Miljösociologi timme 2

8/9/2019 Miljsociologi timme 2

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Information and CommunicationTechnologies in the Anthropocene

Victor GalazStockholm Resilience Centre

Stockholm University


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The Anthropocene and Planetary Boundaries


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Twitter Updates Good Morning!by Jer Thorp (via Vimeo)


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Can Information Technology

Really Help Save The Planet?


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YES......definitely maybe...

...but I wouldnt take it for granted


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iPod Liberalismby Evgeny Morozov

- the assumption that informationtech innovation always promotes

freedom and democracy

iPod EnvironmentalismbyVictor Galaz

- the assumption that techinnovation always promotes

sustainability


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Hackers and CO2 emission trading (2010)250,000 carbon credits - 4 million USD


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Hackers and illegal logging in the Amazon (2008)1.7 million cubic meters


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The `climate consensus may hold theestablishment the universities, the media, big

business, government but it is losing thejungles of the web. After all, getting researchgrants, doing pieces to camera and advising boards

takes time.

Christopher Pearson, The Australian

Special Interest 3.0

The mass-mail revolution had worked its paralyzingmagic by lowering the cost of mobilizing far-flung groups

of people who share a political interest. []The personalcomputer, the Internet and allied technologies have givena new fluidity to political opposition, spawning interest

groups almost overnight in response to policy initiatives.

Robert Wright, New York Times


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What are the long term institutional andorganizational implications of information

technology in theAnthropocene?

Mass Self-CommunicationDecreasing costs forinformation


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"Communications tools don't get sociallyinteresting until they get technologically

boring"Clay Shirky


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Bubonic Plage, Surat (India)1994In 1994 the spread of bubonic plague

in the city of Surat deaths of 57people, significant economiclosses, and social and politicaleffects. Over 300,000 people

deserted the city (in two days!)


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Late warnings, information overloadand collapse


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Development of web crawlerGPHIN at Health Canada (1995)

ProMED - moderated e-mail listhosted by the International Society

for Infectious Diseases (1994).


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atypical pneumonia, unknown respiratory disease


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PNEUMONIA - CHINA (GUANGDONG ): RFI**********************************Date: 10 Feb 2003From: Stephen O. Cunnion, MD, PhD, MPHThis morning I received this e-mail and then sea rched yourarchivesand found nothing that pertained to it. Does anyone knowanythingabout this problem?"Have you heard of an epidemic in Guangzhou? Anacquaintance of minefrom a teacher's chat room lives there and reports that thehospitals there have been closed and people are dying."--Stephen O. Cunnion, MD, PhD, MPHInternational Consultants in Health, IncMember ASTM&H, ISTM


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All of the sudden, we had a very powerful system that broughtin much more information from more countries, and we where

able to go to countries confidentially and validate what wasgoing on, and if they needed help, we provided help. And weprovided help by bringing together many different institutions

from around the world that started to work with us.

David Heymann, WHO


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Breaking down of the information pyramid


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SupernetworksSmall World Networks

Collective Intelligence

Three new phenomena


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SupernetworksNetworks of Networks - interconnected at

multiple levels; information technology plays a keyrole; complex system

Global supply chain networks, financial networks,knowledge networks and power grids

(Nagurneyet al 2006).


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There is a bigger "networks of networks" []. In GOARNyou have CDC, MSF and Red Cross. Which you also have inthe different coordination groups for meningitis vaccine and

yellow fever vaccine. Or in global polio eradication. Theseare enormous, but some are very small and, you would

bring in the global influenza with laboratories and nationalinfluenza centers. But that is the network of networkswhich has no substance, no defined substance. It's there,the function, but in a highly chaotic, very undefined way.

Patrick Drury, GOARN/WHO.


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Southern Cone EIDSurveillance Network

Asian RotavirusSurveillance Network

European Centre forDisease Control,

EpiNorth

US-CDC

Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN)over 120 actors and others!


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Steering?


