Date: Wed Jan 12 2011 - 12:10:49 EST
<http://www.rapidftr.com/> Description: home
. <http://www.rapidftr.com/who-we-are> Who We Are
. <http://www.rapidftr.com/blog> Blog
. <http://www.rapidftr.com/developer> Developer Info
. <http://www.rapidftr.com/faq> FAQ
. <http://www.rapidftr.com/participate> How To Help
. <http://www.rapidftr.com/contact> Contact
Description: frontpage
What is RapidFTR?
RapidFTR helps aid workers collect, sort and share photographs and
information about children in emergency situations so they can be registered
for care services and reunited with their families. A team of ITP students
dreamed up and designed the system and are now working with
<http://www.unicef.org/> UNICEF and volunteer developers from
<http://thoughtworks.com> ThoughtWorks and around the world to build and
deploy the system.
Why is it needed?
In times of crisis families get separated and dispersed. Children are easily
lost, especially in places with limited infrastructure and lines of
communication. Because every day apart from family is crucial to the well
being of a child, aid organizations devote lots of time and effort to
bringing these families back together through a process called Family
Tracing and Reunification.
We think of RapidFTR as "faster paper" because it speeds up and streamlines
Family Tracing and Reunification efforts, but does not replace them.
How does it work?
RapidFTR is a mobile phone application and data storage system that allows
for quick input of a child's photo and essential details. This information
is uploaded to a central database whenever network access becomes available
so aid workers can register children in their care, and search existing
entries to help distressed parents find their missing children.
Initial development is focused on building an API and web interface. We have
also begun development of on-phone applications for multiple mobile
platforms.
