In case you didn't know...

1. We need Tents!

Yesterday during the Crisis Camp in Chile ( techies trying to help organize disaster relief ) there was one "critical issue" being raised over and over again. Displaced people living in camps won't be able to cope with the winter. Epidemics, social unrest and mayhem are guaranteed unless we provide them with sufficiently good tents. And keep in mind that winters here are cold as hell, people are poor and given that we were barely able to manage the first crisis, nothing makes me think we will do better with this one. If a baby gets sick, that's life sentence. We need tents.

2. The Tsunami was of cinematographical proportions

I saw pictures of the tsunami affected regions taken by regular folks like you and me. Journalists or simply travelers that went to the zone of the disaster driven by a very understandable mix of both curiousity and desire to help. They were impressed. And I can see why: One of the pictures showed a refrigerator cliging from a tree. No, we don't usually put refrigerators on trees. That 400lb piece of metal was most probably part of someone's kitchen. And now it is laying feet away from a ship, which also used to be miles away anchored somewhere. The point is: WTF!!! is this real?

3. It rained in Haiti

I just saw someone trying to desperately raise awareness about how the camp he is now managing, which serves as home for 45.000 displaced haitians, will be brutally washed away when the rain season starts and how he also needs thousands of tents.

When you see someone that desperate trying to get the message across: "PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE NOW!!! PLEASE DO SOMETHING!!". The appropriate advice is: Hey, why don't you go live on CNN?

And he did of course, talking a full 10 minutes to Anderson Cooper. But he was totally frustrated, because he's obviously been saying this for quite a while and nothing happens. Then you think to yourself: jesus, if he already made it to CNN and he still can't get those tents, what's left for the poor people in the south of Chile?

Ah. And did I mention that this person was Sean Penn!!?

And People are stupid.

They are stupid-er than you think. Trust me. They keep on talking about being good and helping others, but when the "others" are actually dying, then everyone has something else to do.

Personally I don't really care about Sean Penn so I don't expect you to care either. I've seen him everywhere. But a Ship in the middle of the highway? that's something I need to see. Seriously. Guilty confession. I want to see that at least once in my life. Another thing I like is when people talk great things about me. Specially if I actually deserve it ( otherwise it feels a bit awkward, although you learn to live with the feeling ).

So, here's the idea: Incentivize filthy rich people from Chile to go down and see this. Give them a tour, let them take pictures, film them. Then make them sign up as "sponsors" for a family and take care of them. Of course they won't have to do much. Just sign a couple of checks. They will come back shocked, sensibilized, and with a real, concrete story to brag about other than playing golf or going to a tropical island.

Also, give those who participated a Copper Pin so they can put it in their flag when they go out on September 18th ( National Holiday ).

I am not kidding BTW. I would really bow at all those with pins in their flags and hug them with sincere admiration. No matter why they did what they did, there is someone who is infinitely thankful for their efforts and that's all that matters. They were brave enough to challenge the status quo and that's more than enough for me.

And those who don't have pins in their flags. Well, I have plans for those as well.

Now, this may sound funny. But the real question is: Why can't we make things like these work?
This is a market. The market of Tourism and Philantropy in times of crisis. It's just not explicitly defined but this is a good moment to start.

I imagine a lot of people are thinking: but what happens with all the money that has been raised?
Isn't that the way it works? I comfortably donate from my home?

No! This is obsolete, rooted in earlier days where the cost of information transport was too high and it breaks the value flow in both directions: Firstly, the giver does not get personal credit for his donation.

And second... well. Let me paraphrase Sean Penn: "Politics! politics will kill them!!"
There is simply too much administrative overhead and the "ad hoc", headless organization that assembles itself around a crisis is everything but efficient.

That's what he means by politics. There is just too much overhead and nothing "smart" about the decisions being made. Keep in mind that the guy is a terrific actor, but even he can't fake the discontempt when he talks about what's going on. And I know how it feels...

Pinera is a tad obsessive, infinitely ambitious
and, for any trained eye, a real tourette showcase. But he's capable,
sharp and clever. Plus he has a premier team working for him. Private
interests aside, we can really use this kind of power to straighten up
things a bit and to lead the tech & knowledge revolution, which should
give way to development further down the road.

I know lots of people think he's a dangerous man, but in my case, I
have personally seen just how flawed our system is and it is mainly
because of mediocre people, incompetence, corruption and plain
stupidity. The problem is that this creates an environment for even
more dangerous people to thrive: Thiefs, conmen, and low level
abusers.
This also creates a vicious cycle that starts with the fact that hard
work does not translate into success. No incentives to go the extra
mile. And that... well, I will talk about that someday soon. But
that's pretty much the cornerstone of our failure as a country.

For me, Chile is Latam with no guns and no kidnapping, but we have our
own kind of animals here.
OK. That's my position ( today ), and here's my suggestion to Pinera:

Since he ran for president, and specially since things started working
out for his campaign, Pinera has probably doubled his fortune which is
now somewhere above 2Bn USD.

He's holding on to some shares which he promised to sell in what I
believe is a critical strategic mistake. In general, I believe he
should let go and more money will come back rather soon. He should
invest in his persona at this point, and use his unique poisiton to
enrich what's most valuable in today's information-based economy:
trust.

But that's boring... I think he could actually make that money
generate much more value for him.
Here's a game.

Take half of what's been made thanks to the campaign and donate it
to reconstruction efforts ( ~500mm? ) 

Then give half of that to a team of his appointment and assign a short term
task related to the reconstruction effort. For example: rebuild educational
infrastructure in zone A.
Take the remaining half and give it to the opposition, who should create
an equivalent team for an equivalent endeavour on zone B.

Make the process totally transparent. Televised, broadcast via the web.

A reality-style competition!

If he's so sure of himself, then this strategy would allow him to:
* Eliminate all short term criticism
* Promote transparency ( see previous blog post for a tip on why he
should do this ASAP )
* Prove his way is better in a very concrete way.
* Balance the exposure with social service! No one will criticize as there
is value here for others and, well, its his money and he's promoting fair competition

If he wants a challenge to feed his "inner drive" ( which is probably
more along the lines of being recognized as a super human in general
than a super rich person in particular ). Then this is not so crazy.

if he's in just for the money, then... this is probably B.S.
But what's money anyway. There are other investments that yield higher
returns in this information era: Identity, trust and attribution.

I'm just sayin'. I love lateral thinking.
Plus the guy only has 4 years to make a point. That's... almost gone already ;)

Crazy idea n1. Over.

( posted by email while attending a sequence of meetings & riding cabs )

I thought Chile was going to be further down the OpenData adopters
list, but I am pleased to announce that it is all happening as you
read this.
The recent 8.8 mega quake/tsunami + the entry of a new ( oppositional
) goverment converge to generate a very special scenario.

On one hand, the country is in distress and we need to hastefully
increase our agility in order to react to the acute crisis and long
term reconstruction phases. Situational analysis is poor because data
is fragmented. Logistics are deficient and planning depends on data. The
success in all three timeframes ( short, mid and long term ) seems to depend
on the very same fuel: information. 

But lets zoom in to short term, which is the drive today:
Everyone wants to help but they are running into each other or going
to the wrong places. 25 vets arrive where tents are needed, and the
tents end up in a pile somehwere.
Yeah, it is that bad. The disaster left severe infrastructural damages
and, if we were fragmented before, we are totally enthropic now.

So that's one side of the story: *we need to integrate what we know
and we need to do it now*. Linked Data is a blessing the best tool at
hand.

Now onto the second item:

The incoming government will see fierce opposition and it will have to
dodge several kinds of attacks. These will come in ( at least ) two
shapes:
* Trying to make the new govt pay for errors stemming from the past.
We already saw this happen with the recent country-wide blackout. This
is clearly a ghost from the past but go tell that to the media
monster. And then try to stop it from eating you when you don't even
have the correct data at hand. Someone made a mistake, but it is hard
to know who.
* Stopping initiatives on their tracks because of the fierce
opposition in government. Congress can loose its blocking power if
people are informed of what's being proposed.

I'm not saying the new govt won't craft its own collection of
mistakes. But we should not make it harder for them. After all, while
politicians fight for power, it is the people below that pay the price
and in moments like these we simply can't afford that.

So there you have it. Two alignments. And I can see more, but these
should be enough to jump through the first obstacles ( finally! ).
Now, let's make it happen.

First milestone is done. Initial group of developers have been
evangelized and they are all willing to get their hands on some data.
Now, let's organize the World Bank's crisis camp in such a way that
NGOs can provide us their data and their requirements.

Lots of work ahead!

Links:
* http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/27/chile.quake/index.html
* http://opendata.cl/
* http://bitbucket.org/abucchi/opendata-chile/wiki/Home

( I posted this via email )