Social Media and Disasters

The fast-paced spread of social media has left organizations and industries in catch-up mode to figure out ways to harness social media to their advantage.  Social Media has taken the world by storm over the past few years with the proliferation of applications like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and MySpace.  Mobile applications have further enabled the adoption rate of these tools like wildfire...in other words, they have become viral, just like a public health disease spreading upon contact, but in a good way.  Controlling them is not an option; but working with them is.

Amtrak's Northeast Corridor recently experienced a large outage as commuters were about to start their commutes home via Amtrak and commuter rail lines, stranding many travelers.  The most frustrating aspect was the lack of communication by Amtrak via appropriate channels.

The crucial mistake Amtrak made was limiting information dissemination and communication to mass media, referring to television and radio.  However, commuters don't typically watch television or listen to the radio while at work.  Nor do they always check the print media websites before leaving work.  In fact, most commuters only have access to their cell phones and smart phones filled with applications for Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms that they are checking on their way to the train station.

The world is also transitioning, which makes disaster management and public information even more challenging.  The younger generation is tech savvy and does not typically gain information through Mass Media; the older generation still relies on Mass Media for information and doesn't typically use the Internet as much.  Organizations must consider both groups of people when developing their social media strategy.  A media strategy should incorporate mass media, social media, news media, etc.

How has a comprehensive media strategy helped your organization?

Social Media in Disaster Response...System or Delegation Issue?

NIMS and ICS were developed and further refined out of the need for a unified management structure for response response operations.  Since its evolution more that began more than 30 years ago, systems and technologies have begun to challenge the existing models.  Hal Grieb, a former Texas emergency manager and social media contributer, points out that as frameworks, NIMS and ICS allows tools such as social media to be implemented during a response, but the frameworks lacks the necessary guidance to address social media. 

So is it a supporting technology or a new box in a command stracture?

Adame Crowe, an emergency manager from Johnson County, KS and Hal have discussed two perspectives. Adam discussed some of the structural issues associated with delegation as our capabilities (with social media), including having not grown with our current command systems and our readiness to handle all that independent attention that social media requires is lacking. Hal also raised interesting points about the ability to delegate, which is absolutely correct.  

Often in COOP plans, we talk about succession and clearly delineate (hopefully) each persons role in succession, including roles and responsibilities and their authority. Social media in emergency management (#smem), though, barely has these roles and responsibilities identified as best practices are still being developed and socialized. Everyday new best practices are being developed and they are often very unique to each jurisdiction that has put in the time and effort to address this complex issue, often on the preparedness side, not the response side. 

If you delegate this to the PIO, training is NOT enough. The PIO must be explicitly aware of his or her roles and responsibilities to support social media in a managed response. The PIO needs to know where he or she has the flexibility (often dependent on the incident) to "run with it" and where he or she should hold back due to potential conflict with operations. This is why a revision of the JIC/JIS is necessary...to help incorporate the operational roles of social media so that it can be delegated appropriately in a command structure. 

State of Disaster (Part III): Technology

Inspired by Gisli Olafsson' post, The Disaster Manifesto: I Have a Dream...", I too am inspired to write about our transforming field as a way to focus efforts on meaningful dialogue, research, and advancement.

The state of disaster management in the U.S. is a cross between the capabilities of today and tomorrow and the conventions of yester-year.  Disaster management is at the crossroads of a transformation that is enabling organizations across the country and around the world better serve their communities.  But our ability to adapt is showing signs of strain and opposition.  This post is part of a three-part series examiningg the challenges associated with the following issues in Disaster Management:

• Part I:  Government Rules, Regulations, and Structures
• Part II:  Education, Research, Professional Development and Training
• Part III:  Technology

In each post, I offer industry-wide recommendations to help advance the baseline and adapbility of disaster management. 

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TECHNOLOGY

Technology is poised to change the way we think.  The advancement in technology over the past few years is enabling our organizations to do more with less.  Innovation is occurring at a rapid pace and it is certainly hard to keep up, most notably in Social Media.  But there is more to technology; technology that supports information, personnel, and resource management.  Technology also needs to be built with scalability, usability, integration in mind.  OASIS is leading efforts to standardize technology development in emergency management and other fields.  However, technology is Not THE Answer, it is only part of the equation that will help propel disaster management to new levels of ability and advancement.  

