February 7 – 8, 2015

New Orleans Ernest N Morial Convention Center

In August, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Since then, the world has seen an explosion in the development and adoption of mobile technology and new tools, enabling us to now experience disasters first-hand. Through the eyes and ears of those on the ground, we’ve all lived through each hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, wildfire, school shooting, protest and revolution. We’ve felt the fear, the loss, and the hope of those on the ground, through text, photo, and video. Armed with this information, with each disaster, communities have become more and more part of the response. Technology now connects those in need with those who want to help – a global community of neighbors, despite geographic location. Had technology been as advanced as it is today, imagine what we could have done in the days and weeks following Hurricane Katrina.

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To kick off the tenth anniversary year of Hurricane Katrina, The International Disaster Conference & EXPO (IDCE)!, in partnership with CODEMKRS!, a locally-owned company that has produced hackathons for South by Southwest Music Festival, Super Bowl XLIII, and the White House’s National Day of Civic Hacking, will host the first annual #DisasterTech hackathon February 7-8, 2015 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. A hackathon is an event where computer programmers, technology developers, designers and other creative thinkers collaborate in a contained environment to solve problems through technology in new and innovative ways. Leveraging lessons learned since Hurricane Katrina, the IDCE #DisasterTech Hackathon seeks to foster the convergence of the disaster and tech communities, driving innovation and opportunity for collaboration by encouraging the development of advanced and long-term solutions in the public safety and disaster space.

The Problem

On a daily basis, technology facilities communication, coordination, collaboration, and real-time content exchange. In disasters, it can provide the real-time “what”, “who”, “why”, and “how” as well. This information is critical to the emergency response community’s ability to respond to and make life-saving decisions more quickly. Historically, the emergency response community has leveraged multiple data sources, including land mobile radios, maps, computer-aided dispatch, crisis management systems, traffic cameras, geographic information systems, and windshield assessments to collect information. Now responders can communicate and gather and share real-time, dynamic information across multiple new tools and platforms, such as social media, to assist in decision-making.

Challenges remain, however, that restrain the public safety community’s ability to fully benefit from this new information, with respect to the speed at which it is shared and the need for verification and application of context. Considerable research, technology development, implementation, and evaluation are necessary to truly facilitate the integration of new technologies within the disaster response arena. The IDCE #DisasterTech hackathon seeks to facilitate a partnership between tech and public safety to further develop practical and innovative solutions that solve these challenges.

The Challenge

Guided by first-hand input provided by the public safety and disaster response communities, participants will work together to develop open, platform-agnostic solutions and will receive input on challenges, experiences, and real-world examples from experts directly involved in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Topics that are expected to be explored at the hackathon include: engaging the public and digital volunteers in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery; the ability to leverage information from new channels in new ways to support faster decision-making; more efficient collaboration through shared technologies and data, and more. Specific information regarding the hackathon’s problem sets will be provided to participants.

Participants will complete working prototypes of their technology products to use in conjunction with disaster preparedness, response, or recovery, and present to a panel of judges that will include local, state, federal, and private sector public safety experts, as well as leaders in technology innovation. Prizes will be announced by the end of January. The results will be presented to the IDCE attendees for discussion during the afternoon plenary on February 11 at 4pm. Winners will be announced during this session as well. Hackathon participants will receive a complimentary one-day conference registration code in order to attend the session. They are also invited to attend the after-party (free of charge) the same day at 6:15 p.m. at the Eiffel Society, 2040 St. Charles Avenue.

Students from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts! produced both a promotional video and informational video for the hackathon. The promo explains the purpose and reasons for the hackathon. The informational video includes input from first responders across the country, members of the DHS Virtual Social Media Working Group and Evacuteer.org on the challenges and gaps they experience when using technology in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

Hackathon Promo video:

Message from FEMA Administrator, Craig Fugate:

Agenda

DHS Science and Technology is hosting the hackathon kickoff via webinar as part of their capacity building series. All materials will be broadcast and available online; participants can join the hackathon virtually and collaborate, and follow along on the webinar platform throughout the hackathon.

• Introduction and welcome
• Video input from first responder community
• Background and discussion
• Presentations from strategic partners
• Hackathon guidelines and judging criteria
• Development begins!