The Black Saturday fires devastated Australia and shocked the world. Now, the Country Fire Authority of Victoria has become a leading example of the use of social media for emergency management, winning this year’s Australian eGovernment award.

Martin Anderson, CFA’s Digital Media Manager and Australian Government 2.0 Innovator of the Year for 2012, explains how the experience of the February 2009 fires highlighted the importance of social communication tools in emergency situations, and that even within a command-and-control environment, agencies need to look outside the box, be flexible and improvise.

What I’m trying to do is explore and learn more myself, and also expose the principles of crowdsourcing and the benefits it can bring to the emergency services.

About Martin Anderson

Martin Anderson is the Digital Media Manager for the Country Fire Aurhority of Victoria, with a background in communications and journalism. During that time he has helped position the organisation as a recognised leader in the digital / social media field. His goal is to continue to use his diverse communication skills to help inform and engage people in ways that enhance their personal and working lives and encourage the development of strong, resilient communities both on and offline.

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Episode links and resources

• CFA Facebook – warnings, incident updates, community safety, general news
• CFA Twitter for warnings, incident updates, media releases
• CFA Twitter for general CFA news
• CFA connect website
• CFA YourTube channel
• CFA wins e-Government awards
• Social media in emergency management presentation http://youtu.be/_EPnCdTPwgM
• CFA / DSE warnings / incidents page – http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/index.htm
• Social media updates on website: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/social-media-updates.htm
• FireReady mobile apps – http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/cfa-on-your-mobile.htm
• Article containing info on One Source, One Message http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/407737/country_fire_authority_preps_bushfires_hp/

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  @CFA_connect
  @krjmanderson
• Tags: #smem #gov2au #em2au

We’re hoping that this event starts to spawn some conversations about making technology work for everybody – making technology work not just for large jurisdictions, heavily populated jurisdictions, urban jurisdictions but also working for some of those rural jurisdictions and all those places in between.

About Jessica Jackson and Michael Walter

• Jessica M. Jackson, Regional Crisis Information System Administrator for the Southeast Texas region has served the state of Texas in different capacities in the field of Emergency Management since 2006.  Jessica has worked several major incidents throughout the State of Texas including numerous Hurricanes; winter weather storms; wildfires; wide-spread flooding events; and other severe weather related hazards. Her area of emphasis focuses on emergency management technology systems, which help prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate natural and man-made disasters.Jessica graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy and Political Science and received her Masters Degree in Public Administration from Walden University.
• Michael Walter is the Public Information Officer for the City of Houston’s Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management.  In his position, he coordinates and administers the emergency public information system for the nation’s fourth-largest City.  In his work there, he has been instrumental in the development of strategies for using social media as an emergency communication tool, and the development of a mobile-optimized website for emergency public information. As part of the Houston Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) he also plays a key role in developing partnerships that seek to use emerging and advanced technology to help residents prepare for, respond to, and recover from catastrophic incidences.Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts in Electronic Media from Northern Arizona University and a Master of Public Service & Administration from the George Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University, where he focused on emergency communication response planning. He has previously worked in television news production, higher education, and for a local emergency management agency in southern California.

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Episode links and resources

• 2012 Regional Technology Seminar & Fair

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In this episode, we chat with Maurits van der Vlugt, one of the co-founders of Australia’s Bushfire Connect service on the power of the crowd in an emergency. Maurits talks candidly about the opportunities and challenges of establishing and sustaining a voluntary initiative using social tools, and the importance of these initiatives engaging with the ‘command and control’ culture of the formal emergency management agencies and structures.

Bushfire Connect allows anyone in the country to submit local updates, which are then mapped and combined with official warnings and then alerts are sent out to people who are signed up for that particular region – all that’s done in real time.

About Maurits van der Vlugt

Maurits is recognised as one of Australia’s leading authorities in the design and implementation of (interoperable) spatial data infrastructures, and web delivery of spatial data. Maurits has a long career in consulting government and the private sector on developing location-intelligence strategies, along with the enabling technology frameworks, business cases and implementation planning. Having worked for over 20 years in the spatial information industry in Europe, the USA and Australia, he has developed an extensive international network.

Maurits also volunteers his time to not-for-profit crisis management initiatives such as BushfireConnect and Random Hacks of Kindness.

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Episode links and resources

• Bushfire Connect website
• Ushahidi open source software that powers Bushfire Connect as well as other similar initiatives around the world
• Emergency Management 2.0 research project for the Australian Government’s 2.0 Taskforce

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• People and organisations:
  @mvandervlugt @bushfireconnect
• Tags: #smem

Join us for a discussion with Julian Carver, a founding member of Open NZ – bringing citizens and government together around open data standards.

Julian also talks about the two recent devastating quakes in the Christchurch region of New Zealand, the loss of 60 percent of the central business district, and how open government principles are assisting the recovery process.

We talk with Bryan Sivak, new chief innovation officer for the State of Maryland, about innovating in government, and trying to keep a web-savvy citizenry up to speed during the recent DC-area earthquake and Hurricane Irene.