---
id: "govlab:project/project-smarter-crowdsourcing-cotopaxi"
type: "GovLab project"
title: "Smarter Crowdsourcing Cotopaxi"
url: "https://thegovlab.org/project/project-smarter-crowdsourcing-cotopaxi"
authors: ["Beth Simone Noveck","Dino Cantú-Pedraza"]
summary: "How can targeted crowdsourcing help the City of Quito, Ecuador get smarter about how to prepare for a likely volcano eruption?"
source: "The GovLab (thegovlab.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Smarter Crowdsourcing Cotopaxi

How can targeted crowdsourcing help the City of Quito, Ecuador get smarter about how to prepare for a likely volcano eruption?

Project website: [http://cotopaxi.smartercrowdsourcing.org/](http://cotopaxi.smartercrowdsourcing.org/)

## Background

Through a curated call for help to global experts, the GovLab Academy organized a series of online advice and mentoring sessions to help the city of Quito get smarter about how to prepare for the then (September 2015) likely eruption of the Cotopaxi Volcano.

## Description

The online sessions had the intention to help the city of Quito: better define and understand the nature of the problem; help connect those people with relevant experience and know how to city officials to help Quito better manage the impending disaster; identify innovative and practical ways, especially using new technology, to tackle the challenge at hand; and, last but not least, find out ways to do things differently and potentially save lives by optimizing resources and financing solutions for the ow for money to be spent on what matters most.

## Results and impact

This project was the first effort to solicit expertise and help for emergency response before the disaster happens. 65 international experts self-selected themselves to join online coaching sessions and help the City of Quito leverage their expertise on specific problems like:

## Location

- Quito, Ecuador

## Partners

- Secretary General for Planning and Open Government of Quito
- LINQ Lab

## Team

- [Beth Simone Noveck](https://thegovlab.org/team.html#beth-simone-noveck)
- [Dino Cantú-Pedraza](https://thegovlab.org/team.html#dinorah-cantu-pedraza)

## Additional resources

- [Latest images of the Cotopaxi Volcano provided by Ministerio Coordinador Seguridad Ecuador](https://www.flickr.com/photos/coordinacionseguridadecuador/sets/72157657373794816)
- [Cotopaxi Keeps Rumbling as Ecuador Prepares for Eruption](https://www.wired.com/2015/08/cotopaxi-continues-rumble-ecuador-prepares-eruption/)
- [Donu2019t know where to go when the volcano blows? Crowdsource it.](http://thrivingearthexchange.org/dont-know-where-to-go-when-the-volcano-blows-crowdsource-it/)
- [As Cotopaxi awakens, Quito and its suburbs get ready for a volcanic eruption](http://citiscope.org/story/2016/cotopaxi-awakens-quito-and-its-suburbs-get-ready-volcanic-eruption#sthash.DwVMCfrN.h8gP6boG.dpuf)
- [Online Call For Experts on Innovations in Disaster Management](http://thegovlab.org/crowdsourcing-innovations-in-disaster-management-for-cotopaxi/)
- [Communication regarding the first online session by the Innovation Laboratory Quito-LINQ](http://linq.quito.gob.ec/en/first-session-of-cotopaxi-coaching-workshop-by-linq-and-new-york-innovation-lab-govlab/)