Reporting Live from the Red Tape.

Are you a user, or a reporter?

That all depends. Do you just consume social media content, or do you contribute?  And what do you contribute?

The Smart Phone has made each one of us a reporter.  Gone are the days of Jimmy Olsen running around with a camera slung around his neck and a duffle-bag of lenses, looking for the next big story.

Every user of Social Media is now a potential reporter. We influence news on a daily basis. In fact, this aspect of the social media game has been embraced by the average user, as well as media outlets around the world.

Grammatically Correct Confusion

I read a lot of blog articles about Social Media in Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, First Response, etc.

Lately, there have been conflicting lines of thought regarding grammar in Social Media posts.

The Advanced Public Information Officer training, at FEMA's Emergency Management Institute, stresses "Flawless Grammar" in Social Media releases.

However, Cheryl Bledsoe (@CherylBle), at the SM4EM Blog responds with,

"...The Twitter community will ask you to provide timely, relevant and interesting information. Accuracy is good, too, although in dynamic situations may be a little tricky. I've heard it said that you can be timely or accurate, but rarely both at the same time. Your community will forgive you for inaccuracies as long as you quickly correct misinformation and communicate regularly."

How can we do it better?

I have determined that there are roughly 35,000 Facebook groups devoted to the city of Maricopa, where I reside. There are 7,000 that are solely devoted to selling, buying, giving away and hoarding stuff. And then, every development in town has their own community group (or 10-12).

There are groups for crime prevention, crime rumor proliferation, and there are probably a few secret ones for crime planning, as well.

All of this data to sift through, and that's only one Social Media platform.  The PD has one person dedicated as the Public Information Officer.  It is physically impossible for him to do his PIO job, as well as keep an eye on what's happened digitally in town.

The Block Watch coordinator is trying to get a handle on some of the rumors, but it's too much for her, too.

I think it's time to go to the Chief with a proposal for the VIP volunteers. Maybe some of us could help the PIO with the "connecting with the people" details online.

Something has to be done, and failure is not an option. We cannot afford to not engage our customer in their desired mode.

The answer to, "Is that the best you can do..." ...is always no.
A better question is, "what resource would enable you to do even better?"

We have the technology, the volunteers and the desire to get it right.  We just need to take the next step.

(Hat tip to Seth Godin's blog. Also, group count might be slightly exaggerated for dramatic effect.)

Don't listen to him, he's not "an #SMEM expert!"

What does it take to be an expert in something?

Experts w/ <10k followers sometimes less than a 100, <1000 likes on FB and no #SMEM history not a “Pro or “Expert” your’e “Fraud” #SMEMChat.

— CAL FIRE NEWS (@CalFireNews)

November 2, 2013

Is this a valid criticism?

Has SMEM become a marketing tool?  Too many people slap a #smem hashtag on stuff that really doesn’t belong.

What is SMEM? What should it be?

My thoughts are that SMEM should be used on messages that are directed to the target public.

Maybe use SM4EM for inter-office communications, or subject matter that doesn’t need to be directed to the general public.

Right now there is no standard hashtag being pushed for John Q Public to follow for information and updates.

One Trick Pony?

For quite a while now I have advocated for Ham Radio operators to cross train and learn how to “do” Social Media.

I became interested in the American Red Cross as a ham radio operator. I saw the potential to use my skill-set to help as a disaster communicator. I joined as a volunteer in 1995.

The local chapters used Hams to provide communications in shelter work, and local emergencies, but that was about it.

When I went on my first National disaster assignment, I found that the emphasis for Disaster Communications was telephone installation and fax machine setup. Oh, and tracking cell phones that were issued. Radio communications were used at Mass Care kitchens, for Mobile Feeding coordination and communication, but that was about it.

There were computers for each function, but a network of any sort?  Voodoo magic for sure.  

As I moved up through the experience levels in the Disaster Communications function, and as the 90s passed by, we started to hear talk about “Enterprise solutions”, and combining the DisComm function with the Disaster Computer function. Keep in mind, that the majority of volunteers who deployed on national disaster assignments were retirees. Remember the adage about old dogs and new tricks?  Anything more difficult than a pager was out-of-bounds.

