| ProfileMicrosoft Mobile Platfor...PhotosBlog |  Tools  Help |
|
19 September Thoughts and reflections[Philip] Thursday, our last day in San Antonio, went very well but was extremely hectic. Guy and I deployed the role-assignment part of volunteer tracking in Kelly 171, and Pete deployed the same in Kelly 1536. The features were well-received by the users (and actually better received than I had expected myself). The day was filled with deploying, getting user feedback, fixing bugs and adding features, and then redeploying again.
We got back to Seattle just in time to participate in Day of Caring. I've been a bit remiss in updating the blog because I've slept an average of about 14 hours on each of the days since then. But now I'm rested, and my cough has gotten better.
Helping out at Red Cross shelters was an eye-opening experience. If anything, I take away three key insights from our time down there:
I'd like to end by thanking, once again, the folks of MPD for making it possible for us to be sent out to San Antonio during this crisis. Your support has made all the difference, and has materially changed the lives of evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. You're great! 15 September It's 3am eternal...[Philip] Can't talk long -- it's now 3:40am. Another long Team MPD day here in San Antonio.
Things are starting to wrap up well. It's hard to imagine that we're already going back tomorrow. In some ways the week passed very quickly. But in others, I'll be really thankful for a chance to sleep. :)
Today a lot of things came together for us. Pete has a shadow in Kelly 1536 now (Syd), who is learning the ropes so that he can take over once Pete returns to Seattle.
Guy and I spent the day installing, debugging, and enhancing the volunteer-tracking software. By 1pm, we had deployed it in Kelly 171. The initial user results were very encouraging -- the users liked it a lot better than the old system, and finally the data is unified. We checked in throughout the day, and the system continued on strong. It was really rewarding to see the result of several days' (and nights') work being used and appreciated.
Pete also helped roll out the system in Kelly 1536, where it went similarly well.
We had dinner with all the Microsoft folks, both in the area and from abroad, that helped at the shelters over the past few weeks. There were folks that came from Pittsburg and Philadelphia, and of course many Microsoft employees local to San Antonio. It was great to have a chance to put faces to names, after having been on email so frequently with the various Microsoft helpers in the past week. Perhaps at some other point Pete will post some photos (hint hint).
Guy and I then spent another 5 hours or so after dinner integrating more enhancements into Kelly 171's registration software. And that brings us to 3:40.
Tomorrow will be a hectic day. We will need to hand off the software we've built, as well as make sure everything else we've started is taken care of. There are a few remaining tablets to distribute (most are already being used in Kelly 171, Kelly 1536, and Windsor Park). Then around 3pm, it's off to the airport! 13 September 1536 Day 3 and 4[Pete] You'll have to pardon a little bit of levity in today's entry. The village people comment in Philip's blog is probably the funniest thing I've seen in days. OK so the skinny on 1536...
DAY 3
Big news of the day.
DAY 4
Big news of the day
In general, 1536 has basic technology needs met. It’s becoming a maintenance effort now. We can move into the “must haves” soon. (wakka wakka wakka!) On a personal note, as folks find places to go, we’ve gone from 2,080 residents to 833. More may come, but it’s great progress. I’m greeted the same way when I roll into the Command Center each morning. “Boy are people lookin’ for you.” :) I've made a couple friends, the kind you get when you put all differences aside for something important. I’ll miss them when we go. There are still lots of important things to do in the building. (can hardly call something that big a building) For all of the signs and flyers, not everyone can read them and there are lots of folks who just want somebody to talk with. There are lots of people still missing. We need more basic medical stuff like blankets, cough syrup and throat lozenges. And the nurses are still very concerned about sanitation. The list is pretty long.
But above it all, the whole thing is an incredible testament of indomitable will and desire to overcome.
Thanks everyone back home for everything you’ve done. I wish you could see what you’re contributions are doing here.
Shelters, treatment, and status[Philip] There are 4 major shelters in San Antonio run by the Red Cross: Kelly 171, Kelly 1536, Levi-Strauss, and Windsor Park. Since most volunteers work in only one shelter, not many people know that these shelters are vastly different. To give those of you following along in the home game (nod to Josh for that phraseology) an idea of what these sites are like, here are some simple descriptions.
