Tag: COLL300

Using the information from this week’s reading material, submit an Annotated Bibliography of five sources from your Working Bibliography. First, put the source in the correct citation format for your particular curricular division, and then write a brief annotation (summary and use) of that source. Follow the student example and indicate the name and number of the Hacker ( www.hackerhandbooks.com/resdoc) model you are following for each source. Points will be deducted if you fail to do this. Remember, your final paper must include a minimum of seven sources with at least four sources coming from peer-reviewed journals taken from the APUS library.

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
Prof. Myron
COLL300
Annotated Bibliography: APA Style
July 7, 2012

As the requirements of this assignment are to compose an annotated bibliography while making note of which resource model used, sources are categorized by model number and alphabetized by author. Annotations immediately follow the source in italics.

Hacker Social Sciences Model # 7 & # 10 – Article in a Journal with three to seven authors:

Aten, J., Leavell, K., Gonzalez, R., Luke, T., Defee, J. & Harrison, K. (2010) Everyday Technologies for Extraordinary Circumstances: Possibilities for Enhancing Disaster Communication. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(1), 16-20.

This article highlights a few of the commonly used social networks and personal communications devices that have potential for use in disaster situations. Multiple examples are given in the article to “tested” use of the technologies within the article. In addition, supporting evidence of the potential reach is given through the mention of statistical information on a few of the networking sites.

Mills, A., Rui, C., JinKyu, L., & Rao, H. (2009). Web 2.0 Emergency Applications: How Useful can Twitter be for Emergency Response? Journal of Information Privacy & Security, 5(3), 3-26.

This article speaks specifically on the use of the social-networking site, Twitter. The article gives a background on the founding of the network–including the original concept of the service surrounding SMS communication. The article highlights the benefits of Twitter’s API and SMS gateway; the article delves into discussion of how the service has been used in disaster communication, and provides statistical information.

Hacker Social Sciences Model # 7 & # 11 – Article in a journal with eight or more authors:

McCauley-Bush, P., Mohammad, J., Gaines, S., Llewelyn, C., Armbrister, P., Watlington, A., … Cohen, S.. (2012) Assessment of Communication Needs for Emergency Management Officials in High-Consequence Emergencies. Journal of Emergency Management, 10(1), 15-25.

This article was written more as a study and report of communications technologies within a certain geographic area of Florida. The article uncovers some statistical information on what devices are currently in use by emergency managers and the comfort-level these individuals have with technology. Most useful for the purposes of this project will be the information regarding the wide-spread use of smart-phone devices amongst EM professionals; these statistics will be incorporated with information on the use of Twitter, Facebook and other services to reflect the ease of sharing disaster information with the public.

Hacker Social Sciences Model # 30 – Article in an online journal:

Underwood, S. (2010). Improving Disaster Management. Communications of the ACM, 53(2), 18-20. doi:10:1145/ssre:1646353:1646362

This article addresses some of the emerging uses of technology surrounding the use of mobile phones—specifically those being addressed by Calit2. Though the article is more on the side of discussing Calit2’s research, it contains interesting “sound-bites” discussing the importance of “citizen journalism” and “dual-use” technologies. This article pairs quite well with the one written by Aten et al, and can be used for further foundation on how monitoring and interacting with the public via social media outlets is becoming paramount in effective disaster communication.

Hacker Social Sciences Model # 31 – Article in an online magazine:

Hoover, J. (2011, January 19). FEMA To Use Social Media For Emergency Response. InformationWeek. Retrieved from: http://www.informationweek.com/

A simple article discussing the aim of FEMA in using social media for emergency response; this article is the underlying concept of the research assignment. Contained in this article are quotes from FEMA administrator, Craig Fugate—an avid Twitter user.

Forums: Week Five Paraphrases and Direct Quotations

Following the guidelines in this week’s reading, post a direct quotation from one of your sources as it would appear within the body of your research paper. Be sure that you introduce your quote with a signal phrase, provide some commentary for the quote, and include the appropriate in-text citations for your documentation style. Follow the source material with closing commentary or analysis to link it to your thesis/purpose. Next, paraphrase the same quotation and use a signal phrase and closing commentary to demonstrate how the paraphrase would appear in your research paper; include an in-text citation in the documentation style you are using for your paper. Be sure to label which documentation style you are using and include the appropriate bibliography entry as the source will appear on your works cited, reference, or bibliography page. Your initial posting is due no later than midnight Thursday and should be 250-300 words; your peer responses are due by Sunday midnight and must be at least 100 words in length and move the conversation forward.