When I left the Red Cross in 2001, we had technology coming out of our ears. ECRVs, Push Kits, Satellite networking, etc.

Gone were the days of only needing linemans plyers, a punchdown tool, some RJ-11 jacks and a box of Twisted 4-pair wire. (I can still recite the 25-pair color codes.)

To remain in the function, you needed to adapt and learn new skills.

The ham radio operator who is interested in remaining useful in Disaster Communications needs to learn and adapt as well.  Don’t throw away the radio, but realize that it’s not the only method anymore.

Also, Hams need to know how to interact with others in disaster operations.

Recently I ran across a posting over at Rakesh Densaer’s blog, The Digital Responder, that discusses this issue, but from a different angle.

Densaer advocates for the creation of a Disaster Technologist:

This calls for a new kind of technology responder, one whose core competency is adapting a range of technologies to the emergency environment.  This is the area of the disaster technologist.

A disaster technologist should have the following skillsets…

1.  Understanding of the emergency environment (e.g. FEMA NIMS/ICS courses, or others depending on response).  This is a fundamental building block since a lack of this understanding means the technologist is operating out of context.

2.  Expertise in multiple technology domains – equally comfortable using multiple methods and multiple modes for communicating.  Why multiple domains?  Because if all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.  What you need are people who have a toolbox full of tools.

3.  Expert collaboration and problem solving skills.   Disaster communications often involves improvising solutions in the field…it will be essential that these individuals are comfortable in the “Iron chef” mode where “making it work” may involve a lot of different sorts of technology and duct tape.  It helps if people play well with others…

But with the aging demographic of Ham Radio licensees, are we again looking at the “Old Dog, New Trick” problem?

It we want to remain relevant to our served agencies/organizations, we owe it to them to learn their procedures and expectations.

True, we have a unique ability to communicate over both long and short distances, but is that enough anymore?  If we stubbornly remain a square peg on a board with round holes, eventually they will find other pegs to plug into their planning holes. Pegs that are adaptable and easier to use.

Hams should put away their hammer of “When All Else Fails” and work on add more tools to the toolbox. How about being relevant before everything fails? How about being KNOWN to your clients beforehand?

Otherwise, we will be the One Trick Pony. The ones they only call for parades.

Get inside your agencies and learn their needs.  Learn how to fill those needs.

Or be relegated to the supply box, next to the Biscuits, POTS and RJ jacks.

Conflict Resolution, or Ham Radio vs Social Media

I am reposting blog entries to my new blog account from the old one.

During a recent Twitter exchange with a Emergency Manager in Oklahoma, who is also an active Ham and a major proponent of SMEM, I asked him if he was worried about a backlash from the ham community regarding the ongoing integration of Social Media into Emergency Management and Response.

He answered “No”, and asked me why I might think that way.  Here was my response: 

"Hams have had the corner on damage assessment for a long time, with ATV and such. Now the "kids" come along with their Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, etc, and can send back high def images of the area in 1/10th the time that Hams can. You ask why hams would have a conflict? Why does a small town have 2-3 separate radio clubs? Why are online ham forums filled with "spirited debate?" Pettiness, pride, no longer being the "only one who can help," etc.

"The ARRL promotes "When All Else Fails," but a lot of hams out there think that they should be the ONLY "else."

"Now, once the cell grid overloads, or goes down, then 2-way radio comes into it’s own, but until that point, there will always be the potential for friction.

"The trick is for the ham to master social media so that they can indeed "do it all" in the field, and leave the ego/pride/attitudes at home."

For this blog post, I have elaborated on what I mean with the following information.

Ham Radio has always been on the cutting edge of technology. But now, with cellular 4G speeds and wi-fi hotspots, we run the risk of being relegated to “second string” in emergency response circles.

Your average smart phone owner can snap a high definition picture of a scene, or damaged house, upload it to a number of different photo sharing sites online, post it to Facebook and have it show up on the EOC’s Facebook page before you could pick up your radio, give your call sign and your current location.  In addition, most of the pictures are GPS tagged with the location of the photo, so they automatically show where on the map the damage is located.

