PRESS RELEASE
THE GLOBAL HACK, INDAIS ANNOUNCE LAUNCH OF DIGITAL HELP DESK DEVELOPMENT
APRIL 9, 2020, SAN FRANCISCO — Ahead of the 2020 Global Hack taking place April 9–12, The Global Hack and Indais are pleased to announce the launch of the Digital Health Desk Development Initiative. The Digital Help Desk is an online resource intended to address the immediate crisis presented by COVID-19, as well as the crises awaiting the world tomorrow.
Indais with support from The Global Hack’s advisor Mei Lin Fung will launch the Digital Help Desk Development Initiative on April 9 by:
● Providing a “first stop” on the development path by using the Indais Git Hub as a development portal for The Global Hack on April 9 — 12 and ongoing with the goal of “Responsible Interoperability”
● Onboarding relevant talent from key stakeholders for the development
● Crafting a roadmap for the development of the technological and operational support for the Digital Health Desk
● Accelerating the identification of the most useful and practical “hacks” so others can contribute and apply elsewhere
“The goal is ‘responsible interoperability,’” said Nicole Patrice De Member, Chief Executive Officer of Indais. “Internet interoperability was the beginning, together we need to proceed with a sense of responsibility to the people and the planet.”
The Digital Help Desk is intended to support and connect all key stakeholders engaged in COVID-19 response or any other crisis that threatens the welfare of societies around the globe. While the groups are in discussion with several large partners, they are interested in working with all interested parties in order to deliver an online resource that provides a range of services, including:
● A real-time responsive feedback system, with alerts to stakeholders globally
● Stakeholder coordination around crises in a data-secure environment that reflects the widest range of current governmental and industry privacy protocols
● Assessment of current and future conditions to onboard and network new stakeholders and address next-wave crises solutions in advance
Added Marko Russiver of #theGlobalHack, “#theglobalhack outreach is just the beginning. We want anyone in the world enabled to respond to COVID-19. The Digital Help Desk will be able to track COVID-19 responses from people in communities large and small, aiming to spread the best responses rapidly to be applied permission-free. People’s will to respond is high, so let’s build the highway. See the need, meet the need — that is the goal of the effort and The Global Hack as a whole.”
With COVID-19 upending the people and economies around the world, the need for a network for groups around the globe to collaborate to solve major crises is clear. What’s needed is a platform, like the Internet, where anyone can contribute to its improvement, a platform that is “open, efficient, resilient and highly interoperable so anyone could join and nobody needed to be in charge” as described by Vinton Cerf, one of the creators of the Internet, a resource open to all governments, nongovernmental organizations, research groups, nonprofits, and other institutions.
Mei Lin, who is also Chair of IEEE’s Industry Connections Social Impact Measurement and co-founder of the People Centered Internet with Cerf, said: “The current COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need for reliable, accurate information to flow freely to those who most need to act on it — from sovereign nations to local businesses, from government-backed researchers to private-sector employees. The Digital Help Desk represents the first step we’re taking at scale to bring critical groups together to do global good in a way that is informed and responsible and minimizes harm.”
The Digital Help Desk also takes up the second recommendation from the United Nations High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation’s report “The Age of Digital Interdependence”: “We recommend the establishment of regional and global digital help desks to help governments, civil society and the private sector to understand digital issues and develop capacity to steer cooperation related to social and economic impacts of digital technologies.”
“By using digital platforms such as the Digital Help Desk to reduce the risks around and control the flow of required information to all the stakeholders who need it, the Digital Help Desk can drastically reduce the time to market for solutions that address a range of issues challenging human prosperity and flourishment,” said De Member.
Visit the Indais Git Hub if you are a developer, hacker, or someone committed to helping data flow freely — and securely — so it can do the greatest good.
About The Global Hack
The Global Hack is an online hackathon designed to share and rapidly develop ideas for urgently needed solutions in the face of the current crisis, as well as to build resilience post-pandemic. Our prize pool for the best ideas is 120k euros. For more information, visit https://theglobalhack.com/.
About Indais
Indais is a software firm that gives users a safe, secure environment in which to index, permission, and share data across multiple formats with key stakeholders. For more information, please visit www.indais.com.
