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My bet: growing smartphone use will have dramatic impact on disaster response

By WDavidStephenson | April 1, 2008

Smartphones now account for 10% of all cell phone sales, according to research released Monday at the  Smartphone Summit in Vegas (and their sales are about to overtake those for laptops).When that happens, I’m predicting that, among the huge changes having data storage with you at all times will mean, will include major differences for disaster management and terrorism survival. This is an issue near and dear to me. Those with long memories may remember that I got my start in homeland security creating a series of “Terrorism Survival” modules (I no longer maintain them, sadly, since the sales were never enough to justify the expense) that could be downloaded to your smartphone. Users could navigate from the broadest category of preparations or response to extremely detailed information in only 3 clicks. In a worst-case scenario, where users weren’t able to communicate at all, they still had the most important information literally in the palms of their hands (I calculated that having the same information in the original paper forms would have required that each time you left the house in the morning you’d have to heft a 300+ page bundle — and when things went to hell in a handbasket you’d still have to figure out where in that bundle the relevant information was located!). I still get a lot of interest in the concept from disaster management specialists, and I argue that some organization and/or agency should pick up the cost of having a similar product available free to anyone with a smartphone, because it could make such a dramatic change in how we respond to disasters: the more people have information with them at all times, the more they’ll be able to be self-reliant, allowing first responders to concentrate on those in the greatest need of help. It should also increase the chance of significant emergent behavior during disasters, since people would have the basics in hand for reference, and then could concentrate on adapting those proven methods to fast-changing current conditions.I recently retired my venerable Kyocera, the 1st smartphone, and was flabbergasted to see all the bells and whistles the Samsung Blackjack II that replaced it offered. It will be a great day for every aspect of our lives when these devices become the norm.  

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