History of Technology

In the past 40 years, as technology has transformed corporations and business processes, disaster management organizations have adopted software to help meet the growing demand for disaster services.  Traditionally, organizations have purchased stand-a-lone software or had custom solutions developed.  The burden of maintenance has often rested on the IT departments of each organization at great expense and solutions have often lacked focus on usability.  Additionally, while more organizations are increasingly working with other jurisdictions and partners, the expense of technology has often been duplicated instead shared between organizations.  Today's solutions do not meet the complex and inter-organizational and -jurisdictional needs of disaster management organizations and partners. 

Trends in Technology

Social media is the big behemoth driving technological change in disaster management.  However, it is not the only transformation.  As we look forward, solutions are being developed with scalability and usability in mind.  Over the internet delivery models (a.k.a. software as a service) are becoming more common and are being accepted as valid disaster recovery (IT) strategies.  However, pricing structures remain similar and the cost of acquisition and implementation is still very high.  Additionally, standards don't exist for the integration of multiple platforms that are often used to round out an organization's or region's capabilities.  Integrations are largely custom services provided by technology vendors and add to the costs of acquisition. 

Future of Technology

The future of technology is truly an evolution.  Moving forward, customers will not only be looking for solutions that are scalable and easily used, but solutions that solve specific problems and improve specific processes.  They will also be demanding that solutions are flexible and have the ability to easily integrate with other solutions to help streamline operations.  It is unrealistic to believe that one vendor can do this all; and as a result, vendors much look to partner with complimentary businesses as wells as their competitors. 

With solutions that meet foundational needs and truly address problems, the cost of sales (and subsequently acquisition) will decrease dramatically as solutions divide into two major categories that work well together:  Platform and Speciality Solutions.  For example, WebEOC may meet the core functional needs of its customers with a basic, easily duplicated platform.  While they may offer additional speciality solutions, other vendors will build solutions that tightly integrate with the WebEOC platform for things like Alert and Notification and Resource Management.  Organizations can then select from an array of solutions that will better meet their needs while keeping costs down.

Recommendations:

Technology is not the answer to all our problems, but it is a viable path to overcoming problems, improving processes, and reducing costs.   In order to do so, though, here are some recommendations:

I call on technology vendors and developers to:

• Continue to promote and sell the Software as a Service (SAAS) delivery model, reinforce its efficacy as a Disaster Recovery (IT) strategy, and show its return on investment
• Develop scalable and integrated solutions through the use of APIs, Platform Partners, and OASIS and other accepted standards.  Highly proprietary and closed software is no longer advantageous to disaster management organizations. 
• Focus their development efforts not just on features and capabilities, but usability.  Make sure your solution is easy to use, navigate, and intuitive.  Work with your customers to conduct usability tests and incorporate new customer support platforms and strategies into your services to expand on the collective knowledge and ideas of your users. 
• Ensure systems follow generally accepted standards for documentation, reporting, and information ownership.
• Develop solutions with Federal and state security requirements having already been met AND streamlined.  For example, give more thought to developing and integrating meaningful validation processes for users.
• Develop solutions that enable customers to have more control over the product without requiring costly customizations or support each time.   

I call on disaster management organizations to:

• Critically think about ways technology can better support your operations and reduce costs.  While all solutions may not yet be available, they will be if you demand them. 
• Engage your employees and staff in defining technology requirements and identifying ways to improve operations.

State of Disaster (Part II): Education, Research, Professional Development and Training

Inspired by Gisli Olafsson' post, The Disaster Manifesto: I Have a Dream...", I too am inspired to write about our transforming field as a way to focus efforts on meaningful dialogue, research, and advancement.

The state of disaster management in the U.S. is a cross between the capabilities of today and tomorrow and the conventions of yester-year.  Disaster management in at the crossroads of a transformation that is enabling organizations across the country and around the world better serve their communities.  But our ability to adapt is showing signs of strain and opposition.  This post is part of a three-part series examining the challenges associated with the following issues in Disaster Management:

• Part I:  Government Rules, Regulations, and Structures
• Part II:  Education, Research, Professional Development and Training
  
• Part III:  Technology

In each post, I offer industry-wide recommendations to help advance the baseline and adapbility of disaster management. 

