Pacific Disaster Management
Information Network:
One piece of the open source
information management puzzle
By Robin Hayden

There was a time not long ago, perhaps as late as the 1970's, when the information a person needed to form the basis of an opinion could be gathered from a set of encyclopedias that filled one bookshelf. Then, libraries kept records of the plethora of materials contained in their rooms in a single card catalog.

Today, the Internet is growing exponentially and wireless communications is eliminating the need for the leash created by telephone wires. This access to speedy, easily transportable methods of sharing information dramatically increases the need for capable and skilled information gathering professionals at all levels.

Nowhere is a need for rapid, accurate, collectively gathered and shared information more apparent than in complex emergencies, where multiple organizations, with their distinct cultures and languages, require the interface of their separate realms.

Decision-makers need knowledge to make decisions. In the multi-player, multi-layer game of disaster management, humanitarian assistance and peace operations, this collective effort is composed most often of unlike minds. Each brings not only discreet packets of information but their own perspective and analysis. One team working to assist with providing critical and timely knowledge is the Pacific Disaster Management Information Network or PDMIN.

What is PDMIN?

The idea of a regional disaster information network for the Asia-Pacific region was conceived five years ago out of the recognition that worthwhile disaster information was sparse and slow. Information had to be useful for decision-makers and keep up with current humanitarian crises, allowing a rapid and correct response to these emergencies through more informed decisions.

"Decision-makers don't have time to read a 100-page report or 25 newswires to extract the actual message. This is the role that someone has to perform and who else would be better trained than the information professionals versed in the use, evaluation, and synthesis of information sources?" said Pervaiz Meer, senior information research analyst and leader of the team.

The PDMIN program is primarily a team of permanent Center staff. Together, they furnish timely open source research services to Center of Excellence staff, collaborating partners, such as the Virtual Information Center, the Pacific Disaster Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other Center clients. (Articles featuring the VIC and the PDC appear in this issue of The Liaison on pages 11 and 14 respectively). PDMIN generates customized information research and current awareness services in the form of daily reports and situational reports through its staff to support the information needs of various Center programs and those of its clients and research partners.

PDMIN aims to foster open source information exchange and sharing between civilian and military organizations, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and the like. To accomplish this goal, PDMIN's efforts are directed toward creating and promoting an environment that is conducive to the open exchange of information. The main objective is to fill information gaps between various organizations and agencies involved in these operations for better coordination and execution.

Maintaining the unbiased character of PDMIN products is critical to the organizations that supply and rely on this information. Data is stripped of references to individuals and organizations in order to protect sensitive personal and agency information. Building trusted partnerships bears fruit in the PDMIN Program, where confidentiality of source information is a key component.

What sources of information does PDMIN use?

PDMIN uses "open source" information, which is unclassified information and available to the general public. Although funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Center does not operate in a classified environment, nor does it access information from classified sources. It is under-standable that the introduction of classified material would cause some concern on the part of non-governmental organizations not privy to it. These organizations are key to the success of humanitarian operations, while the military may be only a minor role player. In recognition of this fact, the Center adheres to an unclassified philosophy.

PDMIN maintains an information resource center that comprises a core collection of materials on disasters, complex emergencies, humanitarian assistance, and peacekeeping and relief operations. In addition, PDMIN relies upon staff experience and expertise, field contacts and other sources of proprietary information to supplement its information products.

Therefore, PDMIN derives most of its information from newswires, press reports, organizational press releases, reports of non-governmental organizations, radio and TV reports, local libraries as well as commercial online database services such as Northern Light and DowJones Interactive. Most of the information in PDMIN products is driven from publicly available information sources available over the Internet.

How reliable are PDMIN sources?

The PDMIN team determines the reliability of content in a few ways. First they focus on those sources that are generally accepted as reliable by the public. This category will include major world news agencies such as Reuters and Associated Press. Then they compare what and how it is being reported by each source.

Any time a major discrepancy is noticed, they will investigate why that might be. For example, during the East Timor crisis, they observed a bias by the Australian media towards Indonesia. Because they were aware of the East Timorese influence on the Australian media, they relied more upon the less-biased information originating from UN channels.

What does PDMIN produce?

PDMIN's products are service based. It supports the Center's mission by meeting the information needs of its education and training program and by supporting the Center's applied research program and those of its collaborating partners.

Its services and products are available without cost, generally in electronic form, to anyone interested. However, information research services are limited to Center faculty, staff, and major collaborating partners.

PDMIN's daily product is the Asia Pacific Daily Report (APDR) aimed at providing current awareness about significant events in the Asia-Pacific region. Significant news events in other parts of the world are also covered, especially those in Africa because of the frequency of conflicts and natural disasters that often result in large-scale humanitarian emergencies. It is designed to add a supplementary source of synthesized information.

One of the benefits of the APDR is that it is concise and takes only a few minutes to read. It appeals to a broad audience that includes field officers, public affairs officers, policy makers, area experts and decision-makers. Distribution is open to the general public. A Web version is available on the Center's website: www.coe-dmha.org.