Note: The focus on the forum posts is on quality content, not simple meeting a minimum word requirement.

In an article discussing the potential use of technologies for disaster communication, Jamie D. Aten and his peers underline the growth and importance of social media:

Social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and LinkedIn, have become an increasingly popular way for people to stay in constant communication with each other. More than four out of five adults sign access social media Web sites every month. (Aten et al., 2010)

Taking note of the importance, the authors continue to suggest that:

Social networking sites could be used in a number of ways during disaster circumstances, from posting, sharing, and downloading disaster information, to updating news and pictures of developing disasters. For example, the social networking site Flickr, could be used to post disaster pictures to inform people within their Web site community. Moreover, the disaster pictures could actually be tagged by location, so other followers can pinpoint exactly where a photo was taken. The emergence of Internet connections on cell phones will allow users to reach these Web sites without the need of a computer, enabling news to be posted and received even more quickly. Information can be posted to family, friends, pre-established groups or networks, or the general public, who can, in turn respond directly to those at the site of the disaster. (Aten et al., 2010)

If we consider the points and examples given in this article, we can easily see how integrating these tools into approaches and efforts in emergency and disaster management would be of great benefit. The emergency manager would have the ability to be a part of this information process, through dissemination of information directly from the emergency operations center to any of these media outlets, as well as monitoring the same outlets for “community reports”.

—

There have been a great number of people across the nation recognizing the importance and growth of social media in the day to day lives of the average citizen. An article in the American Psychological Association’s Psychological Trauma, Jamie Aten and a team of his peers inform us that a recent study shows that on average four out of five adults make use of social media sites every month (Aten et al., 2010). With these numbers, it becomes inherently clear how important the role of social media has become to the public for keeping in touch with news and family.

From an emergency/disaster management viewpoint, the potential of use of these online services is intriguing. In the same article, Aten offers example of how one service, Flickr—a photograph sharing service—could be used for the posting and sharing of disaster photography in near real-time (Aten et al., 2010). Additionally, such a photograph could come directly from the scene via cell-phone, and be geo-tagged by the device’s GPS, giving a specific location of the hazard being photographed.

By being an active participant in these social media outlets, the emergency manager can get up to the minute reports from the public; the emergency manager can also publish reports and information—as well as selected materials from individuals in the public—back into these social media news feeds.

—

Works Cited:

Aten, J., Leavell, K., Gonzalez, R., Luke, T., Defee, J. & Harrison, K. (2010) Everyday Technologies for Extraordinary Circumstances: Possibilities for Enhancing Disaster Communication. Psycological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(1), 16-20.

—

This post received the following comments:

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
Prof. Myron
COLL300
Source Evaluations
June 30, 2012

Source 1: Journal of Emergency Management

In visiting the APUS library for a different assignment, I happened to notice that access to a new publication had been acquired—the Journal of Emergency Management. I took time away from the original task that had brought me to the library in order to peruse the publication; in doing so, I discovered an article which contained some information that I will be incorporating into my research. This new source’s information and my evaluation of said source follows:

McCauley-Bush, P., et al. (2012) Assessment of communication needs for emergency
management officials in high-consequence emergencies. Journal of Emergency Management, 10(1), 15-25. Retrieved June 28, 2012 from:

Credibile Author:

The research reported in this article was conducted by a team of nine individuals; all authors possess a Bachelors of Science or higher and are affiliated with a university in either an engineering or technology capacity.

Reliable Publisher:

I had not heard of the Journal of Emergency Management prior to the aforementioned discovery, nor have I been able to locate any reviews of the publication. I will assume that the publication is reliable as it does appear in the school library—which means that the publication was sought after by a member of the school faculty; if I cannot trust in the credibility of an instructor’s choices, then why am I pursuing a degree with this institution?

Accuracy:

The basis of my desire to use this article lies in the data that was revealed regarding the numbers of emergency managers using certain technologies—primarily smart-phones—and the degree to which these managers feel comfortable in using the technology. While it will be fairly easy for me to find numbers of “average Americans”, discovering the numbers for emergency managers alone would have been more difficult. Based on the numbers being presented for this specific use—as well as other findings this article reported—I feel comfortable in relying upon the accuracy of this report, as the charts seem to align fairly well with those produced for the “average consumer”.

