rhokexpertguide

8/3/2019 RHoKExpertGuide

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RHoK Guide for Experts

Contributors:

Aires Zulian, World BankDaniel Shemie, World Bank

Patrick Meier, CrisisMappers

Nigel Snoad, Google

Will Pate, Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK)Elizabeth Sabet, SecondMuse


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BackgroundRecent years have seen an increase in the profile, use and relevancy of Volunteer Technology

Communities (VTCs) or Volunteer and Technical Communities (VT&Cs) by Subject Matter

Experts (SMEs). These communities have been described in two reports from the Disaster RiskMangement (DRM) sector where many began:

Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies

Volunteer Technology Communities: Open Development

A common pattern is for volunteers to take part in a 1-2 day event of hacking, whereparticipants self-organize around problems, oftne provided by SMEs. While innovation for itsown sake is extremely valuable, effort directed towards clearly identified real needs is oftenwhat participants and volunteers are seeking: the chance to make a difference.Collective understanding is developing in key ways SMEs can collaborate effectively:

Identifying and defining problems Building stakeholder ownership Partnering with volunteer technologists to develop solutions Piloting new technologies in programs

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance through best practices and lessons

learned in engaging Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in Volunteer Technology Communities

(VTCs). The primary audiences are:

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

Stakeholders and facilitators

Event teams

This document is intended to serve as place to collect knowledge, which different groups can

use as they see fit. As the missions of the communities and purpose of the activities described

herein are for the greater good of humanity, the content of this document should be considered

freely available for sharing and reuse by others.

RHoKs intent is to publish a version of this content on its website. It will be published wiki-

style so that community members will be able to add to it. Attribution and thanks will be given to

those that list themselves as contributors above. Please feel free to share your intent to use thedocument as well.
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Guidance for VTC Event ManagersHow VTC event managers can effectively engage SMEsOutreachEvent managers can reach out to the following groups early and invite them to participate andsubmit relevant problem definitions and data sets:

Local universities and academics Local and national government bodies

Local NGOs and civil society groups

Local small businesses, national and transnational corporations

Consider hosting workshops or conference calls to help SMEs or communities to identify andsketch out problem definitions. Format outlines are provided later in this document.

Problem Definition ReviewEvent managers can help review problem definitions provided by SMEs:

Consider having your event team (and key attendees) review the problem definitions and

take the following actions:

Suggest edits that will help make the problem definition better, easier to

understand, or more relevant to technologists

Suggest data sets that may be used in developing the solution

Look for alignment between problems and skills known to be in your attendees,

and identify problems that are the best fit for your event

Event PlanningWhen planning your event, consider how to encourage SME participation:

Providing time before or during the event for SMEs to pitch their problem definitions

Encouraging SMEs to attend the event to build relationships with attendees


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Identifying ProblemsHow to identify problems that are well suited to technology solutionsSimply asking people to list their problems is too easy, and often yields poor results. Becausethe question is too vague, it doesnt help focus on problems that lend themselves to ICTsolutions.Its important to immediately ground the problem definition process in concrete terms that

everyone can relate to. This helps overcome skepticism some may have towards technology,

while managing expectations properly about what ICT can do.

Here are some questions to help focus on problems that lend themselves well to ICT solutions:

What information do you wish you had? What information do you have that you wish others had access to?

What information would help people make more informed decisions? Where are there market inefficiencies?

Where are there information asymmetries?

How could we visualize data to make it actionable?

How could we make communication more efficient?

What kind of crowdsourced data could be valuable to us, to others?

Its advisable to focus even further on problems which are both:

Related to an ongoing operational program

Can be owned by a person or organization with relevant operations and expertise

How to identify problems that are interesting to technologists

Must have an impact they can understand (ie. clearly a public good)

Are relevant to their local community (or the world)

Problem Identification Workshops

Problem identification workshops can be used to stimulate a dialogue on how ICT can impact

peoples area of work and stakeholders lives, and to explore and identify problems that can

then be defined.

Workshops require a facilitator. These people need to secure the space, supplies and attendees

commitment. As well they need to facilitate the presentations and discussion. Gamestorming is

a particularly good resource for those looking to run workshops.

Here is a sample workshop agenda:
http://www.amazon.com/Gamestorming-Playbook-Innovators-Rulebreakers-Changemakers/dp/0596804172http://www.amazon.com/Gamestorming-Playbook-Innovators-Rulebreakers-Changemakers/dp/0596804172


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Defining ProblemsHow to define a problem so that volunteers can easily work on it

There are many different ways to define a problem. The challenge is translating a sectoralproblem into a challenge suited to VTCs where their entry point is clear.

At a high level, there are two types of problem definitions:

1. Specific

The first type are refined are specific in their scope, with a solid understanding and

sometimes a high level of detail about the inputs (data, algorithms, etc) and outputs

(interfaces, capabilities, features & functionality, etc). These tend to have higher levels of

traction with users and partners, and thus are more likely to create an impact. They can

be classified as low risk and medium reward.

