Communication

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The Communication Working Group is focused on communication improving health and human security status in the U.S.

The mission of the Communication working group is to optimize the health, human security, resilience, and sustainability of Americans and their communities of interest globally. 

Members

bevcorwin Kathy Gilbeaux Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald

Email address for group

communication@m.resiliencesystem.org

Volunteers Creating Change: 6th Annual Disaster Volunteer Conference - May 1, 2012

On Tuesday, May 1, at  one of New York City's premier auditoriums, Pace University's Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts in lower Manhattan, the NYC Citizen Corps Council will be hosting the 6th annual Disaster Volunteer Conference, Volunteers Creating Change.  Enjoy the exhibits, dinner provided by The Salvation Army Greater New York Division, and an educational conference with fellow volunteers.  The conference’s distinguished speakers will include a welcome address by Joseph F. Bruno (Commissioner – NYC Office of Emergency Management), a keynote address by Jeff Parness (Founder and Executive Director – New York Says Thank You Foundation), followed by a panel discussion moderated by Herman Schaffer, MSW (Director, Community Outreach – NYC Office of Emergency Management) with a growing list of panelists, including Gary Bagley (Executive Director – New York Cares) and Sara Farmer (Data Humanitarian – Standy-by Task force, Crisismappers Network, and Ushahidi Community).  For additional information and to register, visit www.NYC.gov/citizencorps.

Exercise 24: Using Social Media for Crisis Response

submitted by Samuel Bendett

      

worldfinancialreview.com - By George H. Bressler, Murray E. Jennex & Eric G. Frost

“Can populations self-organize a crisis response? This is a field report on the first two efforts in a continuing series of exercises termed Exercise 24 or X24. These exercises attempted to demonstrate that self-organizing groups can form and respond to a crisis using low-cost social media and other emerging web technologies.”

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California Struggling to Prepare Quake Early Warning System

submitted by Samuel Bendett

      

Workers fix subway lines that were damaged after an earthquake was felt in Mexico City on Tuesday, March 20. (Associated Press / March 19, 2012)

By Hector Becerra and Sam Allen, Times Staff Writers - latimes.com - March 22, 2012

The state spends a fraction of what countries like Mexico and Japan spend on their systems. One reason for the lack of interest, experts say, is that California has not experienced a catastrophic quake in more than a century.

Predicting Locations of Emergency & Damage During Disaster Using VGI Data

submitted by Alister Wm Macintyre

                                                     (CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW - TO ENLARGE)

      

ushahidi.com - by Prateek Budhwar

The VGI data obtained from the Ushahidi-Haiti platform during the first 72 hours of Earthquake in Haiti can be used for predicting the locations of ‘Emergency and damaged areas’ using Ushahidi Reports in Port-au-Prince. Two rapid and very successful VGI deployments helped coordinate disaster response after a devastating magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010.

OpenStreetMap (OSM) project volunteers working outside Haiti created a digital street map of Port-au-Prince and other places in Haiti very rapidly using fine-resolution imagery to trace vector maps of streets and other features.

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Saratoga Hospitals Deploy Biometrics to Increase Security and Improve Efficiency

submitted by Luis Kun

Homeland Security News Wire - March 13, 2012

To improve privacy and security measures, Saratoga Hospital in New York recently announced that it would be partnering with DigitalPersona Inc. to install biometric access controls to verify medical personnel’s identities and increase efficiency.

Saratoga Hospitals operates five remote care facilities in New York where it employs more than 1,700 doctors, nurses, and staff members. Due to the awkward username and password authentication process, hospital officials say they had difficulty accurately tracking access to its sensitive data networks.

We needed a solution that would encourage our staff to comply with our access control policies without limiting their ability to treat patients and be productive,” explained Gary Moon, Saratoga Hospital’s information systems security analyst, in an interview with InformationWeek Healthcare. “Passwords can be cumbersome, and oftentimes the staff would stay logged in to avoid having to manually type a password each time they needed to access patient information. Thus, we could not track who had accessed information.”

New Facebook Feature Lets You Mark Yourself as ‘Safe’ After Major Disaster

submitted by Samual Bendett

techland.time.com - by Keith Wagstaff - February 29, 2012

In the wake of a disaster, one of the most terrifying things is not knowing if your loved ones are safe. Contact can be difficult: Landlines can go down and cellphones can lose their charge. Even if you call your mother and tell her you’re safe, you still have a large network of friends and family that might still be worried about you.

That’s why Facebook’s new Disaster Message Board makes sense. Right now it’s only being tested in Japan, which is still dealing with the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.

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Tornado Victims Flock to Facebook for Helping Hand

      

Student Madeline Evans walks past a destroyed school bus after a tornado devastated the town of Henryville, Indiana, March 3, 2012.  Credit: Reuters/Indiana National Guard/Sgt. John Crosby

by Mary Slosson - March 5, 2012

(Reuters) - Residents of the storm-ravaged communities in the Midwest are reaching out to each other, neighbor to neighbor, through social media sites to coordinate disaster relief and share information.

A chain of fast-moving tornadoes spawned by massive thunderstorms cut a swath of destruction from the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, killing at least 39 people and leaving many residents homeless and seeking food, clothing, and shelter.

With phone connections spotty as emergency workers tried to repair downed power lines and clear debris, Facebook pages -- accessible by cell phone, mobile device, or computer -- have proven a go-to source for communities to assist one another.

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The Coming Entanglement: Bill Joy and Danny Hillis

scientificamerican.com - February 15, 2012

Digital innovators Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, and Danny Hillis, co-founder of the Long Now Foundation, talk with Scientific American Executive Editor Fred Guterl about the technological "Entanglement" and the attempts to build the other, hardier Internet. Web sites related to this episode include http://compass-summit.com and The Shadow Web

(LISTEN TO THE PODCAST IN THE LINK BELOW)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=the-coming-entanglement-bill-joy-an-12-02-15

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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Civil Society Initiative Relevant to HADR Communication

submitted by Samuel Bendett

This initiative related to HADR illustrates how NGOs are working to fill the gaps in government planning and response.

internews.org

During humanitarian disasters people affected by the unfolding tragedy need more than physical necessities. They also have an urgent need for information. In the aftermath of a crisis, from earthquakes, to armed conflicts, survival can depend on knowing the answers to essential questions.

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