Current Information:

Note is made that the study was first revealed in July of 2011; the latest reference made in the research was to an article accessed in November of 2011.

Objectivity:

It does not appear that any of the participants have any sort of bias toward or against the use of technology. Costs of research are reported to have been covered by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Source 2: American Psychological Association

One of my original picks for sourced material includes an article that was published by the APA. This article focuses on the ability of using “everyday” technologies—such as the social media avenues that are the focus of my paper. This source’s information and my evaluation of said source follows:

Aten, J. et al. (2010) Everyday Technologies for Extraordinary Circumstances: Possibilities for Enhancing Disaster Communication. Psycological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(1), 16-20.

Credibile Author:

The research reported in this article was conducted by a team of six individuals; all affiliated with a university’s psychology department.

Reliable Publisher:

The APA is recognized as a credible and reliable publisher of materials relating to human capacities and abilities relating to psychology and general mental abilities. As the research I am conducting deals with informing the public of tragic events—which cause varied emotional and psychological responses—a viewpoint from the mental health community is advantageous.

Accuracy:

This article relies upon other studies that have been conducted with regard to the use and consumption of various comminucations technologies by the general populace; included in the technologies are social media avenues, cellular devices, and general “Web 2.0” services. The article also uses examples of the response to events such as the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, and the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre—the latter two events having social media available for the spread of news.

Current Information:

Though the article was originally published in December of 2010 and relies upon events occurring more than five years ago, the concept is still fresh; additionally one fundamental value of emergency management is to reflect upon previous disasters in order to learn from them. The article also sources other writings and publications as recent as 2009 and 2010—one of particular interest being an article discussing how a Haitian survived the 2010 earthquake by taking advantage of an “iPhone app”. Further research into this article’s sourced information will likely provide additional information that may prove useful—if not better than that I’ve already compiled—regardless of publication date.

Objectivity:

It does not appear that any of the participants have any sort of bias toward or against the use of technology. There is no mention of any funding for the research, opinion, or conclusion.

…yes, this is another response to a classroom forum:

For this task I compared two papers—both being critiques/assessments offering opinion and suggestion—of a specific element within their respective fields; for the paper related to my field of study—Emergency Management—I chose a paper submitted to the APUS collection entitled “Community Vulnerability Assessment”; for the paper unrelated to my field, I chose a paper from the MICUSP collection entitled “A Brief Critique of the DSM-IV”.

Structurally, both papers were similar following a format in which a brief introduction of the purpose is defined, bodies of the work were separated into specific sections and given an appropriate heading relating to the subtopics, ending with final conclusion; this format is to be expected of most writings regardless of study. Unsurprisingly, other similarities arose falling under Ms. Thonney’s standards.

Within the introductions of the papers both students covered the first two of Ms. Thonney’s outlined standards: response to others as well as stating the value and purpose of the writing. Lest the idea or focus of the paper is completely original—meaning that no thought has been given by any other member of the community—each writing will be in response to what another has stated in regard to the topic; this concept should be a given. The introductions will invariably mention the author’s purpose and declaration of value, also; otherwise there isn’t much point in laying the thoughts out onto paper—or committing them to the electronic ether, as it is done more commonly today. With the purpose and value established, each author also begins to attempt to speak with an authoritative voice; again, what would be the point in writing an analysis/assessment, criticism, or essay of any kind without having a strong viewpoint?

Once adopting the disciplines of authority in order to strike the point across, the author of any such work will make use of field/community-specific terminology; doing so keeps the projected audience’s attention, as well as supports the air of authority in the author’s research and opinion. Attention and authority are the—of course—further supported when further evidence is given; in the case of these papers this is achieved in relying upon the works and studies of other authorities in the fields instead of using graphic representation—cycling back to Ms. Thonney’s point on responding to the works of others.

