Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT)

Building on the IEEE theme of Advancing Technology for Humanity, the Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology will endeavor to promote activities which use sustainable technologies to benefit the most vulnerable sections of humanity.Special Interest Groups on Humanitarian Technology are be the IEEE entities targeted and dedicated towards humanitarian activities. They will serve the purpose of identification, categorization and inventory of all IEEE Humanitarian Activities.

Objective of SIGHT

• To promote the mission of IEEE regarding Humanitarian Activities, particularly,
• To bring together members / IEEE OU’s working in or wishing to work in humanitarian fields and to encourage and promote them in activities which use humanitarian technologies by giving them an opportunity for participation.
• To engage with NGOs, Civil Society Organizations, UN Organizations, Corporates and other similar bodies to synergize efforts in delivering useful and sustainable technologies in their operations.
• To work with other bodies in the Engineering Fraternity who have similar goals and help each other in delivering to the ideals and participate in joint activities like E4C.

1.1 Motivation

SIGHT is an inclusive program to involve IEEE membership in the efforts to fulfill the IEEE's tagline "Advancing Technology for the benefit of Humanity." Based on leveraging Web 2.0 technologies SIGHTs provide a virtual and elastic mechanism for the creation of groups of interest within the IEEE without geographical barriers and administrative overheads.

1.2 Benefits of forming a SIGHT

SIGHTs offer a new way of collaboration in IEEE to initiate and/or contribute to the humanitarian projects with a vision to sustain and scale them. The online nature and presence of the SIGHTs will enable better visibility thus fostering new members across the world. Unlike current IEEE OUs, SIGHTs support members from multiple geographic locations which can enable scaling of the projects. Also, since a SIGHT follows the annual volunteer leadership cycle like the current IEEE OUs, the projects of the SIGHT will be sustained.

2. Requisites to form an SIGHT:

1) 6 or more IEEE Members in good standing and passionate in humanitarian activities centered on one or more above interest areas. They can be geographically anywhere.

2) The prospective SIGHT will need to have an affiliation with some IEEE OU (Section, Society Chapter, Affinity Group, Student Branch).  The chairman of that OU needs to approve the formation.

3) The prospective SIGHT will need to submit an online application requesting formation of an SIGHT.

4) Each one of the members will need to have a working "@ieee.org" email alias.

2.1 A prospective SIGHT should have:

1. A clearly stated purpose and focus (beneficial group served)

2. Clearly identified leadership (start every SIGHT by identifying capable chair(s))

3. Clearly identified technical, volunteer and local leaders (chair gathers leaders in the area)

4. A pool of dedicated volunteers (chair identifies SIGHT volunteers)

5. A well thought-out plan for maintaining and nurturing the SIGHT

2.2 Procedure to form a SIGHT:

An online form needs to be submitted to form a SIGHT. The proposers shall furnish the following information:

* Proposed name of the SIGHT

* List of proposers and affiliations

* Purpose of SIGHT (what explicit value is provided to the beneficiary group)

* Proposed Chair

* Beneficiary group served

3. Organization of a SIGHT

3.1 SIGHT Chair

The Chair shall be the point of contact to the IEEE for each SIGHT. Chairs shall be selected by the group proposing new SIGHT or, once the SIGHT is established, by the members of that community as established by their own governance structure.

Each Chair shall insure that the SIGHT has

* Identified opinion, technical, volunteer and local leaders

* A pool of dedicated volunteers

* A well thought-out plan for maintaining and nurturing the community 

3.2 SIGHT membership

Any interested IEEE member can join a SIGHT online without any fees, and he/she will have access to the reports, meetings and discussions of a SIGHT. Since SIGHTs are inclusive groups, all members will be part of the mailing lists and are encouraged to contribute towards the discussions and ideas.

4. Activity reports:

The SIGHT needs to submit at least 2 activity reports per year in order to remain active. The activity report forms can be submitted online. In case of less than 2 activity reports in a year, the SIGHT is considered to be inactive. To revive a SIGHT, an online form similar to the SIGHT formation application needs to be submitted.

5. Collaboration platform:

Engineering for Change (E4C) - www.engineeringforchange.org will be the collaboration platform for all the Humanitarian Activities organized by the SIGHT. For each activity, a "Workspace" should be used on the engineeringforchange.org.

This portal will serve the purpose of maintaining the inventory of all the IEEE Humanitarian Activities and will also help in remote participation, collaboration and scaling.

6. List of forms

1) Application to form an SIGHT

2) Activity reporting by a SIGHT

3) Application to join a SIGHT by an IEEE Member

4) Application for Humanitarian Activities funding