Molo, a design firm based in Vancouver, BC, Canada has come up with a way to give privacy to individuals and families forced to live in temporary shelters—like community centers or the Superdome during Hurricane Katrina—after disasters strike their communities. The product, softshelter, “is a system for creating personal space within a larger shelter area in order to provide…a sense of privacy and encourage community-building in the days following a disaster.” The honeycomb walls are collapsible, easily expandable, can be molded into a variety of shapes, and connect to more pieces by concealed magnets. But they’re not just walls for dividing people; Molo is also attempting to bring some comforts of home into these stressful situations. Lori Zimmer at Inhabitatexplains:

To help humanize disaster victims’ spaces, Molo created a set of personal effects that help make a temporary shelter more homey. Magnetic clips enable pictures to be hung, hanging vases bring foliage to the room, moveable hooks can hang towels and clothing, large pockets enable personal items to be displayed and a hanging LED light provides lighting when none other is available, and a hook up for a 12V power system can also be added when power is available.

The structure won this year’s Dwell Modern World Awards in the “Create” category. One of the Molo team members will actually be living in one of these structures within the design company’s workshop from now until September, so that they can actually get a feel for how the structure will work. You can follow that experience at their softshelter journal.

Source: Molo, Inhabitat  

Image is from a video about softshelter. Click the image to play video.  

When a disputed Kenyan election turned violent in 2007, an organization called Ushahidi emerged to map the destruction and killings that broke out across the country. Ushahidi, which means ''testimony'' in Swahili, used text messages from eyewitnesses to create an easily understood graphic depiction of the violence taking place. Their software was later used in the Congo and by Al Jazeera to depict the war in Gaza that took place at the end of 2008.

Ushahidi is just one of many nonprofits, governmental agencies, and human rights lobbying agencies using maps for humanitarian work. Unfortunately, these organizations are notoriously bad at sharing data, according to Patrick Meier. To solve this problem, Meier recently started the International Network of Crisis Mappers (INCM), which aims to connect people and organizations using maps for good.

When a natural disaster strikes or violence breaks out in a country, a map can change the nature of that crisis. The simple act of getting people in front of a map and asking for input can build consensus between warring parties. Maps can also ensure that humanitarian resources are used more effectively and get to the people who need them more quickly.

Crisis mapping is more than simply mapping crises, according to Meier. New technology—including text messages, Twitter, and satellite imagery—is changing the way that data for maps are being collected. Anyone with a cell phone can now help update aid workers on natural disasters or violent altercations in real time. Designers are constantly coming up with new and interesting ways to create visualizations of that data to make it look more appealing. Researchers are then using the data from maps to look for patterns. The information and maps are then pushed out into the field to give support tools to the activists and the nonprofits trying to help the people caught in a crisis.

Organizations don't always want to spend time and resources sharing data in the midst of a crisis, but more collaboration is often needed. Meier’s INCM makes it easier and less time-consuming for organizations to collaborate with each other, so that everyone can start helping people more effectively. When typhoons recently rocked the Philippines, for example, INCM connected a half dozen groups, including Open Street Map, to share information that may have helped deploy humanitarian aid more effectively. Meier hopes this burgeoning movement will continue to connect different mapping projects and humanitarian agencies to make collaboration happen more quickly and easily.

Source: International Network of Crisis Mappers

Image from  Ushahidi .

To view examples of crisis maps, watch the slideshow below: