Supporting organization:
An ad hoc group of organizational and individual collaborators
Project Description:
This is an ad hoc "geek emergency response team," formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, that seeks to establish XML standards (i.e., the PeopleFinder Interchange Format) that will make it possible to go to one web site to search records from many databases about missing persons.
Points of interest:
The Katrina PeopleFinder project offers opportunities to help in a time of crisis that does not require volunteers in unaffected areas to travel to a disaster area. It employs a range of volunteers - from programmers who are willing to stay up all night writing code to community members with minimal tech skills who have internet access and thirty minutes to dedicate to the project. The collaboration of the project's technology team also suggests the possibility that human services can be delivered via the internet by an ad hoc group of individuals and organizations as well as by traditional social service agencies.