Appropriate Technology: 'Push' Emergency Notification Systems

If you've followed along thus far, you may have intuited that I have an uneasy relationship with technology.

This is not precisely correct, but I forgive you for thinking so.

In the sense that technology is a collection of techniques and tricks for Doing Stuff, I love tech.

The problem is tech without ethics.

This quote is from the movie Star Trek VI. It is no less accurate for being in a science fiction movie.

"Let us redefine progress to mean that just because we can do a thing, it does not necessarily follow that we must do that thing."

So today I am going to talk about a technology that I unhesitatingly embrace, and encourage all of you following along to embrace as well.

"Push" emergency notification systems.

This is the difference between flashing lights and a siren on an emergency vehicle.

The flashing lights require you to be looking in the correct direction.

The siren, you can hear from any direction, with immediate feedback if it is getting louder or quieter.

These systems go by many names. "Code Red," "Alert [name of community]," "Reverse 911" are some of the more common. The Weather Service has one called WEA, Wireless Emergency Alerts.

What they tell you is very simple.

There's something going on that you need to know about, that could hurt or kill you.

At the extreme silly end, a certain California city has implemented Mountain Lion alerts. The odds of being hurt by a mountain lion are vanishingly small.

At the more likely end, weather alerts are common.

Wildfire alerts can save lives and protect property. Right now, the only way to get a wildfire alert in California is to use the Ready For Wildfire Mobile App (for Android and iPhone equivalent.) You can set it to send a text message to your phone even if you are out of data range.

California is even working on earthquake alerting systems that can give eight to fifteen seconds warning of an earthquake about to happen - long enough to pull over in a safe place, slam open fire station doors (to keep apparatus from being locked in) and protect your head from debris.

In the state of California, these systems are provided by the local governments, the counties and cities. If you really want to geek out on this stuff, go here [PDF] for a decade old list.

What I would like you to do instead is:

Visit your local government's Web pages, find out if your community has a 'push' emergency alert system, and do one of two things:

1) If they have one, sign up for it.

2) If they don't have one, contact your local government and politely demand that they implement one at once!

Here's why.

The United States telephone system is well designed to make outbound calls from the 911 emergency services to wireline phones. But the wireline phone is a vanishing breed. And this is the only form of notification which is mandatory, meaning that you cannot escape getting a call.

To get emergency messages by cell phone, text message and/or E-mail (and I encourage AND rather than OR), you need to 'opt in' and actually sign up for these services.

If you work on a large college or corporate campus, your organization may also have a mass notification system. If not, I hope they have a PA system, or someone has a bullhorn and an AM radio.

Take a few minutes and look into this.

In last year's deadly Camp Fire, mass notifications would have been vital. They weren't sent. So there's still no substitute for paying attention to what is around you.

What you don't know can definitely hurt you, and mass notification systems can only help.