Kelly 1536. It's named Kelly because it's on Kelly Air Force Base... so imagine you start with an airfield. You section off a flat area about two football fields in length, and pave it with concrete. You repurpose cinderblocks and ceilings from nearby Costco's to create a huge single-room warehouse. Punch in some tractor-trailer size doors every 50 yards or so. Install yellow-hued sulfer lights to light the interior. Spread about 3000 cots around the floor. Cordon off a few areas: registration, volunteers, games, and karaoke. Add the sights, sounds, and smells of thousands of people breathing, eating, and sleeping in the same space. That's Kelly 1536.
Kelly 171. Take the awe-inspiring model of Kelly 1536. Split the building in half lengthwise, down the middle, to create a 200-yard hallway. Lower the ceiling so that it's about 12' instead of 30'. Add some drywall and carpet. Insert people dressed like 5 out of 6 Village People every ten feet or so, and you've got Kelly 171. (See sidebar photo. ~Which~ 5 of 6 Village People are omnipresent is left as an exercise to the reader.)
Levi-Strauss. Imagine a country club. (That was easy).
Windsor Park. Guy, Pete, and I have never been there; in fact, most folks we talked to have neven been there. If it helps, try imagining something between Mansfield Park and Candlestick Park. 15 tablets have arrived![Philip] A big thanks to the folks in the Lab that worked until the wee hours of the night to ensure that we get the tablets today. They've arrived! Your tireless efforts will enable great things to be done. Here are some of the the already identified uses that the new tablets will go to.
Thanks to the Lab for getting these imaged and mailed out, and to Robert for working with the OEMs to make this possible! Day 4, order comes from chaos[Philip] Yesterday was a bona fide madhouse for Team MPD. We ended up working past 3am, eating dinner in front of our computers. Good times, good times.
The action was fast yesterday. Guy and Philip worked in Kelly 171. In the morning, Guy worked with the Red Cross front office to usability test the radio-tracking program. He tweaked and rearranged several things, based on customer feedback, right there in that office. Finally, when all was ready, he deployed it onto the main computer at the front desk (a Tablet PC!).
The bulk of the day, and well into the night, was spent by Guy and I developing a C# application for volunteer registration and visitor tracking. As the Red Cross operation matures, there's a real need to track the hundres of volunteers that come in and out of each shelter. Currently, this is being done by hand on paper in some locations, and in others it's being done by disjoint Excel spreadsheets. Instead of custom-building a solution, I started by attempting to extend an existing partial solution being hosted at a different shelter. The RackSpace folks, who manage that solution, were nice enough to get me source code access / etc. But a ton of time was spent trying to get Ruby on Rails going (a big thanks to CW for providing a data mirror for the many files I needed). In the end, I encountered a variety of problems getting it working, so we asked Guy to begin designing an Access/SQL solution. Guy and I coded until about 3am.
In the meantime, Pete continued his job as part of the head staff of Kelly1536. It's amazing the role he plays there -- he's essentially one of the folks that run the place (I am not making this up). He's the one getting phone lines intalled into the medical pavilion so that emergency calls can be made. He's the one arranging for generators to be brought in, since the circuits were fried by the storm on Sunday. The only thing he's missing is a bullhorn (which, by the way, several folks here have).
Today is Go Time(TM) on the volunteer tracking database. Guy and I are determined to get that working.
At both Kelly sites, order is starting to form out of the chaos. Processes are being established, and things are finally beginning to have a semblance of efficiency. But there's still an overwhelming amount of infrastructure that needs to be established. Microsoft is a key part of making it possible.
Spontaneous Goodness of the Day(TM): I was walking out of Kelly 1536 when I noticed that the main information desks were using Tablet PCs. But they weren't the brand that we brought down with us... turns out that they were donated by other folks (I believe the San Antonio MCS office).
Tablet PCs: So Good, Even Other People Donate Them.