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EDUCATION, RESEARCH, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND TRAINING

Industry advancements are not only rooted in the hard sciences, but also the social sciences.  And disasters are no longer just a study of their science.  They are now a study of their impact and challenges in relation to today’s modern society, political climate, and increasingly social and non-linear communications (e.g., social media).  Disaster management is now a field of study that combines the principles of communication, business, and public administration and policy. The people that succeed in disaster management are well-rounded and have a thirst for learning and a sense of patience and calm. 

U.S. News and World Report recently listed disaster management as one of the 50 best jobs of 2011.   Check out the comments section for some great commentary as well.  But as we grow in size and maturity, we must find additional ways to professionally develop our staff and response partners. 

Education and Research

Over are the days of understanding how hurricanes, snow storms, and terrorist events occur.  We know.  We have researched these things for years and perhaps more research is needed.  But the truth is we need more research on the evolution of the industry as a whole, not just the hard sciences that necessitate our existence.  In the past 10 years, there has been an explosion of higher education programs.  FEMA's Higher Education Project has fueled this fire by creating curriculum standards and uniting the efforts of the emergency management academics with practitioners.  But we are out-growing the peer evaluation and validation model.  Program evaluation must incorporate student and employer feedback to help identify emerging gaps and stale content in today's programs.  Independent and blind feedback like the surveys that U.S. News and World Report does for other types of education programs must be applied to disaster management programs. 

Additionally, we need more researchers in the field of disaster management to push the envelope of what we know now and help us proactively accommodate the emergence of new concepts in social media, technology, regionalization, GIS, planning, and exercising, etc.  At this stage, we can benefit far more from knowing how to respond to and engage with the public using social media than exactly how a hurricane develops and spins. 

Professional Development and Training

From Disaster Academia BlogI see it everyday...more and more jobs are requiring Master's degrees to fulfill positions.  But with experience still required, which is part of the Training/Education/Experience Triad, many students are at a loss on how to begin their careers with a disproportionate amount of education.  Professional development is a key element of incorporating new students into the field and we must work harder to stand-up meaningful and structured internship programs that guide students through practical experience.  As they go, they can add additional training to round out their expertise. 

Internships are an underutilized and undervalued way to help advance your organization while giving great hands on experience to undergraduate and graduate students studying disaster management.  More training opportunities are also needed on Leadership, Management, and Integrated Response.  The FEMA Emergency Management Institute curriculum needs to expand further or other organizations, such as higher education institutions, need to ensure these topics are well covered.  Education and training curriculum also needs to be constantly update with principles of leadership from new and noted authors and strategists such as Charlene Li, Jeremiah Owyang, and John P. Kotter.

Steps to Progress

The surge in higher education programs in the last 10 years has been notable, progressive, and warranted.  But internship opportunities need to grow in number and in structure.  While disaster management is an area of growth, job opportunities and salaries must also begin to match the more educated professional base as we transition to becoming a true profession.  Jobs demanding experience need to give way to opportunities for mentorship, especially when the educational foundation is sound and strong. 

As you look at your organization, look at the opportunities to develop your people rather than hire an already experienced person.  And as we move forward and higher education programs become develop, we need continue reinforcing critical thinking and thinking outside the confines of established procedures, especially when those plans or procedures prove ineffective or inadequate for your needs.

Recommendations

The people in and around this industry are our most valued assets and they need to feel accomplishment at the same time they feel there is opportunity.  In order to do so, here are some recommendations:

I call on a resourceful person or group of people to:

• Develop an independent non-profit that accredits disaster management programs and encourages programs to achieve other mainstream accreditation;
• Create a standardized evaluation and rating model for the growing number of higher education disaster management programs that incorporates 360 degree feedback;
• Work with IAEM to develop and promote a standardized internship program and help students find additional experience opportunities.

I call on FEMA to:

• Expand and update EMI's curriculum more regularly to incorporate many of the new concepts and issues challenging today's and tomorrow's emergency managers.  Draw on concepts from other fields of practice as well;
• Challenge foundational concepts by offering new and innovative courses related to emergency management.  For example, host a SMEM Camp as part of the Crisis Commons SMEM Initiative.

I call on organizations to:

• Find new and innovate ways to incorporate interns into your operations and establish relationships with higher education institutions in your local area;
• Look more favorably on prospective hires with disaster management education, but lack the necessary experience.  Mentorship is a very viable option that may serve your organization better in the long run.

I call on IAEM to:

• Expand it's scholarship program by developing a corporate sponsorship program instead of relying solely on the contributions of its members. 