In my opinion, both documents are representative of excellent critiques; I do, however offer criticism to the “Community Vulnerability Assessment”, which seems to rely more upon opinion and conjecture than factual evidence. Aside from the introductory paragraph being a little weak in regard to possessing an authoritative voice, the paragraph contains a statement which lacks support:

“Approximately half of the apartment units are occupied at any given point in time with a high resident turnover.” (Timirgalieva, 2011)
This statement may be accurate, however supplying further evidence to support this point—either in the introduction or elsewhere in the body of the writing—through the use of tabular data would strengthen the claim. Additionally, this statement seems disconnected, as the focus seems to be community vulnerabilities based on demographics. Assumption can be made that the author was attempting to make the connection between the high-turnover and minority demographic; forcing an assumption, however, is not that wise, as it can lead to confusion, misdirection, and misinterpretation. The same mistake is made in the second paragraph, where one minority group is identified as being African-American—the author does not offer evidence to support this claim; furthermore, the author uses “significant portion” rather than supplying any ratio or percentage value (Timirgalieva, 2011).
Following paragraphs on the racial/cultural differences residing in the area, the author moves onto discussion of income inequalities; here the author once again relies upon the reader to make an assumption that the minority groups involved in the area are less-privileged in the monetary sense. Though the assumption may be “safe” that minority equals poverty, this is not always the case; as such, the assumption should be avoided.

In contrast, “A Brief Critique of the DSM-IV” withheld from making such blunders in assumption; in fact the critique used assumptions as one of the major arguing points against the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The author of this critique used example of the assumption that persons exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia being mentally incompetent (MICUSP, 2010); as such, patients are given a diagnosis without being given opportunity of voicing their own opinion. Through this the author suggests that patients may be incorrectly diagnosed and incapacitated further, whereas if the patient was given better opportunity, a different method of treatment could be applied, giving the patient equilibrium instead of a medicinally induced imprisonment.

In review of these two papers, the more critical faults I found revolved around the lack of support and reliance upon assumption. I hope that I may stray from making the same mistakes once I have completed my paper for this class; though I believe that it will be a difficult task, as I will most likely be lazy, or otherwise driven to a mental state where I proclaim, “Geez, it’s this late, I’m tired, hungry, and I don’t care! I’m clicking ‘submit’, anyway!”

…I hope it won’t come to that…

…but it is foreseeable! 😉

Works Cited

Michigan Corpus of Upper-level Student Papers. (2010). A Brief Critique of the DSM-IV. Ann Arbor, MI: The Regents of the University of Michigan. Retrieved June 29, 2012 from:

Timirgalieva, Olga. (2011). Community Vulnerability Assessment. Retrieved June 29, 2012 from: http://www.apus.edu/Online-Library/tutorials/student-publications/great-papers/Timirgalieva-2012.pdf

This post received the following comments:

Michael Johnson:

Jeremiah,

After reading your forum I don’t believe anyone was so precise in their details of articles they critiqued. I went to the site and after I read the entry on Community Vulnerability Assessment I can see what you were talking about, being a bit confused. From my point of view the demographics really did not support that stanza as you so mentioned yourself. I to believe that Community Vulnerability Assessment seemed to be more opinionated than factual. If there is not an authoritative voice you can loose the audience you are trying to keep entertained and they will lose interest and skip to the end and give it a cold hard ed response.

Colemon Myron:

Jeremiah:

I liked the fact that within your initial post you used examples from the text of the essays to prove your points.
However, I wanted to see more than I saw.

Dr. Myron

Charles Niba:

Hello Jeremiah Good job in your post. I did read the paper on community vulnerability also as non-related paper to my field and malaria in the twenty first century from micusp.elicorpora.info/simple/ as a related subject. however comparing both papers, the former ( community vulnerability) was well present both in style and language even facts, he clearly examines vulnerability in that community which can be used in other communities as well, but for the later paper ( Malaria) the writer did not meet my expectations I was hoping to read what does malaria means in the twenty first century, is it still a global threat? and how many are still at risk of the disease globally.
However I like your presentation and comparison of both papers.

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
Prof. Myron
COLL 300
Analysis of Rhetorical Situation
June 24, 2012

Thesis Statement: Social media—with its ease of use and maintenance, viral potential, and the connections made with the public at large—is an important tool to harness for the emergency manager.

1. What is the goal in this paper? Social media has been growing over the past few years and has shown to be a viable tool for distribution of information amongst the public. Through the use of services such as Facebook and Twitter, people with a wide range of interests and class have the ability of connecting to differing circles to listen and speak to matters that they might find interesting or may be of great concern; best of all, these services are free to use and available to anyone that can have access to the Internet or a mobile device capable of SMS. Using such services would be a great advantage to any emergency organization in order to deliver to as well as receive reports and inquiries from the public.

2. What do I already know about my topic? Ever since my high-school days, I have had interest in emergency management and information technology; I first married these two interests in the mid- to late-90s with an “official” website for the local Emergency Management Agency—then Disaster and Emergency Services. Since that time I have continued to manage the online presence of the agency, and have made every effort to keep up with the “next big” Internet related fad, while also trying to stay just slightly ahead of the area agencies. My first big jump ahead came with Twitter.