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David wanted to take the GPHIN business and what WHOwas doing, and develop a "network of networks". These would

be highly unformalized, highly unstructured, as chaotic aspossible, because if we allowed it to coagulate or set down at

any part of the WHO, the apparatus of the organization, []would start to drag it down []. All of these rules would just

slow down what was trying to be done.

Patrick Drury, GOARN/WHO


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Wouldnt it be great if we actuallycould map these networks?

Hyperlink analysis of major players in EID early warning andresponse

NOTE: Illustration!


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UN Agencies Cluster

US Gov Cluster

WHOFAO

ECDC

Red Cross


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ECDC International Red Cross


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What makes them work?


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Small World Networks


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Q: What if you are facing some uncertainty of the disease? Howdo you coordinate your networks?A: Each time we have a suspecting case of fever, or somethingvery wrong, the first thing we do, is that we contact WHO.Immediately. []. So there is immediate collaboration, so wecall them and "send you the sample with the first plane, or

the first car or whatever. So, please go on with your

laboratory and tell us what's going on". That is systematic.

Q: So that is not formalized?No, no, but it's not personal. WHO knows that we will alwayscall them if we are suspecting things or something is verybizarre.

Dan Sermand,MSF


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We have the international level, the WHO and the FAO. And atthe national level we try to bring together agriculture and

human health ministries. [] group involves academics, and afew key people in the agencies, such as Stephan from the FAO,Pierre [] from the WHO, OIE []. You have focal points in

the agencies, and you have focal points in NASA, and from 4 or

5 different universities.

Jan Slingerbergh EMPRES/FAO

That network is a little bit loosely defined, but flexible and

effective, you know. When there is the need, everybody jumpsin to action. I think the way it works is highly commendable

perhaps, because its not fringed or wrapped up in anorganizational structure. People just make it work because

they know each other. And its not a larger group to get lostin, the flexibility is there. I believe this is key to the success.


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Gulu

Ebola outbreak, Gulu (Uganda),Oct 2000- Jan 2001 (224 deaths)


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Coordination through small-world

networks. Is that it?


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Collective Intelligence - large,distributed problem solving through

information and communication

technology. Distributed activity isemergent and collective, rather than

orchestrated.


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Monkeypox and theInternet

2003 (Maryland, USA)

The results of that decision were extraordinary

Adhoc Virtual Network for


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Adhoc Virtual Network forSARS Etiology

13 laboratories in 9 countriesDaily telephone conferences

The good thing is that it

isnt flu. Then well, what isit?


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Collective Intelligence - Cooperation andConflict

Chinese University of Hong Kong

University of Hong Kong

US CDC

World Health OrganizationWHO GETS THE BUG FIRST?


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ProMED

1994-2006#25 054 postings (total)

#373 postings included Request forinformation


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How Decreasing Costs of InformationProcessing and Mass Self-

Communication Builds Resilience

Supernetworks! Small world phenomena!Collective intelligence!

They build on the combination btw ICT andpersonal connections.


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THE DARK

SIDE OF THEWEB

Never Take it for Granted!


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Never Take it for Granted!

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS


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CyberpessimismICT as a pure social

media for fun

Hackers, spammers and

cyber-bullies find a newarena to exploit

Rapid assimilation ofICT in markets increase

natural resourcepressure

Special interests 3.0

Green Cyber-Utopia


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Green Cyber UtopiaBreakthroughs in

artificial intelligence,nano-computing and

Web 3.0

Self-repairing,automated, low costecological monitoring

systems

A New Green SocialMovement 2.0/3.0

Social-Ecolo ical Resilience 2.0


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Soc a co o ca es e ce 0

ICT4D - with an ecological focus

Crowd-sourcing crises preparednessand response (e .g. Ushahidi)

Web crawler based ecologicalmonitoring systems

Virtual organizations, CollectiveIntelligence for ecological surprise

Green flashmobs

Tapping into Technologies in the Pipeline


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Can Information Technology Really Help Us Save the Planet?


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THANK YOU

[email protected]/vgalaz


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Miljösociologi timme 2