What recommendations do you have?  Where have you succeeded in implementing change?  How?

State of Disaster (Part I): Government Rules, Regulations and Structures

Inspired by Gisli Olafsson' post, The Disaster Manifesto: I Have a Dream...", I too am inspired to write about our transforming field as a way to focus efforts on meaningful dialogue, research, and advancement.

The state of disaster management in the U.S. is a cross between the capabilities of today and tomorrow and the conventions of yester-year.  Disaster management in at the crossroads of a transformation that is enabling organizations across the country and around the world better serve their communities.  But our ability to adapt is showing signs of strain and opposition.  This post is part of a three-part series examining the challenges associated with the following issues in Disaster Management:

• Part I:  Government Rules, Regulations, and Structures
• Part II:  Education, Training, Research and Professional Development
• Part III:  Technology

In each post, I offer industry-wide recommendations to help advance the baseline and adapbility of disaster management. 

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GOVERNMENT RULES, REGULATIONS, AND STRUCTURES

In the U.S., we have countless rules and regulations that define our legal structures, authorities and responsibilities.  We need interpreters (lawyers) just to understand how to best navigate through them in order to achieve our missions.  What has been our Founding Fathers' dreams when developing the backbone our country over two hundred years ago continues to challenge us every day in this modern and unimagined era.  An overhaul of the entire legal system is unlikely and certainly not practical.  But our system, based on sound principles, allows us to influence change when needed.  And now more than ever, we need to be advocating change in the laws that have guided us over the past many years.  We need to amend the laws to represent the evolution of our modern capabilities and needs while at the same time preserving the sovereign rights of Federalism that recognize local and state authorities.  

Federalism

In the disaster world of Federalism, we constantly remind ourselves that all disasters start and end locally.  This is a principle of our country's founding fathers and is noble in intentions, but hard to practice for expanding, complex and overwhelming incidents.  Furthermore, the dichotomy (see figure to the right) of this issue is that the funds necessary to complete our missions are often dictated by the flow of money from the Federal government.  Our tax bases and elected officials haven't fully bought into the need for disaster management nor do they fully understand all of our vital functions until it is too late.  We need to do more to ensure our community needs dictate the priorities of our disaster management organizations and that Federal funding sources offer enough flexibility to create programs, projects, and plans in ways that are relevant and specific to the uniqueness of our communities.  And communities are not just defined by their jurisdictional bounds; but also by a disaster's impact and consequences.  

Authorities and responsibilities

Every day we are bound by the authorities vested in us either by the executive branch and/or by the legislative branch of our jurisdictions.  Personality conflicts and understanding of our mission often complicate and inhibit the missions by which we are charged to serve. Complex processes and rules established by law makers certainly add to the challenges.  However, it is both our right and duty to lobby for change when change is necessary...and it is necessary.  State and local laws need to be updated to give authority where needed and ensure government operates efficiently and effectively.  Instead of advising us about what we can't do, lawmakers, elected officials AND the lawyers on our staff should be looking at ways to support our missions.  They need to be partners in developing the strategies for success. Lobbying, as part of the Executive Branch of our government is our right and we should work with our elected officials to reform outdated laws and pass new laws enabling us to do our jobs better.

Steps to Progress

EMAC and mutual aid agreements are probably the foundation of recognizing that disasters do not respect the bounds of Federalism and that our system must adapt.  In spear heading EMAC, NEMA has pushed our capabilities further into reality.  But success is in recognizing that we must must go far beyond EMAC and intra-state mutual aid agreements to sufficiently be prepared for the disasters that threaten us.  Regionalization and private-sector partnerships are also evolving greatly as we continue to recognize that we can't do it all by ourselves.  NIMS and ICS are great starts to response management structures, but have not done a very good job of building out complex response management structures for inter-state and/or large-scale disasters in ways that are well-aligned with the principles of Federalism, including the sovereign rights of States.  Localities still have immense trouble scaling their capabilities to the needs of the disaster.  The systems, processes and legal structures needed to support these efforts are complex and with limited precedent; and it is our duty and vital importance to ensure our process-oriented and governing structures adequately allow innovation and progress to succeed AND be captured in a timely manner. 