While listening to one of my favorite technology podcasts—This Week in Tech—I had heard mention of the service again for what may have been the tenth time; this time, however, I heard the potential of the service from the mouth of a tech enthusiast—Robert Scoble, I believe it was. The gentleman had painted a vision of the then more personal service stretching beyond a “geek” circle and going main-stream, with government agencies and corporations jumping on board, turning the “micro-blogging” service into a rapid-fire way of delivering messages to the public. I began to wonder whether this would work—whether the site/service would catch on and be used for more than telling a group of friends where I was or what I was doing; I immediately registered the @HarrisonEMA handle and began to experiment, years before @FEMA and @KYEMPIO.

In a manner similar to my experience with Twitter, I had heard of Facebook moving to allow “pages” for products and services—and that these pages could be easily administered by an ordinary person; at around roughly the same time Facebook had created “groups”. I studied both options, but didn’t jump until I had heard rumor of “Facebook names”—customizable short-URL handlers—and that the names option would be available for pages in the future; I chose to create a page, and jumped to register “facebook.com/HarrisonEMA” as soon as names were released to pages—this proved to be a wise choice, as later groups disappeared, which created a problem for the community that KYEM had tried to create.

3. What do my readers already know? My “intended audience” of emergency managers would likely have a similar knowledge or experience as members of the general public; knowledge of services such as Facebook and Twitter, and perhaps a slight understanding of the concept of a “blog”. Knowledge beyond these general points will not be necessary, as the rest of this paper will deal with selling the concept of using the services for the delivery and retrieval of information.

4. What do my readers need to know to understand my point? Beyond the knowledge that I am expecting—that the Internet exists, and that there are “sites” that deal with social networking news—there isn’t much else that the audience must know in order to understand the point which I plan to deliver.

5. What information do I need to research and add to my paper? In order to write a successful argument for the use of social media in emergency situations, I believe that I would benefit in conducting research on the number of civilian users currently taking advantage of social media. Evidence of situations where the public has been notified or interacted with media and government agencies will also be beneficial. Additionally, I would like to give example of how some information has spread “virally” on social media before becoming a blurb on broadcast or network news—one example in mind is that of an earthquake incident that had been noted by the tech enthusiast that sparked my fascination in the concept of using social media for emergency management.

Further information will come from the various speeches and writings of FEMA Administrator, Craig Fugate–@CraigatFEMA–as well as posts that have been published by FEMA.

The following is yet another response to a forum assignment:

It’s been a while since I’ve written a “true” research paper; I have, however, written several research driven responses during my schooling here—one of my favorites being about a military incident and possible cover-up.

For an EDMG230 forum response/assignment I had to seek out an example of a military incident and give a critique of how the situation had been handled. I managed to dig up a few articles on a “broken arrow”—damaged missile—incident that transpired at a Naval base in Washington in 2003. Since this assignment depended upon giving an opinion of the outcome I located a blogger that wrote of the incident in a conspiracy-like fashion; normally this sort of “trick” isn’t acceptable for college-level or “professional” writings—but, I believed that my audience would accept and enjoy the spin I had planned through the uses of a conspiracy perspective.

In my writing I sourced materials from the Associated Press and the blogger, making every effort to strike a balance in the story I was presenting until I reached the point where I was to critique the incident. I strayed from sourcing further material once my critique of the incident began—I did not want be accused of manipulating any “qualified” source material in order to support the odd perspective. In the midst of my critique I even placed a separate conspiracy-theory of my own. I chose to place the theory in brackets to designate that the thought was in fact separate and my own since I placed it well ahead of the conclusion—in an area which would have been seen as “inappropriate” by most scholars.

After reviewing that assignment I did find a mistake that could have been avoided if I had carefully proofread the text—an error in citation. In the fourth paragraph I placed a citation following the period of a sentence; I believe that this mistake was made due to the way I write—I “free-write” all of my work without citations first, and edit them in afterward.

Other than that mistake, I didn’t notice any other errors that could be interpreted as plagiarism—intentional or otherwise.

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
Prof. Myron
COLL300
Research Proposal
June 16, 2012

For several years, there has been a growing interest in the roles that social media can play during crises. In late 2010, FEMA began to pay attention to discussions surrounding the use of social media in emergency management. Since that time, more attention has been given to the concept on state and local levels. For this project, I would like to weigh in on the discussion and express the importance of social media for emergency management and disaster response.

