UN GLOBAL PULSE: ProductHarnessing innovation to protect the vulnerable

Sara FarmerChief Platform Architect, UN Global PulseExecutive Office of the Secretary-GeneralUnited Nations HeadquartersNew York, NY

Global Pulse has a clear vision and an ambitious mission

our visionClose the information gap between the onset of a crisis and the availability of actionable information for decision makers

our missionHarness innovation to protect the vulnerable

Which stocks would you buy today…

…if this were all you knew?

Dow-JonesIndex2001-2008

The Information Gap

When the global economic crisis hit in 2008, world leaders needed to know how the crisis was affecting vulnerable populations.

That turned out to be a bit of a problem.

Household-level stats take months to collect, and years to validate!

The information gap is real…

?

First data becomes available

…as are its consequences.

“Tracking” progress on the Millennium Development Goals

Yet during the global crisis, the world also changed in truly wondrous ways

Real-time “data exhaust”

“the incidental, or ambient data that is created as a by-product of simply carrying on with our daily lives”

•Social Media•Citizen Reporting•Online News•Mobile Phone Services•Remote Sensing

Global Pulse Products:

Real-time monitoring framework

Open platform architecture

Local innovation labs

1. Data and Analysis

Shared analytical framework on vulnerability

Global Pulse Analytical Framework

lA common understanding of what vulnerability is and how we measure itlnot a standard definition for UN but shared agreement on and understanding of a Global Pulse definition

What is vulnerability?

-What creates vulnerability (impacts)?-Who does it affect (individual/household/community/demography)?-How does it manifest?

How do we measure it?

-What are the indicators and metrics for measuring vulnerability?-Global indicators will be selected-Guidelines created for national indicators

Analysis doesn't happen without data

Open and Generated Data

lOpen DatalPopulation-generated datalSMS surveyslGov2.0 apps

UN and Government Data

-UN open data http://data.un.org/-License agreements-Data cleaning & normalisation-Individual privacy-Data Sovereignty

Private and Donated Data

-Data held by private companiesData PhilanthropyPrivacy protection-Intellectual property

-Looking for 'markers'

Analysis & Visualisation Methods

Collaborative analysis

lHunch labslArgumentation methods

Big Data methods

-Real-time streaming data-Very large datasets

Traditional methods

-Frequentist statistics-Bayesian statistics

Test case: food insecurity (2008, 2011)

2. Platform and Tools

Global Pulse will add new tools to traditional approach to transform vulnerability monitoring

1. Establish Baseline 2. Monitor baseline 3. Investigate anomalies 4. Respond

Traditional indicators (Statistical vulnerability indicators)

Proxy indicators (Non-traditional indicators of vulnerability)

Active monitoring (ongoing door to door surveys)

Passive monitoring(Real time observation of data streams)

Physical verification (on site investigation via for eg. ad hoc household survey)

Community/Network alert(Make community leaders sensitive to potential event)

Response

Baseline is established based on traditional and proxy indicators. This baseline may include a model of the risk terrain

Baseline is monitored actively and passively for anomalies and changes

Teams investigate anomalies to verify vulnerability events

If vulnerabilities are identified then responses is mobilized and targeted

If vulnerability corroborated

Physical verification (on site investigation via for eg. ad hoc household survey)

TraditionalApproach

New tools

Pulse Collaboration Platform

Open standards, open APIs, open source components

Collaborate with your team, share hunches with your social network

Integrate with existing tools for data aggregation, analysis, visualization, mapping, alerting…

Pulse Collaboration Platform

3. Innovation and Labs

Innovation labs have four roles

Detect when vulnerable populations are being impacted by global shocks,

Understand the coping strategies – both positive and negative – that affected communities are adopting,

Share hypotheses, alerts and key information with regional partners,

Respond with better policy interventions sooner than possible today.

Linked to local communities!

OpenUN (“Blue Hacks”)

Open innovation cycleHackathonsGrand ChallengesApplication development teams

Linked communities

Open source communitiesOpen data communitiesOpen response communitiesUNVOther UN units

Thank You

http://unglobalpulse.org/@unglobalpulse

Join in! PulseCamp:Data – coming soon! pulsechat@googlegroups.com https://sites.google.com/site/unglobalpulse/ #openun