Understanding Disaster Risk Using a Focused Un-conference Experience
Abstract
An un-conference is a hybrid of a conference, workshop and meeting. But it is also an event where actual analytical, physical and tangible work gets done over a period of time, following an emergent, flexible schedule that is developed on the spot by participants. The participants become leaders and steer the work schedule in the directions where there is more interest. The outcome is a densely packed event where a lot of work gets done, and no one is a spectator. In June 2019, under the Understanding Risk organization's umbrella, Co-Risk Labs organized a month-long un-conference on the topic of urban flooding in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Participants came from all over Asia and the world, with a variety of backgrounds from ecology, remote sensing and GIS to art and anthropology. A constellation of local and global partners included Chiang Mai University, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, WWF, the World bank, Planet Labs, Facebook and others. The work self-organized around many topics, among which: drone image acquisition and 360 degree street level imagery, GIS, participatory mapping, gathering oral histories and discussing "decolonizing disaster science", building DIY low cost arduino-based flood sensors, machine learning based modelling of flooding and using art to communicate disaster risk. Results were uploaded to sharing platforms for GIS data, drone maps and websites and blogs, and a final "art & science fair" was hosted in Chiang Mai for the entire month after the un-conference. Preliminary feedback shows not only that the event was a success for the participants, being immersed in such a creative and densely packed knowledge sharing environment, but also that a lot of products were tangibly developed and delivered. Most importantly perhaps, the event acted as a spotlight on the issue of urban flooding in the city, gathering and focusing energy, both from local sources and internationally, bypassing traditional systems that might take a long time to bring ideas and solutions together, if at all.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMIN51E0684K
- Keywords:
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- 0480 Remote sensing;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 1999 General or miscellaneous;
- INFORMATICS