This weekend, CILD will be in New York for the 2016 Personal Democracy Forum, the renowned annual conference on analysing the impact of the Internet on politics and society. We will take part in the panel titled “At the End of Every Data Point is a Human Being: Technology for the Global Refugee Crisis”.

During this workshop, we will discuss the important and complex role that technology can play in delivering innovative solutions to what is undoubtedly the biggest humanitarian crisis of our age.

It will also be an unmissable opportunity to present our project called Open Migration.

How can we hack the refugee crisis?

A vital question to ask ourselves is, how can members of the media and technology communities contribute to help solve this crisis?

The answers that have been currently put forward tend to consider refugees only as victims and passive parts of the equation, barely involved in the decision process at all. However, this paradigm needs to change. We cannot find an efficient solution if we fail to involve all stakeholders.

What do refugees spread around the world practically need, and how can we provide solid answers to their needs? How can the “civic tech” community devise a plan of action on the short and long distance that can grant a positive and practical impact?

This topic will be thoroughly analysed by Antonella Napolitano, along with distinguished speakers such as Lina Srivastava (director of Regarding Humanity), Sarnata Reynolds (international attorney, specialist on refugee rights law and director of Strategy for Humanity), Yvette Alberdingk Thijm (director of Witness) and Abdi Nor Iftin (member of The Telling Room, who will tell his experience as a refugee).

Photo by Ars Electronica via Flickr Creative Commons