By W. David Stephenson
This piece was originally posted
here on Stephenson blogs on homeland
security 2.0 et al.
Smartphones now
account for 10% of all cell phone sales, according to research
released Monday at the Smartphone
Summit in Vegas (and their sales are about to overtake those
for laptops). When that happens, I’m predicting that, among the
huge changes having data storage with you at all times will mean,
will include major differences for disaster management and
terrorism survival.
This is an issue near and dear to me. Those with long memories
may remember that I got my start in homeland security creating a
series of “Terrorism Survival” modules (I no longer maintain them,
sadly, since the sales were never enough to justify the expense)
that could be downloaded to your smartphone. Users could navigate
from the broadest category of preparations or response to extremely
detailed information in only 3 clicks. In a worst-case scenario,
where users weren’t able to communicate at all, they still had the
most important information literally in the palms of their hands (I
calculated that having the same information in the original paper
forms would have required that each time you left the house in the
morning you’d have to heft a 300+ page bundle — and when things
went to hell in a handbasket you’d still have to figure out where
in that bundle the relevant information was located!). (cont.)
I still get a lot of interest in the concept from disaster
management specialists, and I argue that some organization and/or
agency should pick up the cost of having a similar product
available free to anyone with a smartphone, because it could make
such a dramatic change in how we respond to disasters: the more
people have information with them at all times, the more they’ll be
able to be self-reliant, allowing first responders to concentrate
on those in the greatest need of help.
It should also increase the chance of significant emergent
behavior during disasters, since people would have the basics in
hand for reference, and then could concentrate on adapting those
proven methods to fast-changing current conditions. I recently
retired my venerable Kyocera, the 1st smartphone, and was
flabbergasted to see all the bells and whistles the Samsung
Blackjack II that replaced it offered. It will be a great day for
every aspect of our lives when these devices become the norm.
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