The simple truth is that we have far more capabilities than we did in the over the last 50 years.  We also have far more responsibility.  Exercising the extent of our capabilities is a hard and convoluted as we bring in more and more response partners at all levels of government and the private sector.  NIMS and ICS are great starts to recognizing the need for more best practices in large-scale disasters.  They are hierarchical structures that need revision to address the decentralized, non-linear, and nodal management structures that have organically evolved in large-scale incidents.  Shared responsibility is becoming an effective model for which we have no great understanding of or resources for.

Recommendations:

Change is of course warranted as part of a modern evolution.  But more importantly, recognizing that we have the power to change and influence is of utmost priority.  Yes, we are undoubtedly strained by our budgets, our staffing, and the amount of time in our day; but it is still important to set ourselves up for success by recognizing the change that is needed and acting upon it.  To get us going, here are some recommendations I would like to see implemented 

I call on FEMA, DHS and other Federal organizations to:

• Comprehensively review existing Federal laws and regulations (either directly or indirectly related to disasters), develop a strategic plan for getting them updated, and identify gaps in which new legislation is needed;
• Create and/or reform grants so they are more flexible, allow creativity, and push the bounds of expectations.  Requirements should focus on measurable results as opposed to finite outcomes;
• Spur innovation and advancement through meaningful challenge grants and/or loans that provide support and opportunity for both private (non-profit AND for-profit) AND public sector organizations.  Expand Challenge.gov to provide innovation opportunities in a free-market environment.  FEMA can't do it all and a SBA partnership would serve the industry well. 

I call on state and local organizations to:

• Comprehensively review existing state and local laws and regulations (either directly or indirectly related to disasters), develop a strategic plan for getting them updated, and identify gaps in which new legislation is needed;

• Find opportunities to work with their elected officials and lobby for change in our legislative branches.
• Work with your elected officials and/or legislature to ensure budgets are appopriated as best as possible and your mission is better incorporated into the tax-base of your community.  For example, does your community have and need an emergency fund?
• Develop better working relationships with your legal departments and staff so they understand your needs and can provide meaningful can-do support rather than inefficient restrictions.  They are poised to help you navigate through the complex legal challenges that face your organization and perhaps provide solutions and work-arounds you may never have thought of on your own. 
• Lay out 5 and 10 year strategic plans that better convey your needs, outlines actionable and measurable programmatic objectives, and ensures your are meeting the comprehensive needs of your community. 

What recommendations do you have?  Where have you succeeded in implementing change?  How? 

Disaster Technology and the Usability Conundrum: 6 Pillars of Useful Technology

As disaster managers, technology is one our tools of the trade that enhance our operational abilities.  They are not the end all be all of solutions, but they significantly help enhance critical activities for success.  In recent years, the number of technology solutions have exploded in both number and capability.  But what has often taken a back seat is the usability of programs that often require high degrees of training and business practices.  I can't say we will ever be free of this, but the level at which we operate is simply too inefficient and costly.  Technology must be intuitive and solve complex process-oriented problems in order to realize its true value.  

But are we really at the mercy of companies developing these solutions?  I take a different approach...we must not only ask, but demand that disaster technologies developed today (largely applications) meet my six pillars of usable software technology: Process-Oriented, Intuitive, Flexible, Secure, Available, and Integrated.  

Process-Oriented

This is a no-brainer.  All technology should help solve a process-oriented problem such as communicating with the public, exercise design and development, managing response resources, or maintaining situational awareness.  Sometimes though, we get caught up in the sales pitch or all the features it has.  

Regardless, the solution must help solve YOUR problem!  Defining these can be sometimes tricky, but good thought and effort must be put into identifying these areas for improvement.  In fact, use your technology procurement cycles as an opportunity to improve process by using tools such as SixSigma.    

Usable

Again, this is something we always hope for, but never fully attain.  From navigation to work flow, applications should be developed as simply and intuitively as possibly.  Can any steps be removed?  What steps are unnecessary or legacy?  Does the application match the flow of the process?  the job?  the mission?  Are buttons and icons easy read and understand?  

These questions are critical to understanding usability and should be expanded as necessary.  The point of this is to reduce costs by reducing the need for application training and complicated business practices.  User dashboards are becoming more common as a usability tool.  User interfaces should be intuitive for someone who knows their job well.  

Flexible

Customization is a long running issue in any of our organizations.  In fact, we go as far to purchase a tool, then pay for more customizations despite common behaviors in the industry!  Our costs end up rising significantly as we realize we need X or Y or Z to help complete our missions.  The truth is, vendors have a tough job balancing what customizations should be in the hands of its customers and what should be retained due their specialized nature.  Many of their revenue models also depend on these customizations.

