"This is the second time in five years I've eaten from a Red Cross truck...

and I don't like it." So said an oysterman to me today.

First Hurricane Katrina and now the BP oil spill. It really does feel like too much. A man named Jason told me this today. "Well, I was a wholesaler / retailer." He buys fish from the boats and re sells it in New Orleans. But today Jason spoke of his livelihood in the past tense. What else can we think when oil is gushing into our Gulf of Mexico?

These are the stories that we are mapping: http://www.oilspill.labucketbrigade.org/ ; via (504) 27 27 OIL

There are two dynamics happening on this, day three of our Oil Spill Crisis Map. I thought it might be helpful to the larger community to elucidate them. We have a great team at the Louisiana Bucket Brigade: Mariko, Shannon, Anna, Clayton and I, along with much guidance and support from Tulane University's Zach Holden and Dr.'s Nancy Mock and Nathan Morrow.

Item One: Coordinating aid in a disaster zone

In Hurricane Katrina's aftermath I recall watching an aid worker in a truck of some kind - Red Cross or World Vision - drive by and just look at me out of their window. Me, a hurricane victim! But at its best aid empowers local people, and so many organizations did this after Hurricane Katrina. Our newspaper - The Times Picayune - ran a headline on the first anniversary of the storm. It was a giant THANK YOU for all of the help. We needed it then and we need it now.

As with Katrina, lots of organizations have come in, and this is true regarding mapping. We are trying to coordinate many different sets of people doing many different things. I am reminded of the piece that Patrick wrote regarding an SMS Code of Conduct for Humanitarian Response. Yes, one is needed, but perhaps it's not so different from whatever the code of conduct is for Humanitarian Response in general.

Some sort of Code might be especially useful for disasters here in the U.S. While disasters in other parts of the world have barriers of geography and language, this U.S. based disaster is comparably accessible. And so there are potentially more players to manage. In this case, managing all of these players has been nearly as challenging as dealing with this oil spill. If I am not mistaken, this is the first time Ushahidi has been deployed for a U.S. disaster. I know it has been used for crime maps in Atlanta and Snowmaggedon in D.C., but this is the first U.S. disaster response. Am I right? You learn a lot by being first!

One note to those who help people in disaster zones: don't be too high tech. Some of the tools being offered are just too fancy to be utilized by real people. Other people are so bogged down in tech speak that we can't understand what they are saying.

Item two: Populating the map

We have another long day tomorrow and it's already 12:30. I'll finish this tomorrow.

Thanks for all of the help, advice and good wishes. The spirit of the Crisis Mappers is important to us - I love the vibe and the appreciation of what is happening on the ground. On this ground now we are expecting oil. And shrimpers stand around waiting as Red Cross trucks drive up and offer lunch. No one wants to take it. Sometimes, though, you just don't have a choice.

Anne