Description:

Specifically, I would like to introduce examples of how social media outlets can benefit communications during response and recovery phases of any given event; making note of instances where the practice has worked successfully. Once I have established the importance of social media presence, I would like to tackle the issues related to maintaining a “social” presence, and allowing for the information to be passed along in a “viral” manner to ensure that the public is notified. Essentially, the statement that I wish to make is: “Social media—with it’s ease of use and maintenance, viral potential, and the connections made with the public at large—is an important tool to harness for the emergency manager.”

Plan:

My entire research will involve seeking out information from FEMA as well as varying professionals and pundits in emergency management and related fields. I suspect that there may be some personal experience included in my writing as well, as I maintain the local agency’s website and social media accounts.

In an effort to keep the project more “professional” with “scholarly” sources of information, I may have to expand my research into the realms of “brand-marketing”. The use of this seemingly unrelated topic runs parallel to the topic that I wish to discuss, and should aid in providing supportive argument. While this may seem a tad ridiculous, the use of marketing as an example is being used by emergency management professionals—and this University—to educate those in emergency management of the necessity.

I have briefly conducted some research into the topic and have found many potential sources of information. In addition to the sources listed below, I will seeking source material from the FEMA blog, as well as FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate’s Twitter stream. This is my (current) working bibliography:

Primary Sources

Aten, Jamie D.; Leavell, Kari; Gonzalez, Rose; Luke, Theresa; Defee, Justin; et al. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy3. 1 (Mar 2011): 16-20.
McGuire, Michael; Schneck, Debra. Public Administration Review, suppl. Special Issue on the Future of Public Administration in 202070 (Dec 2010): S201-S207.
Merchant, Raina M; Elmer, Stacy; Lurie, Nicole. The New England Journal of Medicine 365. 4 (Jul 28, 2011): 289-291.
Pechta, L. E., Brandenburg, D. C., & Seeger, M. W. (2010). Understanding the Dynamics of Emergency Communication: Propositions for a Four-Channel Model. Journal Of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, 7(1), 1-18.

Secondary Sources

Coleman, Timothy A; Knupp, Kevin R; Spann, James; Elliott, J B; Peters, Brian E. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society92. 5 (May 2011): 567-582.
FEMA To Use Social Media For Emergency Response. (January 19, 2011 Wednesday 4:00 PM GMT ). TECHWEB, Retrieved from
O’Keefe, Ed. (June 4, 2009 Thursday ). FEMA Encourages Public Participation. The Washington Post, Retrieved from
Winerman, Lea. Nature457. 7228 (Jan 22, 2009): 376-378.
With response to tornadoes, FEMA begins to rebuild its reputation. (May 6, 2011 Friday). The Christian Science Monitor, Retrieved from

Schedule:

I have not set a specific schedule for the completion of this project. I am, however aware of the dates listed for the class assignments surrounding the project.

Approval Request:

Dr. Myron, I hope that you may find this proposed topic to be one interesting and worthy enough of attention. Of course, any comments and criticisms are welcome.

The following is a response to a required forum posting…

First, the simple break-down:

Problem: Communication prior to, during, and after a disaster

Solution: Savvy use of social media by emergency management

Thesis Statement: Social media—with it’s ease of use, maintenance, viral potential and connections to the public at large—is an important tool to harness for the emergency manager.

Now, the long-winded explanation of what I’m thinking:

For several years there has been a growing interest in the roles that social media can play during crises. We’ve seen people post messages on varying services alerting their friends and the public to disaster and distress; federal, state, and local agencies are now taking advantage of these services as well. My thesis will [hopefully] focus on this topic, with the main idea being the aforementioned thesis statement.

With the use of social media outlets agencies have the ability to reach additional audiences and also overlap pre-existing ones. Once upon a time we could rely upon the idea that the majority of the citizens had either a radio or television; today, this isn’t necessarily the case. Radio is still widely available, but too many people are not tuning in–with the advent of iPods and satellite radio, many aren’t listening to local broadcasts. It may still be a safe assumption that the average household has two televisions, but are these TVs watching satellite or terrestrial broadcasts? Too many people are “cutting the cord” and losing their connection to local media–these cord-cutters aren’t limited to mid- and upper-classes either. (Mine is a perfect example of a lower-class family which primarily watches IPTV–of course, I am a computer geek.)

