UPCOMING: National Information Sharing Exercise

/
UPCOMING: National Information Sharing Exercise

Information sharing exercises are rare and hard to put on, but are important to learning about how to improve information sharing in disasters. 

I am passing on this information about an upcoming information sharing exercise. Participation is open to many different organizations in the EM community and I encourage your to sign up and participate as soon as possible. The exercise will take place on May 11, 2016.

Below are the details that were provided to me:

Read More

How Disaster "Mesh" Networks Provide Critical Value in Disasters [A Primer]

/
How Disaster "Mesh" Networks Provide Critical Value in Disasters [A Primer]

Mesh networks have been around since the Department of Defense starting playing around with the idea of exchanging data and information in remote and infrastructure-compromised locations.  In recent years, mesh networks have been applied to disaster operations to enable the exchange of data and information regardless of Internet access.  

However, mesh networks are quite technical to setup and use.  A non-profit and open source technology called LDLN makes this a lot less technical so nearly anyone with some basic tech skills can set up and use a mesh network. Before I dive into how LDLN does this, I want to provide a primer on mesh networks, how they work, and the problems they solve.  

Read More

Data and Info Sharing with No Power or Internet? - Meet LDLN

/
Data and Info Sharing with No Power or Internet? - Meet LDLN

There is an organization that I have wanted to introduce people to for a while.  It is a game changer, provided it can be applied more and baked into operations and various technologies. 

In disaster operations, the Internet is the predominate way to share data and information across people, organizations, and geographies--when it is available.  It is a critical failure point to inter-organizational and region-wide operations that need to share across wireless networks.  When access to the Internet is compromised, cascading effects occur such as having to reconcile what the latest data and information is. In fact, data and information sharing is often reduced to files on USB sticks that are physically traded.  Version control becomes essential, but hard to maintain.

Read More

Information Management & Sharing...the Right Way

/
Information Management & Sharing...the Right Way

If you have ever responded to a disaster, you have likely made an infinite number of decisions and taken an infinite number of actions.  Information has informed these decisions and actions in some way.  However, had the information been delivered in the right way at the right time, you probably would have been more efficient and effective with your time.  Having the information in the right way allows you to spend more time mastering your objectives rather than mastering the art of data and information management.  

Situation Reports (SitReps) are a great example of information delivered in a more usable way.  However, SitReps were created in an era when paper documents reigned supreme and when that was the best way to convey information to a large group of people.  As technology becomes better and more data is available, though...

Read More