Tag Archives: national security

Social Media, National Security, Public Safety

Posted on 28. Mar, 2009 by schrier.

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Notes from this session posted by Bill Schrier, bill@schrier.org

1. Public safety and National Security session - about 20 people.
2. One issue is “branding” - often standard names such as FEMA and USAF are usurped in the new media or social media, i.e. on Facebook and Twitter … could be used to give “official” sounding directions to the public during a disaster as well
3. Second issue - communicating with people during daily emergencies and disasters as well as the major incidents. Incidents in schools; schools in lockdown. During lockdowns in schools or hostage situations, the hostages could communicate with the incident commander. Former firefighter created a tool which is zip code based …
4. Risk communication - finding hazards and communicating about them.
5. Talked about leveraging user-generated content during incidents or crimes or emergencies, e.g. twitter comments, photos, video. Example: getting video and tweets during the landing of the plane in the Hudson … Another example: the DC shooter where reports had placed the shooter in a “white van”. What happens if everyone starts tweeting about suspicious vans - how to we separate the wheat from the chaff? Not looking for instant information but rather for reliable, trusted, information.
6. Idea: Reserve a #911 hashtag on twitter for 911 emergency posts.
7. Idea: validate people via their face or certificate and a “national database” for validating input
8. Issues of trust but also issues of privacy for citizen-reporters on incidents - could they be considered and investigated as suspects, for example.
9. “Lack of privacy is itself as security vulnerability”.
10. Idea: government fund for i-phone apps to be developed to convey information
11. Next generation 911 - right now you can only “call” 911 on the telephone but with NG911 the public safety answering point could accept video, tweets, text messaging, photos and (with other technologies) broadcast the same to the field. The ability for the “crowd” to provide this sort of information fundamentally changes the way emergency managers and an incident commander could actually handle the crisis.
12. Issue: the sheer amount of data which can be generated - how do we integrate, sort, analyze all the tweets, text messages, video and photos flowing in during an incident?
13. USDA wants to have a way to rapidly contact (or maybe get information) from farmers for weather or crop-related issues.
14. Location-based twitter apps and mash-ups used in the San Diego wildfires, for example.
15. Idea: how do we get information rapidly to all the cell phones and iphones and mobile devices in a specific location, e.g. a broadcast to Georgetown about a lost child. (See also the last scene in the movie “Fahrenheit 451″).
16. With these new social media tools, we have the ability to reach more people more rapidly than ever before - we also have the ability to more rapidly and more surely “make an ass of ourselves” than ever before.
17. Three elements for crisis communication: what we know, what we are doing, what we need you to do.
18. Crisis management - need to assign staff to actually monitor communications channels, whether they are phones or twitter or text messaging or blogs …
19. Timelines of communication have definitely been shortened, e.g. if a school building goes into lockdown for any reason
20. Social networking tools for use in blockwatches or disaster preparedness teams and build community around neighborhoods. Note though: if it is a government-run social network is that setting up expectations on the part of the populace? Privacy concerns and information accuracy.
21. Kinds of information:
a. General
b. Deliberative - before making a decision
c. Decisional - here is the tentative decision - comments?
d. Regulatory or mandatory procedures - here is what you will do or how you will do it
22. In israel, every police officer and firefighter gets a page whenever an incident occurs anywhere in the state of israel
23. Point of contact / session chair - Charles.holt@dma.mil (Jack)

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[Room 120] Social Media, National Security, Public Safety

Posted on 27. Mar, 2009 by yarnmaven.

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