How do we stay current and relevant?  When disaster comes calling, and he takes out the cell phone systems, and the grid goes down, Amateur Radio will always be there.

But what about in the minutes/hours/days before everything “goes south,” if it ever does? How many disasters are there that occur, where the communications systems stay in place and our “last resort communications” are not needed?

Become Social Media Savvy! Learn how to use your smart phone. You don’t have one? Turn in your brick phone and join the 21st Century.

If you are part of an ARES group, or a RACES group, or SkyWarn, or whatever, learn if your served agencies are using Social Media, and interact with them! For example, some NWS locations are now taking storm spotter reports via Twitter! The American Red Cross has a major Social Media presence.

When you’re the only contact they have with a site, because of your radio gear, you are a default “Trusted Resource”. They have to believe, and act on, what you relay to them from the field.  You need to become that Trusted Resource on social media, too.

They should have the confidence to look at what you send in and think, “Oh, that’s (your name). He/She always sends us reliable information.” Or if not you, personally, then your radio group.

Too many times I have heard hams say “I only do radio.” Why not be the guy who also does YouTube video from the scene? Or, if you have good signal strength, maybe Skype Video, or one of the Instant Message video services?  Just like Fast Scan (Amateur) TV allows front-line hams to send back video to the EOC, cellular technology allows you to do the same, but with higher resolution and faster transfer speeds.

“In these really big disasters, the initial response is generally not government. It’s individuals helping each other, trying to find out what’s going on. … we kind of have this barrier, because the public isn’t official. It’s not an official source of information… But we’ve seen now in the U.S., from wildfires in California and Boulder to the recent ice storm and snowstorms…the public is putting out better situation awareness than many of our own agencies can with our official datasets.”

Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator

More and more, Emergency Managers are using social media not only to deliver prevention and mitigation messages, but also use these platforms to engage the public in a dialogue and encourage feedback on efforts to keep the public safe and secure.

By becoming active in Social Media, you are just adding to your disaster response skill set.

When all else fails, Amateur Radio will stand in the breach. But, don’t you want to do your part in advance of that? Make yourself as relevant in the small situations as you are in the big ones.

[gallery]

A scene from New London, CT at 6:35pm this evening.

If you’re interested in watching Social Media in action, here are some Twitter hashtags that I’ve seen come across within the past hour.  The list will shrink some as more people start using the same tags.

#blizzard
#noreaster
#nemo
#blizzard2013
#MAwx
#RIwx
#CTwx

A standard hashtag for weather related reporting is the “#STwx” tag, with the ST replaced by the two letter ID for the state.

If you are interested in #SMEM, start monitoring some of these hashtags and run scenarios in your mind about how you would reply and respond to what you are seeing.

Any event that is not directly affecting you, or your area, is an opportunity for training and practice.

Conflict Resolution, or Ham Radio vs Social Media

During a recent Twitter exchange with a Emergency Manager in Oklahoma, who is also an active Ham and a major proponent of SMEM, I asked him if he was worried about a backlash from the ham community regarding the ongoing integration of Social Media into Emergency Management and Response.

He answered “No”, and asked me why I might think that way.  Here is my response: 

“Hams have had the corner on damage assessment for a long time, with ATV and such. Now the “kids” come along with their Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, etc, and can send back high def images of the area in 1/10th the time that Hams can. You ask why hams would have a conflict? Why does a small town have 2-3 separate radio clubs? Why are online ham forums filled with “spirited debate?” Pettiness, pride, no longer being the “only one who can help,” etc.

“The ARRL promotes “When All Else Fails,” but a lot of hams out there think that they should be the ONLY “else.”

“Now, once the cell grid overloads, or goes down, then 2-way radio comes into it’s own, but until that point, there will always be the potential for friction.

“The trick is for the ham to master social media so that they can indeed “do it all” in the field, and leave the ego/pride/attitudes at home.”

Ham Radio has always been on the cutting edge of technology. But now, with cellular 4G speeds and wi-fi hotspots, we run the risk of being relegated to “second string” in emergency response circles.