3am... must sleep[Philip] Guy's still with me here at 3am... I'm too tired to go on, so I'll write more tomorrow. Suffice it to say that it's been a hectic day. :)
Thanks for the super push that the Lab went through today in order to get us tablets as soon as possible. Way above and beyond -- you're great! 12 September Day 3 forges on[Philip] Quick update:
Thanks! Days 1 and 2 in Kelly 1536[Pete] I've spent the last two days in building 1536. The buliding is roughly half a mile long, three stories tall and perhaps 70 yards wide. It is completely open from floor to ceiling except that it is divded into four equal, enourmous sections A, B, C and D. It houses a few thousand people. Yes, Phillip is right. It does indeed have karaoke. There were as many military personelle singing and listening as everyone else. It's a sight to see when a young man in military fatigues belts out a Celine Dion hit to his buddies.
DAY 1
On the first day, Daryl (the other softie assigned to the building) had just established a wireless network in Section A in the welcoming and registration and missing persons area. A key play which helped registration immensely. When we arrived with our gear, we were tasked with establishing a wireless network at the volunteer intake and orientation center in Section D, which was fairly straightforward, but connecting it to the internet proved to be another challenge. While working on the network, Guy and I successfully (but unintentionally) completed Red Cross Volunteer orientation no less than 6 times in the volunteer break room. Little did I know this would prove vital when volunteers started asking questions on day 2!
After getting the network and machines up and running in Section D, we posted an Acer in the volunteer registration area for missing persons search. We also set all of the home pages in 1536 to a quick and dirty, local html page with handy links to katrinasafe.com and a couple of other very useful search sites. Then we delivered a tablet to the medical and special needs area in Section A where nurses and doctors had been taking notes on paper about patients. This was a huge help because after a shift change new medical staff could not read the handwriting or did not have detailed history and different records were getting out of sync. By the end of the second day each nurse was carefully explaining how they were using excel and what data they were storing including special conditions and physical location of the patient in their section.
The day was also filled with fixing hardware failures and reparing machines that had been accidentally taken off of the LAN. And toward the end of the day we found the local SQL server and made our way into the database in preparation for merging the local data with the larger system. By the end of day 1, after having been there maybe six hours tops, I was totally beat.
DAY 2
The second day began with breakfast at 9 and we were on the base by 10am. I hit the ground running with 8 problems we had thought of over dinner and breakfast. Among them included fixing a reboot issue with the tablets, pointing all of the volunteer computers at the air force base to a single "handy links" web site so that we can update tools and search pages from a single place. (a huge advantage when communication and syncronization bewteen buildings is low, bear in mind these buildings are miles apart)
Highlights of the day were, setting up IM for the medical and volunteer centers so that medical could IM the volunteer center with requests for equipment and people. The volunteer center is near the supplies, spare clothes, wheelchairs, etc. in Section D. The medical unit is in Section A, a half mile away and beyond the range of their walkie talkies. Adoption was slow at first, but by the end of the day there were buckets and buckets of IM messages going back and forth. The most exciting part of the day was when we completed extracting the registration information from the local SQL database and sent it to the east coast to be merged with the larger shelter-wide system. THERE WERE 2,000 UNIQUE RECORDS IN OUR DATA. We just found 2,000 people, friends and family can come get them now!!! We helped streamline the volunteer intake area and Daryl printed volunteer name tags to reduce manual labor and add some authenticity which encourages volunteers to register and take roles where they are needed most.
It's a jack-of-all-trades job. There is no task that can be declined. fixed the copier twice, routed literally hundreds of people, searched for lost family members, helped a gentleman find new clothes and played soccer with the kids. still trying to get a phone installed in the medical section so that the staff can call primary care physicians with questions, get the fuser in the other copier replaced and create a new missing persons area with machines. And tomorrow (hopefully) we're helping the volunteer coordinator and volunteer trainer update their training to include some more detail about the new tools and technology.
The IT Director for the City of San Antonio thanked Microsoft in person today when he came to visit 1536. He had a lot of praise for how the network has gone from buried to booming. And I can't describe the thanks we've been given from the hurricane victims for helping out. Thanks everybody. Your generosity is doing great work here.
