Dell and Red Cross create a unique social media monitoring system.
Have you ever thought about how humanitarian organizations work? Take, for example, the Red Cross - the most famous and large-scale association that provides assistance to victims of military conflicts and various natural disasters. The main task facing this organization is to quickly direct its forces to the disaster area. But how to achieve this efficiency?
The most powerful information tool in our day are social networks, so it is not surprising that at some point the guys from the American Red Cross division had the idea to use them in their work. This is how the modern world works: often a person first writes a post on his Twitter or Facebook page, and only then calls where to follow.
Research conducted by the American Red Cross in 2011 showed how powerful social networking tools are in emergency situations. It is with their help, almost a third of the US population will report in the case of force majeure to their loved ones that everything is in order with them. 80% of Americans also believe that emergency services are required to monitor Internet sites and social networks in order to arrive in time to help. By the way, another third of US residents believe that the requests for help in social networks from such services will be followed by an immediate response.
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Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other popular media resources are becoming part of an emergency response system - the information in them spreads with amazing speed. Sometimes even tremors are felt much later than you can read tweets about them from residents of neighboring territories. No wonder that such a powerful machine in their own interests wanted to use the Red Cross. As a result of the joint efforts of the American division of the organization and Dell, the Digital Control Center, located at the headquarters of the Red Cross in Washington, was born.
Like any large-scale project, it was not created in one day. The realization that a modern system is necessary for a quick response to the needs of those affected by natural disasters came during a powerful earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Then the workers of the American Red Cross spent a lot of time manually processing all the information received through social media and sending it to rescue teams in Haiti. It was obvious that the new time required a fundamentally new approach.
Dell responded to the needs of the Red Cross and offered its assistance in creating a convenient and effective tool for monitoring social networks and other Internet sites. Anyway, Dell had already had experience in developing similar solutions for its customers. As a result of regular meetings, discussions and the search for the optimal solution, in the winter of 2011, the Digital Control Center (CC) was created. In March 2012, it was officially launched.
The central control center includes three powerful Dell OptiPlex 790 desktops with pre-installed software (also developed by Dell) and six large monitors. They clearly - in the form of infographics - displays the main topics that are currently being discussed in social networks. Usually, three employees work in the Center, but in the event of force majeure, specially trained volunteers come to the rescue. If necessary, employees of the Central Control Center and volunteers can receive remote access to the data.
The principle of operation of the Digital Control Center is simple: on certain sets of keywords, the system searches for comments and posts on social networks, blogs, forums, news sites, video and photo hosting sites. If for general keywords (for example, tornado, earthquake, flood, hurricane, tsunami), some actual results were obtained, then more specific search queries are used. So in a short time, you can not only detect the occurrence of an emergency, but also clarify the place of its occurrence and the territory it covers (or can cover in the future).
During the period when a natural disaster occurs, employees of the Central Control Department are obliged to report to colleagues from the headquarters of the Red Cross, as well as to those who work at the scene. The report includes how this event is covered in social networks, and comments that the CC of the team leaves in response to requests for help. Dell Center software provides a simple and convenient tool for generating such reports. In addition, responsible persons and experts of the organization can directly communicate with users who leave comments and create posts on social networks, and do it from their working computer.
After just a few days after the official launch of the central control center in March 2012, the states of Kentucky and Indiana were subjected to the strongest tornado, so the Center employees had the opportunity to test the system in the field. Primarily, the team’s attention was attracted by the number of reports of a destroyed school in Henryville, Indiana. An instant decision was made to send Red Cross volunteers there — never before had such decisions been made so quickly. At the same time, the TsTU team informed through its own Facebook and Twitter accounts about the rules for providing first aid to victims, and also tried with all its might to cheer up people in the affected area.
The digital control center, developed by Dell for the American Red Cross, has become a unique tool for the rapid provision of assistance to victims. Now they go to the organization’s headquarters as an excursion, they look at the work of the Center team and volunteers. By the way, in addition to ordinary visitors to the CTC, there are guests from the White House, the Department of National Security and other serious state organizations.
In the “workload” of building infrastructure, the Dell Center helped train Red Cross workers and volunteers to work with social platforms. The training was conducted on the basis of the so-called University of Social Media and Communications Dell - a division in which employees of the company learn the principles and strategy of working with this type of media resources. Later, the American Red Cross developed two types of certificates that are issued to employees of the organization and volunteers who want to monitor social networks and communicate with victims.
Today, the Central Control Center continues its active work and helps not only to respond promptly to the needs of victims of natural and man-made disasters, but also to prevent an increase in the number of victims. Now the Red Cross can rightfully be considered an organization of the 21st century, using in its activities the tools that modern technologies open to it.