2. Aspirational

The second type are aspirational; ambitious but loosely defined. They are often

expressed in terms of the end goal, with fewer details about how to get there. These can

be more exciting, but tend to have lower traction rates. When they do achieve traction

the impact can be magnitudes greater than with a more specific problem definition. They

can be classified as high risk, high reward.

Building Context

Once you have identified a problem, it is vital that the problem be contextualized. The context

and importance of the problem may often be self-evident to the SMEs but not so to volunteers.

These questions that should be easy to answer for a non-technical expert:

1. What kind of context must the solution operate in?

What language do the people affected speak? Do specific groups (such as women,

children, immigrants, etc) have a special context which should be considered? Does the

end user live in an urban center, a rural area, or work in a displaced persons camp?

2. What is the crisis?

Use this to contextualize the specific problem. This will go a long way to making the

problem attractive to civic minded technologist.

3. What constraints exist?

Is the population limited in access to power? Is internet access or mobile phone

penetration limited? Do the end users have financial constraints? Are technical or

functional literacy an issue?

Estimating Potential Impact


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Assessing impact helps volunteers understand the potential impact of their participation. The

opportunity to have a large impact can be highly motivating.

1. What could the impact of a solution be?

Explain the potential impact of the development and implementation of the solution. How

many people would benefit? Which organizations would use it? What would the impactbe on peoples lives if the problem was solved? What unintended consequences could

you possibly anticipate?

Technical Assessment

These questions may require help from someone with technical expertise:

1. Are their technologies that solve similar problems?

Perhaps youre inspired by a feature of another piece of technology such as an app on

your phone, or an online service. Do you know of other technologies that solve similar

problems, or solve a problem in a similar way to what you imagine?

2. How would a person use the tool?

Walking through using the tool from the end-users perspective helps define how the

tool solves the problem. How does the person enter and receive information? Where are

they and what are they doing when they use the tool? How does using the tool change

their next actions?

3. What data is available?

Technology requires data. What data could be used to help solve this problem? Is that

data publicly available? If so, where can it be found? If not, who owns it and have youasked if they would share it?

Find Co-owners and stakeholders

Finding others in your own organization or colleagues from a partner organization can be

very valuable. Co-owners signal levels of interest and support to volunteers evaluating which

problems to tackle, provide more points of contact for volunteers, help refine problem definitions

and can field test solutions developed.

Sharing Your Problem Definition

Problems should be public and archived on an online platform. The best problems have a video

pitch, so try to get experts and stakeholders on video if possible.

Collaborating with TechnologistsHow to build partnerships with volunteer technologists to develop solutions


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Identifying and defining a problem is a first step of a process of collaboration. Simplycreating a problem definition and hoping it gets solved is wishful thinking. Here are somerecommendations on collaborating with technologists to achieve positive outcomes:

1. Attend an event

There is no replacement for being present. Attending an event gives you an opportunity

to make your case to volunteers, answer questions, provide input to their solutions, and

form relationships for collaboration beyond an event.

2. Consider your after-event plans

What do you plan to do after the event? If the solution developed is a prototype, how

do you intend to collaborate with the volunteers to make it ready to be field-tested? If

a testable solution is created, how will you field test it? Does your organization or its

supporters have resources to support further work through internships, grants or other

financial mechanisms?

3. Learning technologist cultureMany SMEs are used to highly structured environments, where status is primarily

defined by level of education and years of experience. Technologists are often used to

environments with flat structures where status is primarily defined by contributions and

accomplishments, while education and experience are also considered.

4. Learning to speak geek

While SMEs and technologists are both highly intelligent groups, translating between

them can be confusing. For instance: development to SMEs often means the

improvement of peoples quality of life, whereas for technologists it means writing code.

As well, you can not assume that technologists are familiar with the language of your

field. Try to learn and understand basic technology language so you can communicate

more effectively, and take care to choose or explain words to ensure clarity.


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Using Technology in ProgramsHow to pilot and field test technology

Building technology into your operations requires planning alongside your problem definitioncreation. Technology development is iterative process, which requires ongoing communication.Here are some recommendations on how to build space in your programs to test newtechnologies:

1. Involve stakeholders in the processWho are the stakeholders and clients in your programs? Consider having their peerreview or co-ownership of your problem definition, or running a community problemidentification workshop. Share with them your intent to pilot suitable technology if itsdeveloped and secure their commitment to help you do so wherever possible.

2. Design feedback loopsHow will you collect feedback from your stakeholders and share it with the technologistsworking on the technology solution? There are many good and free tools available tocollect and prioritize user feedback in the form of bug reports and feature requests. Alightweight system will be sufficient for most projects.

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