Your average smart phone owner can snap a high definition picture of a scene, or damaged house, upload it to a number of different photo sharing sites online, post it to Facebook and have it show up on the EOC’s Facebook page before you could pick up your radio, give your call sign and your current location.  In addition, most of the pictures are GPS tagged with the location of the photo, so they automatically show where on the map the damage is located.

How do we stay current and relevant?  When disaster comes calling, and he takes out the cell phone systems, and the grid goes down, Amateur Radio will always be there.

But what about in the minutes/hours/days before everything “goes south?”

Become Social Media Savvy! Learn how to use your smart phone. You don’t have one? Turn in your bag phone and join the 21st Century.

If you are part of an ARES group, or a RACES group, or SkyWarn, or whatever, learn if your served agencies are using Social Media, and interact with them! For example, some NWS locations are now taking storm spotter reports via social media! The American Red Cross has a major Social Media presence.

When you’re the only contact they have with a site, because of your radio gear, you are a Trusted Resource. They have to believe, and act on, what you relay to them from the field.  You need to become that Trusted Resource on social media, too.

They should have the confidence to look at what you send in and think, “Oh, that’s (your name). He/She always sends us reliable information.” Or if not you, personally, then your radio group.

Too many times I have heard hams say “I only do radio.” Why not be the guy who also does YouTube video from the scene? Or, if you have good signal strength, maybe Skype Video, or one of the Instant Message video services?  Just like Fast Scan (Amateur) TV allowed front-line hams to send back video to the EOC, cellular technology allows you to do the same, but with higher resolution and faster transfer speeds.

“In these really big disasters, the initial response is generally not government. It’s individuals helping each other, trying to find out what’s going on. … we kind of have this barrier, because the public isn’t official. It’s not an official source of information… But we’ve seen now in the U.S., from wildfires in California and Boulder to the recent ice storm and snowstorms…the public is putting out better situation awareness than many of our own agencies can with our official datasets.”

Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator

More and more, Emergency Managers are using social media not only to deliver prevention and mitigation messages, but also use these platforms to engage the public in a dialogue and encourage feedback on efforts to keep the public safe and secure.

By becoming active in Social Media, you are just adding to your disaster response skill set.

When all else fails, Amateur Radio will stand in the breach. But, don’t you want to do your part in advance of that? Make yourself as relevant in the small situations as you are in the big ones.

 

Social Media in Emergency Management

Some key reasons on why Emergency Management needs to participate in Social Media, and take it seriously.

If the primary mission of government emergency management is providing service, achieving outcomes, and stimulating participation in emergency management efforts, then some of the key benefits that social media may provide towards this mission are:

• Saving lives through rapid communication.  

• Communicating (more) effectively and directly with constituents.


• Reaching a larger group of constituents.


• Building situation awareness.


• Responding to new, incorrect or conflicting information.


• Building community resilience through prevention, mitigation, and preparedness efforts by the promotion of government participation and building mutual trust in the community.


• Fostering transparency and accountability.


• Reducing call volume (wired and cell) to call centers (non-emergency and emergency).

Social Media in Emergency Management

[gallery]

The Region 8 office of FEMA just posted the above pictured tweet.

Is 72 hours long enough anymore? I guess it depends on the size and impact of the incident.

Ask the residents of New Orleans during Katrina, or Staten Island during Sandy, if 72 hours of supplies were adequate.

Every government preparedness agency, on any level, along with most nonprofit preparedness groups, have preached “72 hours” for a long time.

Maybe it’s time to change. Instead of having a stock “72 hour kit,” take a look at the agencies in your area and build a kit that will sustain you until you expect help to arrive. Huh? Look at the agencies and their capabilities. Do you think help will arrive swiftly?

What are the most likely disaster scenarios to occur in your area? Have they happened in the past? If so, how long did it take for roads to open up, stores to have groceries, gas stations to work, etc?

Look at the results of previous incidents, and plan around those.  If the average “back to sustainable levels” response time is 2 weeks, you better have supplies on hand to last that long.

