Resilient design for the disruptions of tomorrow.
I love the idea of mobile first strategy when it comes to applications. We are increasingly virtual and need the flexibility our phones offer to input and receive relevant information.My question, though, is is a mobile application by jurisdiction the best way to go since the public and other citizen responders are not bounded by jurisdiction, but rather geography?
For a while, I have heard of Evernote in passing and never sat down to understand the application. Now that I am a graduate student, though, I can't imagine how I ever survived without it! For those that don't know, Evernote helps you:
"remember everything, communicate effectively and get things done."
With this broad mission, I asked myself, what could I really use it for?
Well, it turns out that I actually have a HUGE need to remember everything, communicate effectively, and get things done! Before I get into the details, it is important to know why I have predicament in the first place.
Frankly, we are moving from a knowledge worker society to a knowledge management society in which real-time knowledge over a breadth of topics is often valued more than a deep vertical expertise. In essence, we are becoming experts in just a few clicks. Whether you are trying to look up a definition or information on something or someone, Wikipedia and LinkedIn are key tools for getting smart, quick.
In addition, our sources of information have also grown exponentially. We need to keep up with all the various information sharing platforms in order to keep up with trends and maintain our expertise. From Twitter to Facebook and beyond, there are hundreds of platforms with information to keep track of. It has become expected that you keep up with them or risk becoming irrelevant.
Well, I figured out very fast how to organize all my sources of information but was left with this burning question: What now? There was simply no way to easily retain everything and also share with others over time. Social media and other communications tend to be more real-time and don't "hold" information for search well. This is compounded further when you operate on many different platforms!
Evernote's ability to collect almost anything (i.e., articles, pictures, PDFs, URLs, etc.) directly from the browser or phone enables seamless "filing." I can easily select the notebook and add any tags as I capture the content.
For my Government 3.0 class, I am constantly coming across articles and PDFs of interest for future blog posts. As I do so, I read, then capture the content directly to Evernote for a later date when I am ready to write. When I am ready to write, I can easily reference the material on any of my devices (phone, tablet and two computers) and by completing simple searches or navigating directly to my Government 3.0 notebook. No longer do I have to remember where I put it.
But wait, what if the content is directly related the notes I just took in class or a meeting I just had? Well, I can merge the notes together, place them in the same notebook, and/or tag them with the same information. Essentially, disparate content and information can easily be merged if they share any similar characteristics.
There is no doubt we are in the age of teams and collaboration! This means that effective communication is a must in order to be successful. Tools are popping up all over the place that assist with this, but I have found Evernote to be the one that most suits my needs at the moment. It is fairly priced (free to $45/year) and is the simplest to use and sync across all my devices.
Evernote's sharing features allow me to share notes via email or social media and share notebooks with collaborators and the public. Working on my capstone project for my MPA, our team decided to dump our research, articles, thoughts, meeting notes, etc. into one shared notebook for easy reference. This comes in handy as we all have access to the material for related blog posts and conversations that we will create or have over the duration of the project. The search features combined with tagging also allow us to hone in on what we are looking for very easily.
But what if it is something important that everyone should be aware of right away? Share your note with your collaborators via email directly from any Evernote interface. And what if I receive an email reply from a subject matter expert? Copy and paste into Evernote? NO! Send your email to your personal Evernote email address. The email will automatically be uploaded and synced. Use the "@" symbol followed by the notebook name for the email to get automatically filed in the appropriate notebook.
Of course, getting things done is a huge part of being a graduate student. I am often so busy with classes, projects, student council, consulting and professional development that I rarely have time to keep it all straight and organized. Evernote helps me easily stay organized with all the important emails, articles, and other messages I receive and want to remember. With these concerns off my plate, I can concentrate on getting things done.
Many people also use Evernote to develop their To-Do Lists. Evernote is certainly a great product for this, but my life (in terms of task management) is a bit more complicated. As such, my preference is to use Wunderlist for task management. It allows me to group and schedule my tasks and even schedule repetitive tasks such as laundry, paying the bills, food shopping, etc. The subtask feature also helps identify min-tasks that lead up to the larger task at hand. The application is also available on every device I have and has collaboration features.
Evernote is a tool that makes my life easier...much easier! But what has really helped me succeed and to be productive is my approach. I have given a lot of thought to my personality, work habits and needs when it comes to being productive. As such, I was able to select the right tools for me, of which Evernote is a major part.
