Public Health Affairs

Author: Jim

  • Quickly Noted: E-books

    I’ve shown you what I carry around in case I need to respond to something: my PIO gobag. One of the tools you’ll notice is my old school iPad, the one thing you didn’t see is my iPhone. (I’m an iNerd, I know.)

    Both are a key part of my go bag because of what they have on them: everything. You see, I have a Dropbox account where I store digital copies of all of my quick reference guides, plans, charts and layouts. ICS charts, radiation isotope treatment guidance, approved message maps, and on and on. The whole nine yards. On both my iPhone and iPad, I’ve got the Dropbox app installed which allows me to download documents for off-line viewing, giving me 24/7 access to all of my documents. In an EOC bunker, after a power outage, late at night, on the train. Everywhere, and eminently more portable than paper copies.

    The reason I bring this up is because the Recovery Diva herself passed along this information and reminded me. Her post, and in particular the focus on ebooks, made me consider how others who might not have that level of tech (or the money to buy it!) could do something similar.

    The answer? Ebooks!

    A brand new Amazon Kindle ebook reader costs just $80 and is TINY. And with the ability to email PDFs directly to the Kindle for free (over wifi), you can have an entire library of response documents on-hand (or in your back pocket) for less than $80. Everything you need, 24/7, everywhere. And still eminently more portable than paper.

  • Influencing Journalists with Social Media

    I’ve long thought that, when properly implemented and utilized, social media can help public information officers manage the load of dealing with the media. I’ve heard some anecdotal evidence of this, but haven’t found any hard data to support the theory.

    My thinking goes as such: minor situation updates and “nice-to-knows” (read: not press release-worthy) occupy the bulk of time spent by PIOs interacting with the media. “Just wanted to confirm one thing,” “has there been any updates to,” and “do you have a comment on” are some of the top offenders. They just take a minute to deal with, but are really just a transfer of information that don’t necessarily require face time with the PIO; anyone could provide those updates (provided they had the information and could read off a script). A proactive PIO, though, could utilize social media to make sure all situation updates are posted to the networks as soon as they are confirmed and ensure that the latest post is the most up-to-date and reporters don’t need to actually call the PIO for the latest update.

    I’m not so naive, however, to think that as soon as you start this process reporters will stop calling you. It’s a give-and-take process that requires you to not only post things, but ensure that that feed is up-to-the-minute up to date enough that reporters know they can trust it as a source. It will take time, and unhappy reporters, and busy, busy times for the PIO.

    Long-term, though…

    I came across another piece of “anecdata” last week that I had to pass along. While not perfect, it shows how using social media to focus–specifically–on disseminating social media to journalists can help increase the scope of your outreach.

    Melody Kramer, of NPR’s Fresh Air, is a total social media rockstar (and Philly local!) and recently gave a presentation on the show’s social media efforts, and it’s AMAZING. Definitely worth the time to watch.

  • Quickly Noted: Google Response Tools

    Recently, a friend forwarded me information about this site from Google about crisis response. Google has, as you may have heard, played a role in disaster response and recovery recently. Probably the best known example is their effort to help reunite families and track the missing after the Tohoku earthquake using a version of their PeopleFinder tool.

    If only to ensure that everyone sees the scope and variety of free tools out, there I point you to this page. Intended to serve as a “where to start” for responders interested in incorporating some of the tools Google has developed, it’s actually not a bad place to start. The following tools (and associated case studies) are featured:

    If you’re interested in learning more, Google has also developed a page to help you talk with your IT staff about how best to share information with the public in an emergency.

    While this post is very Google-heavy, they are far from the only players in this field out there–especially in the crisis mapping field. This post serves only to let you know about all of the cool things that are possible these days, and should not be seen as a soup-to-nuts accounting. Start here and dream big.