Digital Platform Use for Refugee Crisis Response

Increases in forced migration crises and the digitalization of humanitarian response require ongoing innovation in information management tools and processes. Our research-in-progress examines emergent data aggregation and data quality management methods enabled by a humanitarian data sharing platform from the Global North. Through an international and inter-regional comparison of this platform's use, our team of international faculty will generate insights for humanitarian informatics theory as well as practice. Specifically, our research examines the role of power and control in collaborative humanitarian operations. Given the neocolonial dimensions of the humanitarian system, we also explore potential North/South divides and their effects. Preliminary results provide insight into power exercised in national response, diversity in aggregation procedures related to technology and staff preferences, and the loss of data's meaning due to the centralization processes supported by data aggregation.