CrisisCommons, a volunteer technology community, in collaboration with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation would like to invite academic institutions to participate in roundtable discussion to explore lessons learned from 2010 disasters such as the Haiti and Chile earthquakes and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill, collaboration opportunities and potential challenges with sustainability/engagement with volunteer technology communities.

This event will be held in the 6th Floor Conference Room at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars which is located within the Ronald Reagan Center. Directions to the Center can be found by visiting this page.

Many of academic institutions are already working with the Commons or have expressed interested in how Universities can work together within the Commons, especially to be able to utilize real time data, develop research projects and most importantly be an added resource for response organizations and governments during times or places of crisis. As you know from Haiti, Chile and now the Oil Spill there are many ways where universities, their resources and knowledge base can augment the support to response organizations (government and non profits) as well as work within the "long tail" to promote needed research requested by these organizations or as results of lessons learned from previous disasters. The CrisisCommons Academic Consortium seeks to better understand this linkage and create partnerships before a crisis happens.

This event will be webcast via UStream by clicking here at 3:45PM (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/crisiscommons-academic-roundtable). Join in the conversation on PiratePad here(http://piratepad.net/s5uOjxVZgn) and on Twitter @CrisisCommons

CrisisCommons will be presenting the development of a formal CrisisCommons Academic Consortium at the International CrisisCongress as a priority initiative to better align and matrix expertise, policy development and technical resources from volunteer technology communities and academic institutions. 

This roundtable will also provide an opportunity for academia to provide input into the development of the CrisisCommons Road Map and Strategic Framework. As one in a series of roundtables on July 15th, comments and discussion will be shared via webcast and will work to inform discussions at the First International CrisisCongress being held the following day at the World Bank.