However, we need to push away from specialized customizations as they have a negative affect on our bottom line.  For example, once you have customized your software, updates, patches, and new features become very hard to deploy.  More problems are encountered, costing more to fix through your maintenance contract or service level agreement (btw, I really think these, as individual agreements, should go away completely; one master should suffice...probably a topic for another post.  This also limits the pace of innovation as many customers are using different versions.  

As mentioned above during the technology procurement process, carefully decide on YOUR needs ahead of time to help avoid this.  Heck, develop a technology strategy if need be.  Your administrative panel should ALWAYS have easy-to-use and flexible customization options that do not require "coding."  And vendors should understand that a strong and robust administrative panel is an absolute necessity!  

Secure

Security is always on my mind (and yours as well).  It reminds me of the song "Always on my Mind" by Willie Nelson.  While I am not talking about a lost love, I am talking about the constant threat of data and information compromise whether it be internal, external or a simple corruption.  We must recognize our threats and vulnerabilities in this area, but also recognize the issue with designing systems so secure it is hard to use and manage for its intended function.  

For example, the HSEEP Toolkit requires a very secure/hard to remember password that has to be renewed every 90 days.  Once more, if you account is moved to "inactive" status or your simply forgot your password, it requires a phone call instead of a simple and automated "Forgot My Password" process that can validate the same information.  I can go on and on about tools that don't balance security with usability very well.  And it truly is a balance.  We are all busy people who need to know that the tools we use are secure, but usable.  

Available

We are all emergency managers, responders and continuity professional with critical roles during emergencies.  As a result, our systems are critical as well.  Downtime is not an option.  Much has been written about business continuity and disaster recovery strategies.  But moves to internet-based solutions is growing significantly and challenging existing strategies to maintain critical operations.  Vendors are working hard to ensure their data centers have 99.9% uptime and availability.  Applications stand a better chance of uptime when they are not in the disaster impact zone.  Additionally, when you use separate applications from different providers in different locations, you significantly decrease your downtime risk.  

I should note that the availability that I speak of heavily relies on internet access and is a critical failure point.  But when you know where you need to devote your money and resources, such as mainly ensuring reliable access to the Internet, continuity strategies become more cost effective and easier to maintain and implement.  Now you are not worried about dedicating IT staff to managing your servers during high load times, addressing network failure or VPN issues, or constantly trying to keep up with software updates and server requirements.   You are dedicating and devoting your time to one important mission, Internet access.

Integrated

This is my bread and butter and where it will be at in the next five years.  Integration represents the many inter-dependencies that we have been trying to manage and coordinate for years.  Technology can make this easier, but if currently fails with all the customizations taking place.  Integrations should be a non-technical/non-coding activity based on the idea that you are simply connected to another platform that serves a complimentary need.  Revenue models need to shift from expensive customizations to standardized customer access.  I am not saying don't charge for this, but there is a middle ground that enables most of the customizations emergency managers are looking in a cost-effective manner that empowers the customer to modify the tool according to its needs.  

Integration still serves a greater purpose, though.  We no longer own ALL the data we work with and it is important that we can shift to an access control model no matter what platform you are using.  I was at a recent exercise where users of the emergency management software were hand posting information from their local status board to the Regional board and vice versa.  This SHOULD BE AUTOMATIC AND THE BOARDS SHOULD BE INTEGRATED!  OASIS is developing many standards to support this, but vendors need to step outside their silos and work in conjunction with their competitors by developing Application Programming Interfaces and pre-configured integrations with other applications.  We are an inter-dependent field that needs inter-dependent technology.  

Simple LDAP (a widely-used IT solution for managing organizational users) integration is a great start to support user provisioning.  Next up..the top five emergency management solution providers should develop integrations to each other's solutions.  

Conclusion

Well, as I write this post, I am realizing how big this issue is and perhaps I need to write a lot more about my pillars.  But I want to make sure I have stressed the one important overarching principle...the software we use today must be intuitive and reflective of our operating conditions.  Vendors have a long way to go to change their business model, get on constant and consistent innovative update cycles, and collaborate with their customers.  However, customers, the people who use this software every day must begin demanding these changes.  Cool features and capabilities mean little unless they are developed with our real-world needs in mind.  

