■ How did you become involved in HOT?
I became involved with HOT in 2014 after joining the American Red Cross GIS team and seeing the incredible mapping work that took place in response to the Ebola outbreak.
■ Could you tell us about your involvement in HOT, mapping and/or humanitarian response?
I’ve taken part in tracing, supporting mapathons, and volunteer field trainings as part of the Missing Maps project and for Red Cross programs in various countries, including Rwanda, Haiti, and Nepal. I will be helping to lead a new Red Cross mapping hub and cross-border mapping initiatives in West Africa, and I just finished a deployment for information management / mapping as part of the Red Cross response to the migration/refugee crisis in Europe.
■ What does HOT mean to you?
As an active user of OSM data for disaster and preparedness mapping, I really appreciate the value of the open data that HOT creates (not just for enabling response efforts, but also just for showing that a community exists) and how HOT has created a way for people around the world to contribute in a meaningful way after a disaster strikes.
■ Why do you want to be a voting member?
I’d like to become more involved and engaged with the community.
■ As a voting member of HOT what do you see as your most important responsibility?
Being a team player – keeping in mind that we are all working towards the same goals and balancing a desire to respond in a certain way with the need to be sensitive to different perspectives and ways of working.
■ How do you plan to be involved in HOT as a voting member?
I will do my best to contribute during HOT activations throughout the year, will continue to promote open data and open source methods in my day-to-day mapping role at the American Red Cross, and will consciously strive to be inclusive and welcoming to new mappers in the HOT community.
■ What do you see as HOT's greatest challenge and how do you plan to help HOT meet that challenge?
I don’t know that this is HOT’s “greatest challenge”, but I know remote mapping has its limitations so I’m especially interested in ways to increase community engagement in the field and promote sustainable, long-term mapping efforts. Many HOT members have been really successful at this, so I’m interested first to learn more from these members and then to give back over time as the Red Cross starts up its mapping hub in West Africa and gains insight from its experiences along the way.