In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

Pakistan Crisis Wiki — Created By Group Of Bloggers — Raising Funds, Serving As Information Conduit Inside/Outside Country To Help Flood Response

August 9th, 2010 · No Comments

With Pakistan suffering its worst flooding in 80 years, I wanted to bring to your attention a web-based, civilian-created effort to raise money and be an information conduit both inside and outside the country on the disaster.
The Pakistan Crisis Wiki was created in 2005 by Pakistani native Sabahat Ashraf, a technical writer living in Silicon Valley, in [...]

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Tags: International · Preparedness 2.0

“Want To Help Report The Oil Spill? There’s An App For That” — CrisisCommons Also Planning “Adopt-A-Beach” Crowdsourcing Initiative To Allow Public To Help In Oil Spill Recovery

May 26th, 2010 · No Comments

Andy Carvin, a senior strategist at NPR’s social media desk, just tweeted an announcement that the volunteer group CrisisCommons has released the Oil Reporter app to help citizens report on the Gulf Coast Oil Spill:
With tar balls and oil sheens beginning to reach the Gulf Coast, government officials and wildlife groups are anxious to document [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0 · Volunteer Opportunities

“The New Volunteers: Social Media, Disaster Response And You”

April 24th, 2010 · No Comments

Andy Carvin, the social media strategist at National Public Radio, has been a pioneer in the use of technology by the public and others in responding to disasters. At the TED-NYED conference in New York, Carvin gave an interesting presentation, “The New Volunteers: Social Media Disaster Response And You,”
He offers a nice overview of the evolution [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0

“The Cavalry is Assembling”: Social Media’s Response To Hurricane Ida (& Beyond)

November 11th, 2009 · No Comments

Jeannette Sutton has a terrific post on her Disaster Sociologist blog, “The Cavalry is Assembling: Two Social Media Responses to Hurricane Ida.” She describes how two different online initiatives — the Hurricane Information Center and Emicus.com — began mobilizing to respond to what was initially predicted to be a major storm.
In the end, Ida ended [...]

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Tags: Hurricane Preparedness · Preparedness 2.0 · Preparedness Models

As Ida Approaches, Online Volunteers Needed To Help “Hurricane Information Center” Preparations

November 9th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Andy Carvin, who spearheaded creation of the innovative Hurricane Information Center during Gustav and Ike last summer, has announced on his Twitter feed that the site is looking for online volunteers to help with preparations for what is now Tropical Storm Ida. The Center serves as a comprehensive clearinghouse and aggregator of information/content in addition [...]

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Tags: Hurricane Preparedness · Preparedness 2.0

Twitter Lists: A Terrific New Social Media Information Resource In Emergencies

November 9th, 2009 · 1 Comment

Andrew Ostrow of Mashable had an interesting post pointing out how the new Twitter Lists have already become excellent resources for the public during emergencies as was demonstrated last week during the Ft. Hood shootings.
The Lists allow Twitter users to organize the feeds they’re following into groups. And, Ostrow notes the work of several news [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0 · Preparedness Resources

H1N1 Flu Response Shows Government Needs To Improve Social Media Public Communications For Future Emergencies

May 4th, 2009 · 7 Comments

In his weekly radio/video address, President Obama addressed the government’s response to the H1N1 flu outbreak. One new topic he raised was the role of social media in communicating with the citizenry. As the President said: “The White House has launched pages on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to support the ongoing efforts by the CDC [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0

Attend Citizen Preparedness Panel Friday In Washington Or On Twitter

January 29th, 2009 · 1 Comment

If you are interested in the issues discussed on this blog and you will be in the Washington, D.C. area on Friday, I recommend a panel discussion, “Citizen Preparedness: Harnessing an Engaged Public”. The event is sponsored by George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI). It is the fourth and final event in HSPI’s Presidential Transition Roundtable [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Events

New Social Media Informing And Assisting Citizens In New Ways During Gustav & Beyond

September 2nd, 2008 · 1 Comment

In a previous post, I mentioned how I have been closely following the Red Cross’ social media sites, including the ARC Online Newsroom and its Twitter feed to keep apprised of what was happening ‘on the ground’ during Gustav. I have also been monitoring other non-Red Cross related social media sites over the past couple days as they provide [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0