PDMIN's other products are either crisis driven or are produced on demand. These include smartbooks, country profiles, and country primers. Smartbooks and primers are joint products of the three Virtual Information Center partners. In some ways all these products have a large overlap. However, each addresses specific information needs. For instance a smartbook may be prepared to support a military exercise built around a humanitarian crisis to train military personnel for humanitarian support missions. The smartbook contains basic country information as well as answers to scenario-specific questions, such as the number of affected people, number of casualties, infrastructure information — the number and locations of hospitals, power grids, roads, airports, communications and so on — and information about organizations likely to respond to any humanitarian crisis.

Country primers include a great deal of political information and assessment. Primers are prepared in anticipation and response to real life crises and events. The East Timor Primer jointly developed with the Virtual Information Center and the Pacific Disaster Center was well received by planners and decision makers at the U.S. Commander in Chief of the Pacific's headquarters and civilian organizations engaged to respond. Admiral Blair, Commander in Chief, presented this primer to President Clinton after briefing him about the situation in East Timor.

Country profiles essentially provide factual information about a country in a brief outline format. The well-known CIA World Factbook is a good example of this type of information format. PDMIN relies heavily on the CIA Factbook for basic country information when more current information from in-country or other sources is not available. In addition, information for country profiles is also compiled from many sources including The United Nations, World Health Organization, travel guides and in-country official statistical sources.

PDMIN also produces country background research documents to support other programs within the Center. PDMIN is supporting information needs for the Public Health Unit's field assessments in American Samoa, Samoa, Marshall Islands, and Cook Islands. It is expected that feedback from these assessment missions will help to identify additional information sources as well as define a more useful template for information gathering to support future assessments.

What's it like working in PDMIN?

PDMIN is a team effort. "At times we work on very tight deadlines, and it's the teamwork that carries us through," information research analyst Alan Aoki said. Their training is in library and information science. Before coming to the Center, each worked in special libraries or information centers and understand the nature of the efforts of their team members in contributing to the whole.

"We all share a common interest — world affairs," Meer said. "In our line of work one has to keep up with world events to be able to anticipate and respond to any emergency situations that may require our information support."

The work at PDMIN is dynamic and can be quite demanding. "When we support a real time operation we may be required to work on weekends and holidays," said information research analyst Zubeida Thayer, the third member of the team. When PDMIN covered the East Timor crisis last year, for example, the group worked seven days a week, September through December, irrespective of any holidays. "The only thing constant about our job is change," Aoki added. "The only thing that works in our work situation is planning to deal with uncertainty because many of the disasters and emergencies typically take place with very little or no warning."

What are some of the challenges that PDMIN faces?

Probably the biggest challenge that PDMIN faces is responding to the rapidly changing nature of emergencies with limited resources. Disasters, both natural and human-caused are mostly unpredictable and PDMIN has to be ready to respond to any type of information request that may come in. PDMIN must face this challenge with a small staff and a resource collection that is just beginning to grow.

Another demand is keeping up with an increasingly changing information environment and with the latest information sources. The Internet is growing exponentially and with it the number of sources of information that PDMIN can potentially use. Along with managing an overabundance of information is the necessity of weeding through all the bits of information to locate reliable, informative sources.

A common, growing problem that information centers and information brokers face is the misconception that all information answers lie in the Internet. Many people believe that they can do a quick search on the ‘net in a relatively short period of time and be done with their task. The Internet is a very valuable and useful information resource, but information can often be unreliable or incomplete. Although information available over the Internet is easily accessible, it is not always sufficient in order to be meaningful for the end-user. A great deal of information still resides only in print form. This is why PDMIN relies on a combination of electronic and print information resources. "As trained information research professionals we are familiar with established, reliable sources of information that have been used for many years," Aoki said. "Our training makes it easier for us to sift through mounds of data to weed out sources that are not useful, thus saving the client valuable time."

What are PDMIN's plans?

Over the past year, the Center has expanded its programs in education and training, particularly the area focusing on peacekeeping operations. Also, a refocus of the public health program as well as the Asia Specific Information Analysis (ASIA) program are creating great demands for PDMIN's services. These programs are providing new opportunities to expand and integrate PDMIN functions with the programs inside the Center and are strengthening ties with outside entities such as the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, the East-West Center, and the University of Hawaii.

PDMIN is among the three founding members of the "Asia Pacific Disaster Information Network" – a regional node under the Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN). The other two members are the Pacific Disaster Center and Emergency Management Australia. The Asia Pacific Disaster Information Network is aimed at open source information exchange in the event of disasters or humanitarian emergencies among the network members. The network hopes to develop a framework for inter-organization/interagency collaboration for information exchange that could be used as a model for other regional initiatives under GDIN. The preliminary findings of the group will be presented at the annual GDIN conference in Canberra, Australia next year.

PDMIN truly provides a glimpse of what will be expected from information professionals in the 21st century. Their emphasis is no longer on building enormous physical collections; it is on building access to information rather than owning it. Information brokering is emerging as a key role for information professionals with increasing specialization. Searching a library catalog or an online resource or a CD-ROM databases is no longer considered sufficient. What is becoming main stream is the ability to process and synthesize information from a multitude of reliable sources.

"In my mind, there is no question that in academic and research settings the traditional library service functions will still be relied upon heavily. However, in many corporate settings, special information centers, and the information industry as a whole, librarians are increasingly assuming the roles of information managers, knowledge engineers, webmasters and information analysts," Meer remarked. "PDMIN is committed to providing first rate information research services."

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