Hot Tin Roof » EdgeCase

EdgeCase launches gulfcoastspill.com to aid recovery

Chris — Mon, 17 May 2010 09:56:25 +0000

Scottish web-developers are playing their part in the clean-up effort around The Gulf of Mexico. A social media powered website for the public to collect and share oil spill data has been developed by EdgeCase: gulfcoastspill.com.

The site’s main function is to collect images, videos and reports from people impacted by the spill and to make them available to the public. People can upload images of oil on beaches, injured wildlife and volunteer activities among other things.

The goal of the project is to speed recovery by crowd sourcing information and making this information readily available to recovery teams. It is expected that Gulfcoastspill.com’s data will be used by emergency response teams, wildlife organisations, educational institutions and volunteer groups.

In addition to gathering and displaying reports, Gulfcoastspill.com will also provide information on the spill and recovery tools such as a business income loss calculator.

Paul Wilson, of EdgeCase Scotland and one of the lead developers on the site explains: “The potential of social media to aid the oil spill recovery effort by giving the public a platform to share images and the location of damaged wildlife is amazing.

“Ruby on Rails, the technology behind this website, allowed us to build a powerful social media site and get it live very quickly, so people can start using it. I am extremely excited about the potential of this technology to be rapidly deployed in response to emergency relief operations.”

“Over the coming weeks, we will be adding more and more functionality to the website” he continues. “The site that was launched today is just the first version of what we believe will grow and become a dynamic recovery tool. We hope that people will visit the site frequently to find the latest features and tools.”

Gulfcoastspill.com has been launched by Gulf Coast Spill Coalition, a charity formed in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Technology and web design experts, educators, legal and business professionals and ordinary individuals have come together to form the Gulf Coast Spill Coalition, with the aim of cultivating innovation in the use of technology for mobility and efficiency during crises.

It was developed by EdgeCase, a leading Ruby on Rails software development firm, whose team built the website; Intridea, a technology firm that developed the mobile reporting application; and Engine Yard, a cloud computing and hosting firm. All companies involved have donated their time and resources to the project for free.

Roll up roll up for the greatest show in town

Chris — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:36:40 +0000

The techy carnival is coming to town with TechCrunch and its ‘digital power broker’ Mike Butcher, hooking up with Informatics Ventures for Engage | Invest | Exploit 10 in Edinburgh on 12 May 2010.

This is the first TechCrunch Europe UK event to be held outside of London and its programme has attracted a prestigious line up of speakers and a powerful delegate list of the great and good from Scotland’s tech community.

Informatics Ventures is based in Edinburgh University’s School of Informatics and Engage | Invest | Exploit 10 is its third annual showcase of the most promising, high-growth companies spun out of leading Scottish Universities.

This year’s event will be the biggest to date with an exhibition of 50 start-ups and spin-outs from bio tech, clean tech, social media, gaming and mobile all in one place and in one morning. EIE is Scotland’s biggest opportunity for Informatics entrepreneurs and investors to meet.

During the TechCrunch afternoon sessions, Skyscanner’s Lara Bayley will be presenting on “Why Scotland for Startups?”; followed by fast pitches from some early stage local startups. A panel of entrepreneurs with Adtaily, Onedrum and Cloudsoft will discuss linking Scotland to Europe.

Andrew Nutter looks at “How to turn on an investor”; Rapid Mobile will cover “Mobile innovation in Scotland and finally a panel of investors will discuss “Investing in Tech startups in and beyond Scotland.”

We’ve done a roll call of Hot Tin Roof clients who are attending and we are almost at a 100% hit rate with MoneyDashboard, FreeAgent Central, EdgeCase, Flexiant, Civic and Informatics Ventures (naturally) all signed up. And of course, there’s no show without punch, so we’ll be there too!

Don’t worry – if you haven’t got your tickets yet – it’s not too late – just click here.