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Explaining Risks

Fri, 2012-11-30 18:15 — Maeryn Obley

Aftereffects of the L'Aquila earthquakeImage: Aftereffects of the L'Aquila earthquake

compression.org - October 25th, 2012 - Robert W. "Doc" Hall

The difficulties of explaining risk are the nub of the recent conviction on manslaughter changes of six Italian seismologists and a public official for inadequately forewarning the public of the L’Aquila earthquake in 2009: 309 fatalities, over 1500 injuries, and about 20,000 buildings destroyed. Seismologists classified the L’Aquila as a “moderate earthquake,” 6.3 Richter, but losses were very high in a densely populated area.

The case has drawn media attention, but Nature has a more detailed account.

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Searching social media sources by geography

Sat, 2012-11-17 13:30 — Maeryn Obley

submitted by Samuel Bendett

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - November 16th, 2012

Geofeedia has created a group of algorithms that can search multiple social media sources by geography in real time.

“You just type in a place name, address and zip code (to find a Tweet, video or image),” CEO Phil Harris told the Chicago Sun Times.

Harris started and financed the company with chief operating officer Mike Mulroy and chief technology officer Scott Mitchell.

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[Research] Data on Nonprofit Cloud Computing: Anywhere, Anytime Technology for Social Change

Sun, 2012-09-23 23:03 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez

bethkanter.org - by Beth Kanter - September 20, 2012

“Cloud Computing” is when you use software on the Internet versus your local hard drive or local computer network.  It makes your data and documents available anywhere, anytime.

TechSoup has just released the results of a global study of NGOs about cloud computing with some interesting findings.

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2012 Global Cloud Computing Translated Survey Results
http://www.techsoupglobal.org/translated-cloud-reports

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Safe Cities Initiatives

Sun, 2012-09-23 21:55 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Mike Kraft

linkedin.com

Terrorism, man made incidents, natural disasters and the current global economic climate, have forced cities to implement Safe City technologies and strategies. Safe City key elements include Social Media Analytics/Monitoring, Critical Infrastructure Protection, and leveraging emerging homeland security technologies to gain greater situational awareness for law enforcement professionals. The purpose of this group is to discuss emerging trends and technologies in the Safe City arena and serve as a networking environment for Safe City professionals. Emerging technologies in this area are PSIM (Physical Security Information Management), Biometrics-Access Control, Social Media Analysis-Monitoring, Explosives and Narcotics Trace Detection and Tactical & Emergency Communications Systems.

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4418022&goback=.gde_1528217_member_165228150

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Twitter’s New Lifeline Feature in Japan Helps People Find Relevant Accounts Quickly During Emergencies

Sun, 2012-09-23 21:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Janine Rees - by Matthew Panzarino - September 22, 2012

Twitter just launched a very cool feature in Japan called Lifeline. It allows Japanese users of Twitter to use their postal code to find and follow local accounts that are important in emergencies.

These could be accounts that are maintained by city, district or prefecture governments, which will be updating in the event of natural disasters or emergencies. These accounts could also include local media and utility companies that are informing customers about electricity outages or other necessary services.

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Protests spread against US over anti-Islamic film - as it happened

Sat, 2012-09-15 12:33 — Maeryn Obley

A Google map locating protests around the world tied to a low-budget video produced in canyon country north of Los Angeles. Photograph: Google

Image: A Google map locating protests around the world tied to a low-budget video produced in canyon country north of Los Angeles. Photograph: Google

guardian.co.uk - September 14th, 2012 - Matthew Weaver, Brian Whitaker and Tom McCarthy   

Protest activity smoldered in Cairo, Tunisia, Lebanon and elsewhere after a day of upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa. Relatively small but intense protests outside US embassies across the region resulted in multiple fatalities in Tunis and at least one each in Lebanon and Cairo.

Gunmen staged a raid on a peacekeepers' outpost in Sinai, with three foreign soldiers, believed to be Colombian, reportedly injured. The raid was described as major, with dozens of fighters and vehicles, and was not of a kind with the protests outside US diplomatic outposts.

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Qatar's Al Jazeera website hacked by Syria's Assad loyalists

Wed, 2012-09-05 20:00 — Maeryn Obley

in.reuters.com - September 5th, 2012

The website of Qatar-based satellite news network Al Jazeera was apparently hacked on Tuesday by Syrian government loyalists for what they said was the television channel's support for the "armed terrorist groups and spreading lies and fabricated news".

A Syrian flag and statement denouncing Al Jazeera's "positions against the Syrian people and government" were posted on the Arabic site of the channel in response to its coverage of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad which began in March last year.

Al Jazeera took the lead in covering the uprisings across the Arab world, and Qatar, one of the Sunni-led states in the region, publicly backed the predominantly Sunni rebel movement in Syria against Assad's Alawite-led government.

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U.K. - Rapid Response Network Ready if Crises Hit

Sun, 2012-09-02 23:40 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Department for International Development (DFID) - March 7, 2012

Britain is to establish a new rapid response network of top UK-based businesses and charities to provide emergency relief when major international crises hit - such as floods, famines and earthquakes.

The network, called the Rapid Response Facility, will mobilise life-saving support in the critical hours following a humanitarian disaster, Andrew Mitchell said today.

It is the first time a British government has brought together the power of the private sector as well as non-governmental organisations in this way to take part in emergency relief.

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This Is Now

Sat, 2012-08-11 20:57 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez

now.jit.su

This is Now project is a visual composition which uses real-time updates from the ever popular Instagram application based on users geo-tag locations. The tool streams photos instantly as soon as they are uploaded on Instagram and captures a city's movement, in a fluid story.

http://now.jit.su/

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Russia: Warnings Did Not Reach People Before Flood

Mon, 2012-07-09 17:05 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

      

A priest conducts a funeral ceremony, while acquaintances of Pyotr Ostapenko, 35, a flood victim, stand nearby, at the central cemetery in Krymsk in theKrasnodar region, southern Russia, July 9, 2012. Russia began a day of mourning on Monday for the 171 people killed in floods that drove thousands from their homes, with the causes of the disaster posing hard questions for the authorities, including President Vladimir Putin.
Photo By EDUARD KORNIYENKO/REUTERS

yahoo.com - Associated Press - by Nataliya Vasilyeva and Sergey Ponomarev - July 9, 2012

KRYMSK, Russia (AP) — Authorities failed to properly warn residents in the Black Sea region of floods that killed at least 171 people and left others scrambling for safety, Russia's emergencies minister acknowledged Monday, adding to public outrage fueled by widespread mistrust of the government.

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