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New disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials: walkie-talkie net
By WDavidStephenson | November 20, 2007
My newest, and in many ways, favorite “disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials” is now up on YouTube.While other tips have dealt with cool new technologies such as wikis and mesh networks, this one’s the ultimate low-tech fallback for when all the cool stuff fails. It’s an ad hoc community network that uses cheap FRS radios (AKA walkie-talkies) you can pick up a drug store or at the mall. CONTINUED….
Topics: technology, empowering public, collaboration, networked security | |
« For less-stressful Thanksgiving travel, follow the rules and repeat after me… | Home | New disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials: walkie-talkie net »
New disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials: walkie-talkie net
By WDavidStephenson | November 20, 2007
My newest, and in many ways, favorite “disaster tip you WON’T hear from officials” is now up on YouTube.While other tips have dealt with cool new technologies such as wikis and mesh networks, this one’s the ultimate low-tech fallback for when all the cool stuff fails. It’s an ad hoc community network that uses cheap FRS radios (AKA walkie-talkies) you can pick up a drug store or at the mall.
The model is the District of Columbia Emergency Radio Network (DCERN), organized not by a technologist or emergency communication specialist, but by DC literary agent Bill Adler, who had a hunch that the walkie-talkies families used in 2001 to communicate at amusement parks, etc. (2001, boys and girls, was a time long ago when 10-year olds didn’t all carry camera phones and text incessantly — trust me, it’s true!).One night a month, volunteers fan out over DC (and, I believe, adjacent Maryland suburbs), all tune their walkie-talkies to the same channel, and relay messages to test the system.It ain’t sophisticated, and you WON’T hear about it from officials — but it works. Start one in YOUR neighborhood today!
Technorati tags: homeland security War on Terror technology crowd-sourcing wisdom of crowds crowdsourcing smart mobs swarm intelligence emergent behavior networked homeland security collaboration District of Columbia Emergency Radio Network DCERN homeland security 2.0 disaster management 2.0 disaster management District of Columbia disaster planning disaster planning 2.0 walkie-talkie
Topics: policy and politics | |
