[LINK] Fwd: PoliticsOnline, Feb 13, 2009

[Tom Koltai]

Unfortunately, an SMS warning system requires a registration procedure
which would still leave many without any warning system.
Added to that, many owners have their sms messages set to a single beep
or a silent vibrating tone.

This could be the single strongest argument for the US style (Nextel)
Walkie Talkie option on Cell Phones that have an all cellphones
broadcast capacity.

Optionally landline telephones can be controlled by voltage to ring in a
recognisable warning pattern as could mobile phones within a cell area.

Unfortunately Landlines are often down as a result of fires. A
combination of the two warning systems would alert persons in an area of
iminent danger.

Optional to the foregoing. It may be that the old air raid warning siren
mounted on each GSM tower is the logical fallback. Most GSM towers are
Microwave fed offering a redundancy not necessarily otherwise available
in fire districts.

As GSM towers are at 7 km distances, often with overlapping competitive
towers at offsets, the siren system would merely require to be at the
right high frequency to be heard at considerable distance. At the very
least - it would make the pets in the family start playing up.

Last but not least. Channel 7 might like to donate .5Khz of their 30 khz
3.4 GHz spectrum as an alarm spectrum that connects to Unwired devices
that each community might like to buy connecting its output to a
community fire alarm.


Tom

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au 
> [mailto:link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of 
> stephen at melbpc.org.au
> Sent: Saturday, 14 February 2009 1:30 PM
> To: link at anu.edu.au
> Subject: [LINK] Fwd: PoliticsOnline, Feb 13, 2009
> 
> 
> > From:   PoliticsOnline <editor at politicsonline.com>
> > Date:   Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:06:54 -0500 (EST) 
> > Subject: Weekly NetPulse - In Australia, Social Media Sweeps Past 
> > Gov't
>  
> 
> Weekly NetPulse - In Australia, Social Media Sweeps Past Gov't 
> Bureaucracy  February 13, 2009 
>  
> In Australia, Social Media Sweeps Past Gov't Bureaucracy 
> 
> In the aftermath of the worst wildfire in Australia's history, 
> authorities and survivors are questioning whether a formal 
> alert system 
> of text messages or phone calls to warn residents of approaching 
> wildfires might have saved lives. The sweeping wildfires that blazed 
> across southeastern Australia last week killed 181 people. 
> 
> The AP reports, "In Victoria, there is no formal alert system of text 
> messages or phone calls to warn residents of approaching wildfires." 
> Australian officials reported that the fierce intensity and 
> fast-changing 
> direction of the fires make sirens, email and other warning systems 
> ineffective, but Victoria state Premier John Brumby said, "A national 
> emergency warning system for wildfires should be considered, 
> and that he 
> wrote to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd about the idea months ago.
> 
> The Australian Newspaper reports, "Attorney General Robert 
> McClelland, 
> working to expedite a nation-wide warning system utilizing 
> cells and text 
> messaging claims that the system was ready for deployment 
> months prior to 
> the fires but was delayed due to bureaucratic inefficiency 
> and political 
> wrangling." 
> 
> Social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and Flickr, as 
> was true in 
> the cases of the Mumbai Terrorist attacks and the California 
> wildfires, 
> were the first, most credible and raw sources of information 
> during the 
> disaster. Mark Parker from SmartSellingBlog reflected on 
> social media and 
> the wildfires saying, "It angers me that as I was getting official 
> reports from credible, reliable sources this same information 
> was taking 
> hours to get distributed into the mainstream community. The TV either 
> wasn't up to date or the networks felt it wasn't important 
> enough to run 
> anything more than hourly updates - it's not like they don't 
> know how to 
> use ticker updates." 
> 
> 
> (The Australian) Plea on Automated Emergency Messaging 
> http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25052154-5013404,00.html
> 
> (NY Times) Australia Wildfire Suspects Are Freed 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/world/asia/13australia.html?
> _r=1&ref=world
> 
> (AP) Australian official: Wildfire deaths will pass 200 
> http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlUCqDbfvOMg
cnOmIjSnqFNn
i6iQD968LCM00

(ABC) Social Media Explodes in Wake of Deadly Bushfires 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/09/2486463.htm


"Quote Of The Week" 
 
Australian Politicians Enter The World of New Media, Follow in Footsteps

of Obama

"The sooner our politicians see the internet as a vehicle for two-way 
communication, not a new medium for old static press statements, the 
sooner the inclusive, democratic and liberating power of online 
engagement will be harnessed in the same way Obama did - to such a 
transformative effect." - Ed Coper, campaigns director at online
activist 
group GetUp. (end quote)
--

Cheers,
Stephen

Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server



_______________________________________________
Link mailing list
Link at mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link


_______________________________________
No viruses found in this incoming message
Scanned by iolo AntiVirus 1.5.6.4
http://www.iolo.com