Phones to Predict Population Displacement After Major Disasters”

Posted on

20120706 Open Source Everything Highlights

Open Source Everything From Tech to Toilet Paper, Berliner Tries to Live Completely Open Source for One Year Radical Openness: 5 Things I Learned at TEDGlobal Open Source UK teachers are free to choose open source curriculum The Open Source Balance at Banks Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FOSS, FLOSS, F/OSS) FLOSS Manuals’ Fee-based Online Books Complement …

Continue reading “20120706 Open Source Everything Highlights”

Posted on

Patrick Meier: Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī: An Update from the Qatar Computing Research Institute

EXTRACT: This brings me to the Qatar (Foundation) Computing Research Institute (QCRI), which was almost called the al-Khwārizmī Computing Research Institute. I joined QCRI exactly two weeks ago as Director of Social Innovation. My first impression? QCRI is Doha’s “House of Whizzkids”. The team is young, dynamic, international and super smart. I’m already working on several exploratory …

Continue reading “Patrick Meier: Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī: An Update from the Qatar Computing Research Institute”

Posted on

20120624 Open Source Everything Highlights

After Oracle, OpenSolaris rises again Oracle tried to kill it, but the former Sun project has emerged from the ashes, nurtured by a crowd of innovative startups Airlines should work together on open source apps Computerworld: Virgin Atlantic’s IT director, David Bulman, has called upon the airline industry to work collaboratively on open source applications …

Continue reading “20120624 Open Source Everything Highlights”