Discussion group. Therefore, I'm cross-posting it and urging that any
replies go to the Discussion group. (If you're not a member there, please do
join.)
========================================
This takes us back to the various discussions we've had in various groups
about the relative usefulness/appropriate applications of technology.
1. Yahoo! Groups are fine for people who are:
a) In front of an email-receiving device
b) Are not in need of consistently prompt reports on any event.
Just yesterday on another group, reports of a fire were actually sent by YG
eleven hours after they were originally emailed. For our purposes here,
that's not acceptable, but we're stuck with that if we stay here.
The fact is, though, that discounting YG's issues, email is inherently not
the best medium for instant communications. (In fact, IMO, its greatest
advantage is that it's asynchronous--the writer writes when convenient, and
the reader reads whenever convenient.)
2. Other options now exist (which, btw, didn't exist or weren't widely used,
when CD was started) which provide immediate communications:
a) Phone: Major disadvantage is that phone is inherently one-to-one,
although there are conference calls (grouping a few onto one call) and
officials have the option of Reverse-911. (Need for callee to be available
is no longer an issue, due to cellphones.)
b) Texting: Ditto above, although I believe "text-blasting"
(one-message-to-many-people) is possible.
c) Twitter, et al: Essentially a one-to-many medium (I'm not familiar
enough to know if there's feedback/response capability). Pretty immediate.
Requires presence of cellphone. Possible downside is risk of being inundated
with Tweets.
More and more, emergency management functions are turning to Twitter. Would
have done a lot more good at the VMI sniping than did email. Some folks on
this list consider Twitter to be the greatest thing since sliced bread;
others don't doubt it but have been slow getting on the bandwagon.
My personal opinion on the issue is that each of us will need to decide for
him/herself which media are appropriate/helpful for his/her own situation.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kim Noyes" <kimnoyes@gmail.com>
To: "CaliforniaDisasters" <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 9:25 AM
Subject: [californiadisasters] Social Media Networks & Emergency
Preparedness
Storm warningBy Hal Newman
Emergency preparedness redefined: While all emergencies remain local, the
use of social networking and wisdom sharing communities allow for remote
real-time access to lifesaving expertise.
"America is waiting for a message of some sort or another…" is how the
Byrne/Eno album 'My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts' begins. And yet, I'm pretty
sure the message sent from my home office in Pte-Claire, Quebec to my friend
in Stillwater, Oklahoma wasn't exactly what they had in mind.
"Get below ground now!" I texted as I watched the rotating supercell on
Doppler radar close on Payne County.
While the threat of severe weather had been widely discussed by
meteorologists on local and national weather programming, the focus of local
Oklahoma television coverage was on tornado warnings for the Oklahoma City
metro area.
Knowing my friends in Stillwater were likely tuned into Oklahoma City TV
news to watch their live weather coverage, I had added those stations to the
TEMS bank of news, social media and public safety radio feeds I was
monitoring. I watched, along with everyone in the Oklahoma City metro
region, as an intense series of storms with a history of producing tornadoes
closed on the city limits.
That's right about the time when several feeds from storm chasers and storm
watchers began chattering about a supercell thunderstorm headed directly
towards Stillwater. I glanced over at the television coverage out of
Oklahoma City. No mention of the danger for Stillwater. I sent a few emails
to Dave advising him to make preparations to take shelter imminently.
The chatter from the storm watchers and the view on Doppler radar quickly
grew much more ominous as the storms exploded in size and intensity. "Get
below ground now, Dave!"
There were 7 adults, almost a dozen children, and several dogs and cats who
safely rode out that storm together in a backyard shelter in Stillwater.
Afterwards, Dave sent me an enote thanking me for watching out for his
family. He confirmed that local coverage did not pick up on the storm
threatening their city until it was right on top of them.
I've travelled all over the United States although I've never made it to
Stillwater, Oklahoma. Through web cam frames it looks like a nice university
town. Via shared photos on Facebook, I was able to look at the inground
tornado shelter buried in the backyard of Dave's neighbor's home. By email
extension, I've been virtually introduced to his in-laws, their two aging
dogs - and many of the neighbors and their kids and pets. And with the help
of an ad-hoc network woven together in minutes instead of days or months, I
was able to help ensure their safety.
That's one helluva statement about the ROI on nurturing networks for
emergency managers.
Emergency preparedness redefined: While all emergencies remain local, the
use of social networking and wisdom sharing communities allow for remote
access to lifesaving expertise.
Be well. Practice big medicine.
Source: http://www.igloosoftware.com/blogs/expertcorner/stormwarning
------------------------------------
Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
californiadisasters-digest@yahoogroups.com
californiadisasters-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
californiadisasters-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment