Re: IKE SURVIVORS WANT PHONE NUMBERS, NOT ONLY WEBSITES FOR DISASTER RELIEF

Thanks a lot William
you say many interesting things,

I am a bit of a web fanatic, although I would not as far as referring
emergencies to url
I think calls should be logged via any means, and the web should be there to
collect and log such information
My problem with the web is realiabilty, we dont know how many messages would
get lost, but the web can document what 'has been received',  maybe systems
can be made more reliable by issuing a receipt (message received, published
on the site with message id nrx567)

Just a couple more thoughs:


Normally I think that ice would be distributed from the same places as
> other supplies (food, water, cleaning supplies, etc.). At such
> distribution points there is normally a coordinator that should be in
> communication with the rest of the supply chain, and should know if
> they are lacking in ice...


yes, that is where bottlenecks occurr. the poor coordinator cannot cope with
45678 requests of ice simultanousely
that's what networked based systems are for, and that what the web can
support,(even if its not completely reliable, its pretty cool as it is

>
>
>  2. although it is understandable that websites are not the best way to
>> log requests for assistance during the moment of emergency, it is also
>> very easy to have what we called 'phone to blog' entries, whereby a
>> request can be logged via an sms or phone call, and recorded in real
>> time onto a web based system
>>
>
>   This is where the amateur radio operators
> come in, whose job it is to pass messages between different points in the
> disaster management graph.


You just gave me an idea william, radio to web. Whoa, I have not seen that
yet.
Anyway I think from the example below, people can phone but cannot browse on
this occaions


>
>
> A good system will function if all that is available is radio. However it
> is also important to recognize the message passing capacity might be
> limited and avoid someone having to sift through 1000 audio files of
> requests
> for ice on a website (and possibly missing something else buried in
> between)


That gets us to where we are
Assuming the information is logged using our pretty schema, then the 1000
audio files can be  broken
down by location, say, (see the point?) and different units could target
different locations, or other criteria

>
>
>  3. via a simple schema, such requests can be matched/dispached to supply
>> distributions centers that can be used by relief agencies to target their
>> distribution
>>
>
> I read this as affected individuals (i.e. I need 1Kg of ice) making
> requests
> via a computerized system. Apologies if I misunderstand. I think that such
> use cases should be intentionally limited -- in most cases it is better to
> collect the distribution centre rather than clogging the communications
> channels.


Not necesarily. 1Kg x200 people in the same location, simply means making
sure that 200 kgs reach a certain location, and tht the people who requested
it can be informed via an automated msg (following your request nrx56 ) go
there to pick up the ice that you requested.   I am not insisting this is
easily done, just giving an example that
not knowing where to send the ice, and not knowing where the ice is, is not
justified in the information age
information should be available and should underpin the real time planning
of the ice delivery operation,

>
>
> It is a different story if people are stranded and unable to reach a
> centre,
> and bandwidth (mental and physical) should be reserved for these more
> serious
> cases.


that too


i dont think we should overrely on anything, but making the web more useful
to support the information flow I think is part of what we are trying to
acheive here

thanks for reply
cheers


PDM