Russell Deffner
Voting MemberBoardSecretary
Bio
I was introduced to Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) at the State of the Map 2011 event and began actively contributing in 2012, primarily through the tasking manager. Over the years, I have been deeply involved in various aspects of HOT's initiatives and projects. In 2013, I played a key role in writing the Code of Conduct and participated in several Working Groups, contributing to fostering a positive and inclusive community within HOT. Later in 2013, I was honoured to be selected as the Junior Coordinator for the Mapping Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia project. As part of this project, I spent four weeks in the field, providing training and actively participating in the mapping efforts. In recognition of my dedication and contributions, at the beginning of 2014, I was nominated to become a member of HOT and was subsequently elected as the Chairperson for the Voting Members, taking on a leadership role within the organization. In 2015, I was re-elected for a second term as Chairperson, further solidifying my commitment to the HOT community. Additionally, I was selected as the Activation Curriculum Specialist, where I utilized my expertise to develop and enhance HOT's activation (disaster mapping) procedures and guidelines. In late 2016, I was appointed as the Project Manager for the Eliminate Malaria Mapping Campaign. This project marked a significant milestone for HOT, covering a vast geographic area of 560,000 square kilometres across seven countries. Through this campaign, we digitized every building in the specified region, aiding in the fight against malaria. Following the successful completion of the malaria campaign, I took on the role of Project Manager for the Facebook AI-Assisted Road Mapping project. I was involved in this initiative from 2017 to 2020, and we leveraged artificial intelligence to complete the road network in several countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and select areas in Haiti. Throughout my tenure with HOT, I also actively served as the Disaster Mapping Coordinator both as a volunteer and staff member. In this capacity, I led and participated in various teams to ensure the efficient flow of geospatial information from the crowd to first responders and aid agencies during times of crisis. In 2018, fate smiled upon me at the State of the Map - Milan conference when I met my future wife. In 2019, we got married and started a family, welcoming our son into the world. In the same year, during the response to Cyclone Idai, the Humanitarian To Humanitarian (H2H) Network was launched. This significant event marked the first time we received funding for incident response since the establishment of our modern definition of Disaster Mapping. Subsequently, in 2020, we secured a long-term commitment from H2H for COVID mapping, which allowed us to scale up our program. With additional support from the Audacious Project, we were able to expand and recruit regional disaster associates in our hub-offices to strengthen our capabilities further. From 2020-2023, the focus of my work shifted from global disaster mapping towards building capacity in local communities to respond to their own disasters. Although this eventually led to the conclusion of my role as global disaster response coordinator, I could not be prouder to see many local communities, with the support of the Disaster Managers in the regional hubs, standing up their own teams and responding on their own. Overall, my journey with HOT has been incredibly fulfilling, and I am happy to continue supporting the mission as a volunteer and voting member.
Posts
Validators: Experienced Mappers Making an Outsized Contribution
Validators serve an essential role in ensuring data quality and providing feedback to new mappers. Learn how validation works and how you can become a validator.
Building a Global Network to Map for COVID-19 Response
With support from the Humanitarian-to-Humanitarian Network, HOT has engaged the global humanitarian mapping community to support local Covid-19 responses in the biggest disaster activation in HOT's history.
1 Year & 1 Hundred-Thousand Kilometers with HOT & Facebook
Partnering with Facebook, the HOT Indonesia team has added about 125,000 kilometers (80,000 miles) of road to Indonesia so far.
Local Indonesia OSM Chapter teams up with HOT and Facebook to improve road coverage in Indonesia.
HOT has been mapping Indonesia for disaster preparedness and resiliency since 2011. However, there is still a lot of road network missing outside the major cities. Learn how the local community is working with Facebook to fill in the gaps using artificial intelligence tools.
OSM Puerto Rico Emerges Stronger and Ready to Help Rebuild!
As Hurricane Maria‘s winds and rain battered our home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, among the many thoughts that bounced in my head in those long hours was wondering about the people living in the mountainous regions of the island. The winding roads, heavy foliage, cliffs, bridges and terrain susceptible to landslides could make it the worst place to be in during such a powerful storm. Many small communities on those mountains would become isolated for weeks.
World Health Day 2017: show your support by mapping for malaria
Malaria is a disease that affects millions of people around the world, particularly children under 5 and women. Malaria is prevalent in some of the most unmapped places. Malaria is a preventable and curable disease, but currently organisations do not have detailed data on the number of vulnerable people in an area, which reduces their ability to respond. Malaria spreads through mosquito bites, and if you can prevent bites, you can reduce the spread of infection. This means that you need to know where those vulnerable to malaria live, so you can spray their homes with insecticide or distribute bednets. This way you can save more lives, more quickly.
Mapping Ulaanbaatar with Asia Foundation
Recently we had a very pleasant surprise to be contacted by Nicholas Doiron, who Project Coordinator, Severin Menard, knew from previous work including in Haiti. Nick, now working with Asia Foundation alongside Michelle Chang, knew about the HOT Mapping Ulaanbaatar project and reached out for advice as the Asia Foundation planned an OpenStreetMap Mapathon competition.
Mongolia - Mapping Ulaanbaatar Update - Welcome Interns!
It is our pleasure to welcome a group of student interns from the Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST) to the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) as stewards for the Mapping Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia project we began in 2013. The project is a collaboration between HOT, the World Bank, nonprofit research group ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) and the city of Ulaanbaatar to create and maintain a map of the city within OpenStreetMap (OSM).