In a recent Twitter conversation with a emergency preparedness professional located in Oklahoma, he had this to say: “WHAT is YOUR plan? If your insurance, FEMA, Red Cross, Salvation Army, NVOAD group, neighbor, Uncle, Mother, Sister, Brother, does not show for three days, what will you do?”

FEMA is telling us, by way of messages similar to the above pictured Tweet, to be ready to survive on your own for a while.  In nice-nice words, they are saying that you’re on your own for at least 72 hours after an incident.

Looking at the size and scope of major disasters recently, maybe 72 hours isn’t long enough.  Maybe 2 weeks also isn’t long enough.

Plan to survive, but also remember that if you need to evacuate, how much of your stash can you take with you?

Check out a blog posting by Lloyd, KC5FM, who commented on this subject a couple of weeks ago: KC5FM Blog

Do YOU have a plan? Do you know what to do?

The Region 8 office of FEMA just posted the above pictured tweet.

Is 72 hours long enough anymore? I guess it depends on the size and impact of the incident.

Ask the residents of New Orleans during Katrina, or Staten Island during Sandy, if 72 hours of supplies were adequate.

Every government preparedness agency, on any level, along with most nonprofit preparedness groups, have preached “72 hours” for a long time.

Maybe it’s time to change. Instead of having a stock “72 hour kit,” take a look at the agencies in your area and build a kit that will sustain you until you expect help to arrive. Huh? Look at the agencies and their capabilities. Do you think help will arrive swiftly?

What are the most likely disaster scenarios to occur in your area? Have they happened in the past? If so, how long did it take for roads to open up, stores to have groceries, gas stations to work, etc?

Look at the results of previous incidents, and plan around those.  If the average “back to sustainable levels” response time is 2 weeks, you better have supplies on hand to last that long.

In a recent Twitter conversation with a emergency preparedness professional located in Oklahoma, he had this to say: “WHAT is YOUR plan? If your insurance, FEMA, Red Cross, Salvation Army, NVOAD group, neighbor, Uncle, Mother, Sister, Brother, does not show for three days, what will you do?”

FEMA is telling us, by way of messages similar to the above pictured Tweet, to be ready to survive on your own for a while.  In nice-nice words, they are saying that you’re on your own for at least 72 hours after an incident.

Looking at the size and scope of major disasters recently, maybe 72 hours isn’t long enough.  Maybe 2 weeks also isn’t long enough.

Plan to survive, but also remember that if you need to evacuate, how much of your stash can you take with you?

Check out a blog posting by Lloyd, KC5FM, who commented on this subject a couple of weeks ago: KC5FM Blog

Do YOU have a plan? Do you know what to do?

Social Media & Emergency Management

I came across a blog article related to trying to get local government emergency management types to integrate Social Media into their public interaction strategies. 

This article, along with others on the same subject, started me thinking about how one would present the pro-Social Media argument to local agencies and groups.

I’m one of those people who mentally pictures completed concepts, and then has to go back and try to figure out which steps to take to make it happen.  It’s great fun…not.

The one thing that keeps coming up in my mind, over and over, is the need to pick your props carefully!

If you ask 10 people what Twitter is all about, you’re likely to get 15 different descriptions. Facebook? The same.  FourSquare? Well, “that’s only for the egotistical who want people to know what they are doing every single minute of the day”, etc.

There are so many Social Media platforms available anymore, that it’s scary for a techno-neophyte to even contemplate sticking their big toe into the data stream.

You can counter this fear with some well prepared props, to use in your discussions with them.  Screen captures of Twitter posts that directly relate to what you want to accomplish, are a good start.  Learn how to create lists based on Hash Tags, so that you can show only the tweets that you want.  Nobody is going to buy into Social Media when all they see is a random timeline of “I LUV #JustinBieber” tweets, and similar.

Also, do some research on other agencies who utilize Social Media. For every agency who is not on Social Media, there are 3 more, in the same line of work, who are…and doing it well.

So, read up, bone up, prepare well and then head off to that meeting with the local Emergency Manager, Police Chief, Fire Chief, etc.  The worst that can happen is they “take it under advisement.”  ”No, thank you,” isn’t really an option anymore, in this day and age.