I have hopefully provided some food for thought.  What are your thoughts and experiences?  What would you do differently?

Social Media and Records Retention...It's Here!

With multiple social media accounts across multiple platforms, it is often difficult to aggregate the data and information.  Traditionally, aggregators have done a great job of helping us manage the multi-channel/multi-platform approach to social communications.  Tools such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and Seesmic are low-cost options for getting started.  However, until now, they have not offered the ability to easily export and maintain the records of messages and conversations as required by some federal, state and local statutes.  Additionally, with thousands of messages sometimes flying around, it is hard to properly retain these records.   

Simly said, records retention has been a critical element missing as widespread adoption of social media continues.  However, Hootsuite, my favorite aggregator tool, has just added an archiving feature.  I haven't had a chance to play around with it much, nor has the company promoted the feature yet, but it looks promising to solve the legal issues associated with social media records retention.  You can archive 100 messages for free at this point.  Archiving 10,000 messages will cost you an extra $10/month.  Archiving 100,000 messages costs an additional $50/month.  

Either way, the costs are relatively minimal and provide a good opportunity to begin testing your social media prowess without overinvesting from the start!  The platform also provides enterprise management features that allow team members to coordinate, assign tasks, and manage specified accounts.  These are especially helpful if your social media presence is growing unweildy.  

What is your favorite aggregator?  How do you maintain your social media records?

3 Types of Social Engagement for Disasters

Social media is becoming ingrained within the daily operations of disaster management.  From mitigation through recovery, emergency management agencies are implementing social media strategies.  But with limited precedent and understanding for their effectiveness, change is hard. Operationally speaking, how do organizations begin tackling their social media strategy?  What tools are being used?  Who is assigned the responsibility?  And for what specific area?  What procedures/policies/processes are being used to support disaster social media?

We know the many social tools that are out there...Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc.  The tools, though, don't not necessarily help us achieve our fundamental objective of preparing our communities through effective engagement.  This is where strategy comes in and the different types of social media strategies.

3 TYPES OF SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

Whether you as the Disaster Manager, Public Information Officer, or Intern is at the helm for your organization's social media, it is important to develop your strategy around 3 types of engagement that span all phases of disaster management.

1)  Messaging. Probably the most common and time-honored type of communication strategy for disaster management organizations, social media has added tools that enable use to do this more effectively.  Press releases, preparedness tips, and incident information can easily be passed through Facebook's and Twitter's status updates.

Public Information Officers (in general) develop dissemination strategies through  use of Facebook  (using Facebook Pages) or Twitter by increasing the number of follwers.  There are also aggregation tools such as HootSuite and TweetDeck (check out 7 Social Media Aggregation Tools to Simplify Your Streams for more tools) that help you manage messaging dissemination.  Analytics can also be incorporated through the use of URL Shortners such as bit.ly or Ow.ly.  Better yet, show your influence to your bosses and naysayers with Klout, the standard for measuring social influence.

2)  Conversation. Probably more difficult, but certainly the next step in disaster social media strategy, conversing with our public is becoming expected and certainly a gray area between messaging and data collection.  If the public sends tweets asking questions, they want answers.  Conversation is much more expansive than public messaging because it includes going to where the conversation is taking place.  These days, more and more conversation is taking place on LinkedIn and niche sites in addition to Facebook and Twitter.  It is unrealistic to believe that conversation will only happen on your website.

Conversation, though, can easily eat up manpower and is a risky public media strategy as you develop proper responses to often heated questions and discussions (check out the NYC Social Media Customer Use Policy and the NYC Social Media Policy).  But it is one well worth the effort as your community begins to recognize that you are not just listening, but engaging and working on the things that they so desperately need.  They need to know not only what you have done, but what you are working on!  Begin looking where the conversations are taking place and start engaging now, before the disaster.  Create a list of all online places where YOUR communities are engaging and where your organization should have a presence.

3)  Data Collection and Management. I will be honest, we aren't here yet, but we are heading in this direction.  It is a simple fact, the public is everywhere else that we are not.  They are assets in helping us identify and manage unmet need, and in maintaining good situational awareness.  But they don't necessarily know what our data reporting needs are and they certainly don't know the best place to feed this information to.  But what if we identified existing (or perhaps created) tools that are easy for the public to use and will enable us to do our jobs better?  What if we created the processes behind the tools to help manage the flow of information so that public information becomes more meaningful?