The growing numbers of people making use of other technologies for media consumption need attention. Emergency managers should adjust to this trend by making available methods for the public to connect for receiving emergency information.

Additionally, making use of social media allows for an easy two-way connection to the public. An agency can easily collect a large amount of data from the public–by posting that an event has taken place in a certain area, the agency has not only informed the public but opened a discussion where community members can ask for and give additional details in near real-time.

…problematic? It can be… Most of the problems that can be associated with social media–with an exception to bad PR–are issues that we already deal with. Technical issues are present and have been present with many of our solutions for years. EAS broadcasts, tornado warning sirens–these systems are supposed to be reliable, functional and fast; frequently they fail in some way, usually related to an error in communications protocol–a bad radio transmitter, power, etc. Social media’s big failure can happen in the same way–broken telephone, cable, ISDN line or lack of power.

The only problem that social media could invite is one that can be prevented if agencies become involved–bad PR. By establishing a presence, however, any negative relations can be at a minimum as the door is opened for friendly discussion and resolution…

[…does this make sense? ]

These are the issues that I really want to express, along with using examples of more recent events where social media has been used either intentionally or accidentally and how the use has aided in disaster response and recovery.

To wrap it all up, I want to say something like—“It’s frickin’ easy, we all need to do it!”—but, of course, in a more educated and professional manner.

This topic may end up proving to be a large one to tackle, with much time being spent on sorting out opinion from facts; making use of the research tools available in our virtual library should aid in making the chore easier.

After a bit of digging, I found to have a nice amount of luck using ProQuest and LexisNexis—the latter coming as a surprise. I believe I will also be making use of the iSeek engine for some supplemental “non-scholarly” information; I found the manner in which that service provides categories—similar to the way LexisNexis allows for the refinement of searches—to be quite helpful.

This post recieved the following comment:

Johnathon Austin:
Jeremiah,

Technology is always changing and evolving, and a big result of that is social media. The fingerprints of social media are everywhere, because everyone, and every business uses it. It allows for instant transmission of news and information. I do agree with you that this will be a large topic to tackle because of how far it reaches, but I do believe that with some good research you will be able to do a good job. I was really surprised also at the amount of energy I was able to get from LexisNexis. I think it just might be my favorite database to use. Good luck!

The following is another homework related writing:

Hello, everyone, my name is Jeremiah, and I am lousy at introductions; even more so these days—we’ll get to that shortly. I’m an early thirty-something from Cynthiana, Kentucky that’s fairly reserved and relatively shy and quiet—my writing is about the only time that I speak at any length; most likely because I can do so without fear of embarrassment. My feelings and emotions are usually a great influence on my performance, especially with regard to writing—this will be very evident if we hit a subject or work that I feel passionate about.

I am married, but separated; I have no idea as to whether there will be any chance of reconciliation. I used to be able to write at great length about my family, which made introductions much easier; these days, however…

I had pledged my life to a wonderful woman just a few months my senior; we had been together for roughly nine years, married for eight, and had known each other since high school—I had first noticed her in my freshman year of high school when she stepped onto my bus for the first time (I believe we had even shared a seat on a couple of occasions). In 2003 our paths crossed once more with us finally declaring our love for another; in 2004 we were blessed with our first child, with two additional blessings coming later in 2006 and 2009. Our son—the first born—now resides with me in my parents’ finished attic; the girls are at home with her.

I still care for the kids when needs arise, primarily because the man that now shares her bed has no desire to be around children. I have no ill feelings about caring for the kids, other than it causes issue with attempting to locate employment, plus it is quite difficult to provide care when I am limited to the graces of my parents and am not allowed access to the girls’ primary home by order of the other man—except for alternating Saturdays and when he is left completely unaware.

I had attempted to take this course once before, but dropped off. It is difficult to keep motivated and focus on literature when my inspiration has left me, and keeps toying with my emotions—I would go further to explain this cat and mouse game she is playing with my heart, but now is not the time; I wouldn’t be surprised if I do leak a bit more on the topic in the writings that will come.

If you are curious to discover more about me you can search the Internet for “kg4vma” and find quite a bit…

Best of luck to everyone here, and don’t be surprised if I drop off—again—as my life is still in a whirlwind related to the separation.

