The Challenge | Don’t Forget the Can Opener!
WarnMe! Social Disaster Relief
WarnMe! is a disaster relief social network that allows its users to help each other instead of waiting solely for the government or NGOs. It transforms social network data into actionable information against both natural and man-made disasters.
WarnMe! is a disaster relief social network that gets real-time disaster data from both its users and official sources. This allows users to get a richer mix of information, useful in countries that have ineffective governments or biased information. It transforms social network data into actionable information against both natural and man-made disasters. With WarnMe, we want to use such information to reduce the negative impact of disasters and make recovery faster and cheaper.
Key Features
WarnMe! marries individual user information and quantitative information from disasters. There are numerous kinds of natural and man-made disasters, with each requiring possibly different preparation and relief methods. WarnMe allows each disaster to be categorized and mapped so that each person can be given personalized information for him be able to make the correct actions more quickly.
Offline Mode
Most disaster apps don't work during a disaster as there is no internet. WarnMe! has an offline mode that allows users to access cached map and location data for them to know the last known location of their loved ones or danger spots.
Decentralized Nature and Business Model
Unlike current social networks like Facebook and Linkedin which are centralized into a single huge server, WarnMe servers are decentralized and deployed in each town or city. Users can choose which server they are registered in, choosing the server owner that they can trust with their personal data. Unlike Facebook, they have full control of their data. The server owner provides the WarnMe service in exchange for advertising revenue like Facebook or by getting a share of donations during a disaster.
Progress Web Apps: The Best of Both Worlds
Social networks depend on having a huge number of registered users and monthly active users. To have many users while keeping features like GPS and offline ability, we use progressive web apps (PWAs). With PWAs, users do not need to install any apps on their phones yet can get push notifications in order to keep them going back to the app.
Future Development
WarnMe servers cost a mere $5 per month to deploy. To make it sustainable, we will develop its donation system which will allow its server-owners to earn more revenue to increase its user base.
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Sources:
Online demo:
Git Hub Repo:
https://github.com/jundalisay/warnme
Technologies used:
- Ruby on Rails
- Progressive Web App Service Worker
- Virtual Private Server
SpaceApps is a NASA incubator innovation program.