Interesting that this has to come from the BBC. The notion has to do with using the eyes, skills, and tech of those on the ground, “citizen reporters,” to spread the news about disasters or whatever else the government’s not very good at responding to.
Citizens could leave text, video and photos on the site of emergencies, natural disasters and terror attacks.
A pilot could start later this year based at the University of Maryland, driven by 40,000 students and staff.
The idea of a nationwide network of 911.gov websites has been proposed by Maryland university lecturers Ben Shneiderman and Jennifer Preece in this month’s edition of Science magazine.
“The 911 telephone system functions effectively when there are traffic accidents, health emergencies or small fires, but when large numbers of people are involved it does not handle the capacity,” said Professor Shneiderman.
He added: “The evolution of the internet and its maturity at this point and the great success of social networking sites like MySpace, Craig’s List and Amber Alert, suggests there is an opportunity to do something for emergency response and recovery.”
There are deeper questions here about neighborhood information, such as the use of feeds to inform people about school closings. What use, however, without electrical power?