To this posting, I received one response:

Jason Conley:

Wow. That is one heck of an introduction. It is unfortunate that you are going through so much. I have never understood how a woman can be with a man that does not accept her children. I am a stepfather of a great 16 year old. I have been raising her since she was four and love as if she were my own. I really hope the best for you. I cannot imagine what you are going through not being able to see your kids as much as you would like. My heart goes out to you and I hope you do not have to drop the class.

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
COLL300
June 10, 2012
Introduction

Dear Dr. Myron,

As you may have already figured out—through the title of this document, the name attached to the submission, and the very first line on this page—my name is Jeremiah. First, I would like to admit that I am partially recycling a letter that I wrote for a previous attempt at taking this course; without that admission I could easily be accused of plagiarizing myself—a notion which I’ve always found ridiculous. Secondly, I’d like to apologize for breaking away slightly from the model given for this assignment—the personal introduction will run for more than a single paragraph.

As mentioned, this is my second attempt at this course; the prior hadn’t faired well due to some changes which came about in my life—changes that still have an effect on my life today. In late February of this year my wife of eight years, partner of nine, had an affair with a coworker; the following day she informed me that our relationship was through. Over the course of the following month I remained at home with her so that I could continue to care for our children. This period was quite painful, and left me in a state of depression in which I had no desire to continue with my course-load. In mid-April I left my home and moved into my parent’s attic. We continued to talk and see each other regularly until the first week of May, when the other man moved in; two weeks later our son moved in with me because of the friction caused by this man which has no desire to be surrounded by children. Life has hung in some twisted state of limbo—best described as some sort of purgatory—in which she still begs me to hang on, to wait and see; she has discovered that living with a selfish boy eight years her junior isn’t what he had her to believe it would be. She has since requested we attend counseling to see if there is a chance to repair the damage, and to muster the strength of removing her dead-weight.

It is very possible that I will be faced with the same mental anguish that I faced a few months ago over the course of this class. Do not be surprised if my work suffers or I disappear altogether. I may allude to my current status online from time to time; therefore, if you are curious, I would like to invite you to Google my regular Internet handle, “kg4vma”. In doing so you may also find some of my previous writings and school assignments that I have posted on varying profiles and blogs.

With regard to prior assignments, I have had some experience in drafting reports, providing analyses and supplying opinionated/persuasive writings in response to varying assignments and prompts. I would have to say that most of these assignments have been quite enjoyable, as I do tend to have a preference for expressing myself in writing. I must admit, however, that I struggled in writing responses for a course I took that dealt with human sexuality. This course was quite troubling for me as I was taking the class while being separated from my wife—the separation had occurred, in part, due to issues of infidelity; yes, this is a recurring theme that has gone on for several years.

I cannot offer much on my thoughts or interpretations of academic writing as related by my prior educators. I do understand that there are certain “rules” to writing when the works are for a particular audience; unfortunately, I have issues with the rules from time to time, as I prefer to lay my thoughts out as they happen. Additionally, I hate revising my thoughts to fit the “acceptable” format; this usually becomes more evident in “forum” postings for class work. In forums I frequently break from the main topic and develop some form of sub-topic in order to better illustrate a point. These methods however would not necessarily “fly” in many professional or trade publications.

In order to analyze other writing styles, practices, audiences, etc., I frequently turn the text that I am reading into an internal conversation or dialogue. In my personal experience I have found that if I can assign “voices” to the text and create defined characters for the audience I can then become one of the speakers and members of the crowd; once I have achieved this, I can begin to host my own internal open- “hometown” forum.

The strongest skill or tactic that I have relied upon since seventh grade is “free-writing”. I discovered that if I simply try and let the words flow, no matter how ridiculous or unrelated, I will eventually discover the words needed to develop a proper response. Without the use of this technique I face a cold-start which often triggers “writer’s-block”. A downside, however, is that it can lead to a lengthy writing; the upside is that what I do cut out often makes good fodder for a personal journal entry.

I do not know what sort of tools I should hope to learn from this course, nor do I have any expectations thereof. In my high school days I discovered that if I paid less attention to the “black and white” of a course I would be able to see many more colorful elements; therefore I try not to pay too much attention to course descriptions and syllabi. In doing so, I’ve found that I absorb more of the information—thinking in abstract grabs my attention and grasps at my mind.

I hope this letter meets the requirements, and has helped introduce you to the trouble you’re about to face! (Something else I frequently do in my writing—make very poor jokes.) Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing what this course will bring.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah Hall Palmer