Day 2, soundly completed[Philip] Today was absolutely action-packed. We started early, and ended around 9pm (Guy went longer and started earlier!). Now that we understand the environment a lot better, we were each able to be much more effective today. A ton of stuff was accomplished.
Guy's goal for the day was to get a registration system working for lending items out of a central facility. To start, his application will track walkie-talkies; in the long run, we expect it will be expanded to track all sorts of items. After a long day of implementation, Guy is now ready for our first usability test. Tomorrow morning, we will test the software with real volunteers here, and incorporate feedback before deployment.
Pete worked in Kelly 1536 today, which is a veritable madhouse of excitement. I'm hoping he'll tell you all about it soon, so I'll leave the Good Stuff(TM) to him.
I spent the day focused on several goals: 1) arranging with Red Cross and Robert/Cris to ensure that more tablets are delivered asap, 2) working with all other IT folks here to create order out of the chaos that's here (it's a fascinating study into organizations / etc, but I won't bore you unless you specifically requset the details), 3) determining the right solution to automating the volunteer sign-in / sign-out process, which is currently a mess. All three fronts were vastly improved today.
We are all feeling a lot more like we're fully leveraged here. Instead of asking folks what to do, folks are actually coming to us now with questions. :)
Many of the great volunteers here have expressed their continued appreciation for the work that MPD and Microsoft are doing here. Representative quote: "It's so great that Microsoft is here to help -- you guys are awesome!"
Thanks to all of you in Redmond that are making this possible. People here are truly grateful for what you're doing, and furthermore, they really need Microsoft here. We (the collective Microsoft "we") have added a ton of value. 11 September Day 2 in full swing[Philip] We began Day 2 at 10am today, with Pete in Kelly 1536, and Guy and Philip in Kelly 171. We are going full steam on several fronts:
Real families are being helped by the machines and support we've provided. It's hard to convey fully the thanks that have been expressed to the MPD team; suffice it to say that folks here are very grateful, and they repeatedly thank MPD for its generosity in making this possible. A full day comes to an end[Philip] We have completed an intense first day at Kelly Air Force Base. It was quite a learning experience for us. In a way, it was much different than we expected. We came here expecting a master plan, of which we would play a part; what we found instead was a loose federation of independent decision makers, and not necessarily a clear action plan (at least when it comes to the use of IT in the field). We were able to contribute both expertise and hardware to help the relief effort, but at times during the day we felt a bit adrift.
Going into tomorrow, we will actively try to establish and implement a good plan, instead of trying to find what existing plan there may be. In some ways, you just have to make things happen down here. Everyone wants to help, but not everyone knows how. We need to be part of providing that solution, especially with our expertise.
Tomorrow, Guy will begin developing an application that will eliminate a time-consuming manual process at the front desks of the shelters: checking things in and out. Instead of tracking items on paper, we'll provide the desks at the shelters with an automated way to track when things are loaned out and returned. The head of the Red Cross at Kelly Air Force Base asked us to do this, and we're excited to be able to help.
Meanwhile, Pete will continue building out "Kelly 1536," while I'll support "Kelly 171." 10 September Tablets networked, data collection beginning[Philip] We now have about 10 tablets set up with network connectivity at two sites. Pete and Guy, at Kelly 1537, have set up three machines to be used by volunteers. One of the machines is being used as a mobile machine by a medical volunteer on the shelter floor.
The nine remaining tablets are being used as desktop-replacement workstations where volunteers will enter the boxes of information (names, addresses, contact info) gathered from those affected by the hurricane. Some will also be used to register the folks who are still streaming in.
We've just now established a wireless network at the Missing Persons Department. Most of the network topology is evolving, without much top-down design. As a result, it's a fragile and exploratory environment -- you have to be network-adventurous to survive here.
You can see where we're working via Virtual Earth: http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?ss=kelly%20air%20force%20base&cp=29.383495|-98.564995&style=h&lvl=15&v=1. Guy and Pete are at the massive building at the corner of Ives and Davy Crockett, in the northwest of the image. I'm at the large building on Quentin Roosevelt Rd, south of Lindeburg Park.
