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Kony2012: The Rise of Online Campaigning

A social media campaign to shine a light on Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony has attracted ire of its own after critics attacked its methods. Is using Facebook and Twitter to promote change pointless, or the natural extension of our social media habit?

by Kate Dailey - BBC News - March 9, 2012

On Monday, the California-based nonprofit Invisible Children released an online 30-minute documentary about Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). "We want to make him famous," they said. "Not to glorify him, but so that his crimes would not go unnoticed."

It worked.

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Emergency Management without Social Media…fail

      

tacmedia.wordpress.com - February 26, 2012

In the world of Twitter, Facebook , YouTube and everything else that demands instantaneous information sharing it is horrible to see an event occur and the only information that comes out is rumour, guesses and innuendo.

Today, I watched virtually as a passenger train derailment occurred in the region that I live in.  In fact, I was out with my family today and we weren’t to far from the location where the event occurred.

Like so many others, I learned about the event on Twitter and I stayed with the information all afternoon and into the evening.

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Podcast - If You're Happy, How You Know It

scientificamerican.com - February 22, 2012

Social scientist Roly Russell, of the Sandhill Institute in British Columbia, talked with Scientific American's Mark Fischetti at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science about potentially better measures than GDP of a nation's well-being.

(LISTEN TO THE PODCAST IN THE LINK BELOW)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=if-youre-happy-how-you-know-it-12-02-21

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Transforming Earthquake Detection?

submitted by Linton Wells

sciencemag.org - January 20, 2012

Earthquakes are a collective experience. Citizens have long participated in earthquake science through the reporting, collection, and analysis of individual experiences. The value of citizen-generated status reports was clear after the 1995 Kobe, Japan, earthquake (1). Today's communications infrastructure has taken citizen engagement to a new level: Earthquake-related Twitter messages can outrun the shaking (2), Internet traffic detects earthquakes (37) and maps the distribution of shaking in minutes (810), and accelerometers in consumer electronic devices record seismic waveforms (1116). What are we learning from this flood of data, and what are the limitations? How do we harness these new capabilities for scientific discovery, and what is the role of education?

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Save the Date - Second Annual Conference on “Building Resilience through Public-Private Partnerships”

Save the Date!

                                                       Second Annual Conference on

                                 "Building Resilience through Public-Private Partnerships"

                                              July 23 - 24, 2012, Colorado Springs, CO

Sponsored by United States Northern Command in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA

FEMA Grant Helps UW Create Disaster Plan

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - February 1, 2012

The University of Wisconsin is currently hard at work developing a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan with the help of FEMA

The University of Wisconsin is currently hard at work developing a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan.

The University’s work comes with the help of a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to create a Disaster Resistant University strategy. The goal of the program is to help minimize potential damage from natural disasters or man-made events.

In particular the disaster plan will focus on facilitating cooperation between university, state, and federal authorities by identifying key hazards to university property, operations, and individuals.

With the help of Geographic Information Systems, university planners will develop models to map out various disaster scenarios to determine what the necessary course of action in terms of preparedness.

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X24 - Mexico - Exercise 24

VizCenter - San Diego State University

February 8, 2012 - 8:00am

Purpose of X24 México

Exercise 24 (X24) México is the third iteration of a primarily virtual, open-invitation, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) exercise with real-world functional components that is hosted by San Diego State University’s “Immersive Visualization Center” (VizCenter).

Participants include DHS/Office of Health Affairs, NORAD-NORTHCOM, US Customs and Border Protection/Global Borders College, Mexican Army and Navy, Mexico Federal Police, Ministry of Defense from Vietnam, India National Disaster Management Agency, World Shipping Council, Red Cross, Pacific Disaster Center, NYK Logistics, National defense University, and growing.

X24 México Goals

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Map Your Neighborhood

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Map Your Neighborhood” (MYN) is a program designed to help neighborhoods prepare for disasters and is offered through many local emergency management offices.

FEMA Urges Greater Public-Private Cooperation in Disaster Response

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - January 24, 2012

       

New Orleans, La., Jan. 17, 2012 -- FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, guest speaker for the International Disaster Conference and Expo, emphasizes the Federal Government's initial response to a disaster is to get people to safety, transport the injured and assist in the reestablishment of infrastructure. Restoration of infrastructure is critical and involves getting private sector entities up and running so gas stations, food establishments, hotels and other essential private businesses are operable. This allows volunteers, non government organizations and emergency responders to effectively help the affected community in response and recovery operations. FEMA/Ralph Simcox

Speaking at the International Disaster Conference and Exposition, Craig Fugate, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), urged emergency planners to take a broader view of disaster response and include the private sector.

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FBI Releases Plans to Monitor Social Networks

newscientist.com - January 25, 2012

      

(Image: Patrick George/Ikon Images/Getty)

Jim Giles, consultant

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has quietly released details of plans to continuously monitor the global output of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, offering a rare glimpse into an activity that the FBI and other government agencies are reluctant to discuss publicly. The plans show that the bureau believes it can use information pulled from social media sites to better respond to crises, and maybe even to foresee them.

The information comes from a document released on 19 January looking for companies who might want to build a monitoring system for the FBI. It spells out what the bureau wants from such a system and invites potential contractors to reply by 10 February.

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