Virtual Organizations and Web 2.0 Tools for Emergency Relief Operations

With the growth of web 2.0 tools, different sectors are employing them to streamline and enhance programs and operations. Virtual organizations and web 2.0 tools can serve as an enabler in emergency relief (ER) operations. With the dynamic nature of ER operations, having a group of volunteers or citizens organization in a virtual organization will allow them to work together in handling a crisis. These virtual organizations can use web 2.0 tools and other technologies to effectively accomplish the task at hand. Organizational structures are exploited when resources like pictures of a flood or evacuation plans are shared among members of the virtual organization (WC3, 2009). It is not necessary for all the members of the virtual organization to be co-located or personally know each other in this boundary-less organization. A virtual organization in ER operations does not need to restrict them to one platform either. Users such as the regular citizen or organized volunteers do not limit themselves to one Web 2.0 platform as no single platform can provide all requested functionality. Instead a competition between various platforms can be observed. Therefore different plat- forms will exist that hold different resources (e.g. photos in Flickr and videos in YouTube) (WC3, 2009). This scalability and flexibility can enable the ER operations team to conduct its mission with all the information and tools available, increasing the probability of success.

Shaun Khalfan
Chief Information Officer
Young Government Leaders

W3C (2009). Leveraging Web 2.0 Communities in Professional Organisations. Retrieved May 17, 2009 from http://www.w3.org/2008/09/msnws/papers/ScherpEtAl-LeveragingWeb2Communities.pdf