And a little video, as a dessert:
The most powerful information tool in our day are social networks, so it is not surprising that at some point the guys from the American Red Cross division had the idea to use them in their work. This is how the modern world works: often a person first writes a post on his Twitter or Facebook page, and only then calls where to follow.
Research conducted by the American Red Cross in 2011 showed how powerful social networking tools are in emergency situations. It is with their help, almost a third of the US population will report in the case of force majeure to their loved ones that everything is in order with them. 80% of Americans also believe that emergency services are required to monitor Internet sites and social networks in order to arrive in time to help. By the way, another third of US residents believe that the requests for help in social networks from such services will be followed by an immediate response.
')
Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other popular media resources are becoming part of an emergency response system - the information in them spreads with amazing speed. Sometimes even tremors are felt much later than you can read tweets about them from residents of neighboring territories. No wonder that such a powerful machine in their own interests wanted to use the Red Cross. As a result of the joint efforts of the American division of the organization and Dell, the Digital Control Center, located at the headquarters of the Red Cross in Washington, was born.
Like any large-scale project, it was not created in one day. The realization that a modern system is necessary for a quick response to the needs of those affected by natural disasters came during a powerful earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Then the workers of the American Red Cross spent a lot of time manually processing all the information received through social media and sending it to rescue teams in Haiti. It was obvious that the new time required a fundamentally new approach.
Dell responded to the needs of the Red Cross and offered its assistance in creating a convenient and effective tool for monitoring social networks and other Internet sites. Anyway, Dell had already had experience in developing similar solutions for its customers. As a result of regular meetings, discussions and the search for the optimal solution, in the winter of 2011, the Digital Control Center (CC) was created. In March 2012, it was officially launched.
The central control center includes three powerful Dell OptiPlex 790 desktops with pre-installed software (also developed by Dell) and six large monitors. They clearly - in the form of infographics - displays the main topics that are currently being discussed in social networks. Usually, three employees work in the Center, but in the event of force majeure, specially trained volunteers come to the rescue. If necessary, employees of the Central Control Center and volunteers can receive remote access to the data.
The principle of operation of the Digital Control Center is simple: on certain sets of keywords, the system searches for comments and posts on social networks, blogs, forums, news sites, video and photo hosting sites. If for general keywords (for example, tornado, earthquake, flood, hurricane, tsunami), some actual results were obtained, then more specific search queries are used. So in a short time, you can not only detect the occurrence of an emergency, but also clarify the place of its occurrence and the territory it covers (or can cover in the future).
During the period when a natural disaster occurs, employees of the Central Control Department are obliged to report to colleagues from the headquarters of the Red Cross, as well as to those who work at the scene. The report includes how this event is covered in social networks, and comments that the CC of the team leaves in response to requests for help. Dell Center software provides a simple and convenient tool for generating such reports. In addition, responsible persons and experts of the organization can directly communicate with users who leave comments and create posts on social networks, and do it from their working computer.
After just a few days after the official launch of the central control center in March 2012, the states of Kentucky and Indiana were subjected to the strongest tornado, so the Center employees had the opportunity to test the system in the field. Primarily, the team’s attention was attracted by the number of reports of a destroyed school in Henryville, Indiana. An instant decision was made to send Red Cross volunteers there — never before had such decisions been made so quickly. At the same time, the TsTU team informed through its own Facebook and Twitter accounts about the rules for providing first aid to victims, and also tried with all its might to cheer up people in the affected area.
The digital control center, developed by Dell for the American Red Cross, has become a unique tool for the rapid provision of assistance to victims. Now they go to the organization’s headquarters as an excursion, they look at the work of the Center team and volunteers. By the way, in addition to ordinary visitors to the CTC, there are guests from the White House, the Department of National Security and other serious state organizations.
In the “workload” of building infrastructure, the Dell Center helped train Red Cross workers and volunteers to work with social platforms. The training was conducted on the basis of the so-called University of Social Media and Communications Dell - a division in which employees of the company learn the principles and strategy of working with this type of media resources. Later, the American Red Cross developed two types of certificates that are issued to employees of the organization and volunteers who want to monitor social networks and communicate with victims.
Today, the Central Control Center continues its active work and helps not only to respond promptly to the needs of victims of natural and man-made disasters, but also to prevent an increase in the number of victims. Now the Red Cross can rightfully be considered an organization of the 21st century, using in its activities the tools that modern technologies open to it.
And a little video, as a dessert:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/201080/
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