Call it citizen journalism meets social good.
Or self-described technology geeks just wanting to help others."The common thread is that we all have an interest in Oklahoma, and we're all a bit geeky. We've adapted to social media well," Butler said. "It won't be the exclusive spot for people to go, but we want to provide something that is helpful for the public. There is so much information in a crisis, and so many disparate strands that come in, and we want to provide as much as possible for the public to utilize.""Because we're a loose network of interested people right now, it's hard to plug into a command and control structure for emergency management," he said. "If we had a more formal organization, they would feel better about that."A loosely formed and continually evolving group, the Oklahoma Crisis Mappers, is finding new ways to keep their fellow Oklahomans better informed during the state's sundry crises: blizzards, ice storms, wildfires and even the occasional earthquake. Their work got under way during the 2009 Christmas Eve blizzard, when technology and a Google map allowed stranded drivers to make their way to food and warm beds. Since then, the concept and collaboration has grown."There were no rules and no parameters - it quickly became an ad hoc way for people to communicate, and the map acted as a static collection point," Burgess said."We are end-users of data from the government," said John Butler, a Lawton pastor and college instructor who helped start Oklahoma Crisis Mappers. "What people in the movement have been pushing for is to have more data available to the public. Oklahoma is a lot farther down the road in that regard than many places across the country, and we're grateful for that.Since then, Butler has created several other maps to have at the ready - an Oklahoma Ice Map (which has seen good use the last two winters), an Oklahoma Fire Map, an Oklahoma Tornado Map and an Oklahoma Quake Map, should a major earthquake ever occur. His goal is to have an extensive foundation in place for each map so that volunteers can respond to the specific crisis when it occurs. About a dozen people across the state gather information; many have never met face to face, Butler said.Butler and local Gov 2.0 advocate Sid Burgess have collected more volunteers to operate Oklahoma Crisis Mappers since its launch. The concept began with a Google map that could be edited by anyone. During the holiday snowstorm, people stranded on the roads would access the site from their smartphones and post their location and needs. Before long, someone else would reply with an offer of a place to stay or advice about roads to avoid. Burgess and Butler fleshed out the map with weather information from emergency management officials, Twitter posts about shelters, media reports and more.But information first has to be accessible for the group to do its work, Butler said. Gathering some of the information has been easy; in other cases, they've been stymied by officials who balk at giving out information the group believes should be available, he said."But it's also important to overcome the mentality of, 'We're the government; we're the ones in charge of data and we will parcel things out to you,' as opposed to a more participatory type of government," he said.The idea behind Oklahoma Crisis Mapping will be a top topic at the Gov 2.0a conference Friday and Saturday at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City. Open data, crowd sourcing and citizen participation are overarching themes. Burgess, an organizer of the conference, said Oklahoma has already taken big steps in those areas, such as the state's data.ok.gov website and Oklahoma City's pilot use of SeeClickFix, which allows people to snap a photo of a problem they encounter, such as potholes or graffiti, and send it directly to the city's action center.For information about the conference, visit gov20a.com.Their efforts are part of the larger Gov 2.0 conversation taking place in Oklahoma City this week, when technology users and policymakers come together to talk about making government and information more transparent, participatory and collaborative.Butler said he'd eventually like for Oklahoma Crisis Mappers to incorporate as a 501c3 nonprofit organization. That would allow the group to apply for funding to pay for training in graphic information system platforms, he said, and perhaps make the group more accepted in the eyes of emergency management officials.
For information about the conference, visit gov20a.com.
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