empowering public
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Northern Illinois U shooting: better, but authorities still don’t get it right
Friday, February 15th, 2008Just heard CNN’s legal expert say that no one could fault Northern Illinois University’s handling of emergency communications during and after the shooting yesterday.
I can: they did better than VA Tech authorities, but still not enough.
According to this story, cell phones were jammed, and students couldn’t call out or their parents call in — […]
My Network World op-ed: business benefits of data visualization
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008Ooops! Got so caught up in politics and family stuff that I didn’t realize my op-ed on the business benefits of data visualization ran last week in Network World’s online edition.
As the title (”Data visualization: the under-appreciated Web 2.0 tool”) suggests with all the subtlety of a sledge hammer, I believe data visualization is both […]
Another critical app for emergencies: Family Locator
Friday, February 8th, 2008Sprint has just announced its Sprint Family Locator service is now usable on all Web-enabled Sprint phones. It allows family members to locate other family members — especially children and the elderly. The contacted phones don’t have to be Web-enabled — more than 100 other non-Web enabled phone models sold by Sprint can be […]
Urgent: once again, my tips can save lives
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008This time, the locus of extreme weather is the South, with killer tornadoes throughout the region.
First off, the Energizer Bunny of emergency response, the American Red Cross’s Ike Pigott, is already on the case. He’s already set up a new site devoted to tornado response (the site also includes RSS feeds (and email alerts) […]
Google Palimpsest: critical step toward transparent government!
Thursday, January 31st, 2008Yikes! I’ve been Twittering and sending e-mails about Google Research’s new Palimpsest service (which hasn’t been formally announced, but which Wired wrote about recently, citing sources within Google), but just realized I hadn’t blogged about it!
Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
IMHO, this could be the critical link in achieving the dream I discussed in my […]
Winter storm warning: keep ice in your cell phone!
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008With yet another blizzard walloping the West, what better time for another “21st-century disaster tip you won’t hear from officials.”
No matter where you live or what the temperature, make sure your emergency supplies include always keeping ice in your cell phone.
Oops, I meant ICE, short for In Case of Emergency.
A British EMT came up with […]
More use of mobile social net apps predicted: implications for emergencies
Monday, January 28th, 2008According to Fierce Wireless (citing a Forrester report), mobile social network applications will become much more widespread in Europe this year. Given our perennial lag time in adopting anything cell-phone wise, this probably means such expanded use will probably happen in the US in several years.
If so, it will give a real boost to the […]
Look to 3rd World for tech innovation — and threat!
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008My personal epiphany about the 3rd World’s potential to leapfrog the Industrial Age (and, in so doing, to take a leadership in development of appropriate technology) came in the early ’90s when I saw a picture in Business Week of a villager in Sri Lanka making a call from a tethered cell phone that […]
Follow Red Cross Twitter channel for storm news
Friday, January 4th, 2008Thanks to my pals at the American Red Cross who posted a link to this blog on their “Super Storm in the West” page!
For up-to-the minute information on the storm, check out the Red Cross’ Twitter channel (although I note that as of 5 PM EST, they haven’t posted anything yet…).
Technorati tags: FEMA crowd-sourcing […]
URGENT: with colossal storm hitting West, share my tips!
Friday, January 4th, 2008The storm that’s headed inland right now is of biblical proportions: the Weather Channel predicts “potentially historic snowfall, flooding rains, and wind gusts to well over 100 mph are possible.”
Considering the hits places such as Denver have already taken this winter, that’s incredibly scary — and time to remind people about how my “21st-century disaster […]