Adam Crowe, CEM presented on this future in his conference presentation Going Beyond Facebook & Twitter.  He discussed the use of social geo-location tools to ultimately aid:

• Search & Rescue
• Debris Management
• Damage Assessment
• Spotter Deployment
• Field Accountability

Tools like Facebook Places, Foursquare, and Google Latitude are just a smattering of examples.  Many new mobile location-based applications are being developed and it is up to us to develop the processes and procedures behind the next generation of applications to meet our information needs from the public.  Technology today makes this possible and is a lot simpler than you think with do it yourself tools like SwebApps and AppMakr.

CONCLUSION

Your followers are your community members as well as those in the surrounding areas.  Prominent organizations and other response partners in your community are also  followers that have the ability to amplify your messages farther than you can imagine.  Check to see if your local non-profits or response partners maintain an online social presence and incorporate them into your social media strategy.

What does your social media strategy look like?  How is it organized?  Who is responsible?

Online Disaster Communities...What/where are they?

A number of disaster related online communities and portals related have popped up in recent years.  I am researching and compiling a list of all social network, portals, blog, and news resources related to disaster management, business continuity, and homeland security.  I hope to publish this online in the next month for free. Please comment on your favorite online community.  Please include the target audience as I will be organizing the list by end users.

For example, here is a short list of communities that I have already identified:

• DisasterNet
• MyResilientCommunity
• National Terror Alert
• Comprehensive Emergency Management Network

Reply by leaving a comment below or directly at info@disaster-net.com.  Thanks for your support!

The 80% Disaster Solution?

I can't imagine anyone in the disaster industry wants their planning to only be 80% effective.  But, this has me wondering about how we plan and where much of our effort goes.   I can't help but think that 80% of our effort goes into planning and preparedness for the issues related to 20% of our communities.  I am sure these numbers are not exactly accurate, but in reading The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less, I believe there are some planning imbalances that go into our preparedness efforts.

Craig Fugate, Administrator of FEMA, spoke about this at the annual International Association of Emergency Managers Conference this past October.  His keynote addressed how we shouldn't consider special populations "special" in our planning efforts.  In community preparedness planning, all populations should be woven into the fabric of all disaster plans.  Appendicies and annexes related to special populations or circumstances should be re-captured into comprehensive all-hazards planning.

I wholeheartedly agree with him, but can't imagine that we are ready for this shift with our current planning models.  In a way, we use the appendicies and annexes to help ensure we cover our bases, like checklists, especially with our most vocal, critical, and sensational community members.  But even in our best planning, I can't say we have gotten to a 100% solution.

So here is my my case...what if we:

• Shift to a comprehensive planning model not just for all-hazards, but for all populations?
• Aim to achieve only 80% success because we know we will achieve 100% in the end?
• Change our planning mindset to tackle what we can now and cover the rest later?

Will doing these things help us break down our most important issues and avoid being distracted by sensational issues?  Will our plans be more effective and reflective of what we are trying to achieve?

What do you think?

Defining Disaster...What's the difference?

Since DisasterNet has just kicked off, I thought it would be beneficial to start of my blog with a post about defining "disaster." In our hearts and minds, we all seem to know what a disaster is.  However, to many people and many industries, the definition of "disaster" varies greatly.

Whether you define disaster by threats, consequences, or resources used, it is important for all people and organizations to know how disasters affect them.  Many people and organizations operate knowing that only certain types or aspects of disasters will impact them.   So is there really a common definition we can agree on?  Or even a need for a common definition?

Below is a list of existing definitions.

Wikipedia -

• A perceived tragedy, being either a natural calamity or man-made catastrophe. It is a hazard which has comes to fruition.

Dictionary.com -

• An occurrence causing widespread destruction and distress; a catastrophe.
• A grave misfortune.
• A calamitous event, especially one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage, or hardship, as a flood, airplane crash, or business failure.

National Center for Children Exposed to Violence -

• Events that are relatively sudden, highly disruptive, time limited (although the effects may be longer lasting) and public (affecting children from more than one family).*

*Adapted from the American Psychological Association's definition of disaster.

United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction -

• A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

AllWords.com

• An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent change to the natural environment.
• An unforesen event causing great loss, upset or unpleasantness of whatever kind.

How do you define disaster, in your personal life, in your industry, or in your organization?  Does defining disaster matter to you?