The environment here is amazing. Warehouses full of cots, with people everywhere. Purell being used by volunteers like it's going out of style (we brought 2 liters -- I'll try gurgling some soon). Police keeping the peace. At Guy and Pete's location, there is -- I am not making this up -- karaoke. Fully integrated and working![Philip] We have now started work at the Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, where there are multiple shelters needing technology assistance. Guy and Pete are helping out at Central Command, while Philip is working at the Missing Persons Department.
We have set up 7 tablets already and are in the process of getting them connected to the wireless network. The local Red Cross and volunteers have been very grateful for Microsoft's help, and everybody is pitching in wherever necessary.
We are still gauging the technology needs here. There are so many things that need to be done in order to make all of the volunteers effective. Already, we see SharePoint being used as a central repository for documents and data. Today and tomorrow, we will continue setting up and integrating the tablets we've already brought, as well as figure out the any additional needs for more machines.
Other technology workers have been visibly excited to see and use a tablet in person! It's great to see our work being put to use in such a cause.
Flight en-route[Philip, 11:03PM PDT] We
are now on board Delta 616 to Atlanta. Fortunately, another team
at Microsoft donated some shipping crates which are now protecting the
~15 tablets we are bringing to San Antonio (thanks to Julie and Cris
for picking those up!). You might be surprised at how much our
ultra-light tablets weigh:
09 September Initial machines ready to go![Philip] With a ton of help from the Lab, we have imaged on the order of 25 tablets today. Of those, 10 will be shipped next-day-air to the Houston office. In Houston, there are a ton of volunteers and "boxes and boxes" of papers that need to be entered into databases, but there are few portable computers. The tablets we ship there will be used by the volunteers to enter in vital data concerning those affected by the hurricane. Mahan is -- as we speak -- driving the box of 10 tablets to a UPS location to get them shipped out in time.
Folks like Cris, Mahan, the entire Lab, Julie, Roxanna, Guy, and Pete have been running around the whole day securing tablets, shipping crates, bubble wrap, labels, etc. It's been exciting watching it all come together. Thanks to everyone who pitched in today to help get things on track. We'll be hand-carrying about 15 tablets to San Antonio, on a red-eye through Atlanta (those of you with a keen sense of geography will appreciate the mind-boggling nature of this last-minute route).
I continue to do needs-assessment with our Houston and San Antonio offices. We have OEMs that Robert and Bill have convinced to donate tablets alongside us, but I want to be careful that we finalize those additional donations only when we've clearly established the specific needs and uses for those machines. Once we're on the ground in San Antonio tomorrow morning, we'll be better able to assess the needs and order the right machines.
Flight leaves at 10:11pm, going through Atlanta and arriving in San Antonio around 8am. Plenty to arrange before then.
Thanks for all the emails of support that've flowed in throughout the day. We really appreciate all the folks who volunteered to be available over the weekend in Redmond, in case of dire emergencies. Your help means a lot! Team MPD gearing up for launch[Philip] Through the generous support of Bill, Peter, and the
Haiku, Laptop, and Tablet teams, the Mobile Platforms Division is
sending out a small team of support engineers to San Antonio to help
the hurricane relief efforts. Earlier this week, we established contact with several MCS offices in Houston and San Antonio. Here are the needs at those sites:
Furthermore, we are sending three MPD team members to represent us on-site. Many members of MPD graciously volunteered their time to help this cause. We've chosen to send the first three volunteers as "Team MPD": Guy, Pete, and Philip will take a red-eye out to San Antonio tonight (Friday), arriving on Saturday in time to take the afternoon shift at a few of the shelters. They'll take with them the first batch of 20+ tablets which the MPD Lab has helped put together. It's because of the generosity of the entire Mobile Platforms Division that we're able to send both computers and support staff to the affected sites. Many people have volunteered their time in order to support Team MPD in going. We thank you for your generosity in giving us the opportunity to represent you to those affected by the hurricane. Team MPD blog established[Philip] This blog has been established for the purposes of
keeping the Mobile Platforms Division folks up-to-date on the support
that they're giving towards Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Each entry is prefaced with the name of the author. Only first names will be used, in order to protect identities. In the same vein, we will also not mention by name the OEMs and 3rd parties that are helping. |
|
|