P.S. It is unlikely that one solution will meet all of your needs. However, with some advance strategic thought, you can reduce the number of solutions to a few.
So necessary, especially for Disaster Management where we are HIGHLY interdependent and networked!
This is a great example of Social Media use in Humanitarian Emergencies!
This is a great article regarding Carnegie Mellon's efforts to improve community resilience through technology. What do you think of it?
As devastating disasters like Hurricane Sandy have shown, traditional telecommunications infrastructure is highly vulnerable.
But a new project out of Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley may have a solution that uses smartphones.
At the university's annual Disaster Management Initiative Workshop, "Making Smart Communities Resilient," Bob Iannucci and students demonstrated the new Survivable Social Networks (SSN) project.
The goal is to create a standalone Wi-Fi "bubble" to allow members of a community and emergency personnel to communicate within a local network. For wider communication, such as between two towns, individual "bubbles" could be networked through a satellite...
Disaster Management-Faculty & Staff News - Carnegie Mellon University.
The technological future is here...are your solutions addressing these issues?
Patrick provides a great description of ongoing research in understanding the relevance of Tweets in disaster. "Filtering" will be a big topic in the coming years.
This article highlights the importance of making a conscious decision about where you house your data. While I firmly believe the cloud is the best place to be, you should probably have your data sitting outside your geographic region.
The next phase of the emergency management technology revolution!
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, October 30, 11:40 am Eastern Daylight Time. Here is some helpful information that I will be updating through out Hurricane #Sandy...
Highlights.
A couple notes:
Volunteering:
Social Media. Here are some helpful social media accounts to follow during the storm:
Hashtags
Local Social Media
Flooding. Following the storm, flooding will likely be pervasive. Do walk or drive into ANY area in which you can not see the surface! Flash floods may also occur.
Shelters. 76 shelters are available all over the city and can be found using the evacuation zone finder. They are wheelchair accessible and are pet-friendly.
Subway, Rail, and Bus Closures. Restoration may take at least 3 days. Buses may begin operating sooner. For updates visit:http://www.mta.info.
NYC Schools. Closed for Monday, October 29, Tuesday, October 30 and Wednesday, October 31.
Parking and Meters. NYC Department of Transportation has suspended Alternate Side Parking Regulations and payment at meters citywide for Monday, October 29 and Tuesday, October 30..
Tunnels and Bridges. Nearly all bridges and tunnels are closed due to wind and water conditions as of 7pm on Monday, October 29. Lincoln and Midtown Tunnels may be open. All bridges, except for those in the Rockaways, will be open by Tuesday, October 30 at 12pm.
Parks and NYC Facilities. The following are closed as of 5 p.m. Sunday, October 28.
Evacuation. By order of Mayor Bloomberg, NYC has issued an evacuation order for all people in "Zone A." To find out if you are in Zone A, please go here and input your address. For your friends that are furry, all NYC shelters are pet-friendly! PLEASE follow this order if you are in Zone A. Ordered about 12pm on Sunday, October 28.
Tracking the Storm. To track the storm, keep checking here and here. The"eye" of the storm is not always most powerful, so expect severe weather regardless, including high winds and significant rain during the event along with flooding during and after the event.
Staying Prepared. You should have the following at your home:
Life-Threatening Emergency? Call 911. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please let me know via email, text or phone and I will help as best as possible.
NYU is closed for Monday, October 29 and Tuesday, October 30.
Google has some great resources! Thanks Regina!
This was my comment regarding Patrice's article about Too much info during incidents: time for a new command position?. I agree to an extent that a new position is needed. In fact, I think it is an interim solution; one in which the "officer" is not only an operational position, but a preparedness position teaching others how to best utilize the vast array of information that we have access to. In the future, though, I would argue that what is really needed is a shift from the traditional "command and control" model that is highly vertical.
The role of the "intelligence" officer will become a role for all personnel as technology, especially social technology, will help get the right information to the right people at the right time in the right way. The future of emergency management is a "networked" model that is more social and horizontal than vertical. NIMS/ICS will become incapable of the scale needed to succeed in the next 5-10 years. A new model entirely, based on emerging applied technologies, will be needed.
Look forward to more discussion on this. What do you think?
Resilience // Information // Technology
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