California wildfires: new tech helps victims (and don't read this)

@IT Blogwatch: new technology is being put to good use to help those caught up by the wildfires in Southern California. Not to mention Dilbert on And Finally...

Patrick Thibodeau reports:

The massive wildfires burning in and around San Diego are testing technologies that the city recently deployed for managing disasters, including a Web-based system for coordinating emergency-response operations and a Reverse 911 system for alerting residents. And Matt McGarvey, the city's CIO, thinks those technologies are making a difference in fighting the fires and getting people out of harm's way ... cautioned that only time will tell how use of the Reverse 911 technology can actually help to prevent deaths. But he said the system has been "very effective." [more]

Jim Forbes is a local resident and blogger:

Reverse 911 emergency call systems rule. the first phone call from the Escondido police department came in mid morning on Monday. I had about three hours notice to get ready ... I never go anywhere without my notebook which has integrated 802.11 WiFi and broadband wireless ... [and] my Belkin wireless Skype phone ... I’m writing this on my trusty X60 tablet now. It has about four hours of battery life remaining and my day pass on Verizon is good until tomorrow night ... I was amazed at the coordination and help ham radio operators provided in this fire season. It's a long tradition I'm glad to see continuing into the 21st Century ... My hats off and cold bottles of Coca Cola freely extended to the wild lands and city and county firefighters who battled he flames on four sides of my town to a standstill. [more]

Alistair Croll is impressed 2.0:

Traditional media have been hopelessly outdated in their coverage. We tracked the fires using the National Weather Service’s reflectivity index, which proved far more accurate. But the enterprising folks at the L.A. Fire Department found a better way: they’ve been issuing frequent updates using Twitter. Google Maps mashups are being usd to provide a relatively current look at data ... And for homes without power, mobile handsets are making it possible for people to get details on where to go ... a warning system for the masses. [more]

Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins agrees:

The evolution of media has finally put hundreds of mobile [news aggregators] spewing forth everything we rely on the mainstream media for with uzi fire succession much quicker than the cable news can dish it out; most of it we don’t even need to be near a computer to take in ... If you’re not getting enough news from your network of Twitterers, there is always the “track” feature, allowing you to skim twitters containing the keywords of your choice. Give it a minute and resources and media will fly past your screen with short 140 character or less descriptions. Click on the TinyURL of your choice. Want a more official account? Try news organization kpbsnews and twitterers nateritter and viss. [more]

As does Ryan Singel:

Twitter's ... real usefulness is its ability to get messages to users' friends and family and provide evacuation updates -- even when cell networks are overloaded. [more]

And David Stephenson's wowed by the wonder of wikis:

I love PBwiki: at last count I think I’d created more than a dozen of them, for everything from family health challenges to Web 2.0 strategies, and I think wikis are absolutely critical in crises because they allow anyone who has some bit of relevant information (and, in an unprecedented disaster, that could mean absolutely anyone!) to contribute, and anyone else to edit it. So bravo to Ramit Sethi and the folks at PBwiki for donating free Premium wikis to victims of the wildfires. [more]

Paul McNamara paints us a picture:

The latest NASA photo of the Southern California wildfires ... is nothing short of breathtaking ... and not in a good way ... NASA images can be seen here. [more]

And finally...

• Stop clicking these And Finally links and get back to work!
  

Buffer overflow:

• Schneier on Security: RFID Chips in School Uniforms
• Realtime IT Compliance: Average Cost of ID Theft Per Victim is $31,356
• Om Malik: Cisco Makes Its WiMAX Move, Buys Navini
• Cyril Kowaliski: Microsoft withdraws EU appeals, Intel speaks out
• Henry Blodget: Sorry, Microsoft, Google Has Already Won Facebook War
• Adam Ostrow: Three Clicks to Spam: Google's Hypocritical Link Selling Policy

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Michael R. Farnum: IT people are like forklift drivers
• Dino Perrotti: What is wrong with American engineering and how to fix it
• Robert L. Mitchell: How Domino's balances pizza pies, profitability and people
• Preston Gralla: Google wants to own your library
• Mitch Betts: Employees retaliate against bad bosses by slacking off
• Shark Tank: Faster, redefined
• Shark Bait: Large email attachments

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Gmail IMAP emerges, makes our day (and ninja milking)
• Microsoft settles Euro-anti-trust malarkey (and major-translator)
• Comcast resets BitTorrent users; net neutrality lovers lash out (and "Them" vs. "Us")