What is the one thing that will unleash the power of ICT for disaster response? Openness. Open architectures and open collaborations. A recent report by the Harvard Law School (developed in collaboration with 13 governments, many NGOs, IBM and other IT partners), outlines five principles for creating an open ICT environment, and spells out the benfits with examples. It's worth a read because the implications go much further than disaster response, and is actually entertaiing to read! Imagine that!