[LINK] Disaster Management and Continuation of Service Using the Web
Tom Worthington
Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au
Thu Mar 1 09:22:56 AEDT 2007
Storms on 27 February 2007
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200702/1859793.htm?act> damaged 70
buildings on the Australian National University campus in Canberra
<http://billboard.anu.edu.au/news_view.asp?id=12360>. The campus was
closed for the remainder of the week, with most lectures, tutorials
and laboratory sessions cancelled. A positive note in this is that
the ANU's Internet systems continued to function, so that staff and
students could be kept up to date via email and the web.
ANU Medical School students had the Medonline system to keep them informed:
"MedOnline is the staff and student interface to the web based
curriculum that the Medical School is delivering for the Medical
Degree. This interface allows access to the Problem Based Learning
cases that are being delivered each week. MedOnline also provides a
wide range of other resources and tools that the staff and students
will be utilizing in order to support their teaching and learning."
<http://medicalschool.anu.edu.au/students/students.asp>
Other students had access to the web based discussion forums, course
notes and digital audio of lectures. These were not intended for
distance education, but to supplement face-to-face teaching. However,
having that material online and available when the campus is closed
allows the students to keep in touch and access materials.
This is something organisations need to think about. Apart from storm
damage, staff might be unable to use their offices for an extended
period in the event of an outbreak of Bird Flu
<http://www.tomw.net.au/2005/wd/birdflu.shtml>. How much of the
business of the organisation could keep functioning via the Internet,
if staff could not go to the office (or assemble in groups anywhere)?
Unfortunately the information on the ACT government web site on storm
damage is less easy to use. Two reports on damage to government
schools
<http://www.det.act.gov.au/publicat/word/RainstormandACTSchools.doc>
and libraries
<http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/47165/Civic_Library_Closed.pdf>
are in the form of Ms Word and PDF documents. This makes the download
much larger and slows the public's access to the information. These
should have been provided as simple, small HTML web pages.
After the 2003 Canberra Firestorm
<http://www.courts.act.gov.au/BushfireInquiry/The%20Canberra%20Firestorm%20Report/The%20Canberra%20Firestorm%20Report.htm>
I provided some advice on emergency web design to a conference in
Canberra
<http://www.tomw.net.au/2003/enet.html#Emergency%20Web%20Site%20Design|outline>.
One of my students did research and reported on how to assess the
success of emergency
sites
<http://home.watersprite.com.au/~shelby/emweb/emweb_final_report.pdf>.
The results were published online and government officials invited to
the talks.
Experts may argue over the detail on how to design emergency web
sites. However, their duty of care to the citizens should not be in
dispute. IT professionals and web designers, including those employed
as contractors, have a professional and legal responsibility. It is
not a valid defence to say that their bosses did not give approval or
adequate resources. After the next major emergency, the adequacy of
online systems will be examined. Professionals will have to explain
in court any deaths, injuries or major economic loss they contributed
to though inadequate web sites.
Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
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