Posts tagged rescue
CU’s Android App tweets disaster aid
Sep 28th
PEOPLE TWEET DURING DISASTERS
Just as codes once were developed for public safety communication via citizens band radios, a common language now is being formulated for disaster communication via Twitter — posing a challenge for people who haven’t yet learned or can’t recall it.
Daniel Schaefer, a University of Colorado Boulder doctoral student in communication, recently created a solution to this problem in the form of a software application, or app, for mobile devices. It turns everyday language into a Twitter syntax used during disasters through a special smart phone keyboard.
“Twitter has become popular during disasters because it offers a concise and efficient communication medium,” said Schaefer, who was inspired by the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire near Boulder. “However, a need to standardize the syntaxes used on Twitter has surfaced particularly for the emergency personnel, affected individuals, concerned loved ones, information officers and journalists who use it to provide and monitor information and collaborate on rescue efforts.”
The free app, called the Bucket Brigade Keyboard, is designed for Android devices. It transforms the standard smart phone keyboard display into a keypad of 12 message choices such as “help,” “location” and “request.” When these messages are selected, corresponding tweets — about one’s status, needs and offers to help — are queued for posting online.
“In a disaster, communication and working together can save lives,” said Schaefer. “Just as a bucket brigade fills and passes buckets of water to help put out a fire, this app allows people to fill and pass buckets of tweets to help during a disaster.”
The syntax used in Schaefer’s app — which turns an “I’m Ok” key into “#imok” — is based on a concept devised in 2009 by doctoral student Kate Starbird of CU’s Project EPIC (Empowering the Public with Information in Crisis) research group. The streamlining of disaster-related Twitter communication through Starbird’s idea, called “Tweak the Tweet,” makes the information computationally easier to extract and collate, which can help connect people with needs to responders.
Nearly 3,000 tweets using the Tweak the Tweet syntax were posted in the weeks following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. More than 500 tweets using the syntax were posted in the wake of the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo.
During those instances, users manually entered text that now can be deployed with the touch of a button through the Bucket Brigade Keyboard.
The app not only empowers people with a standard language, but also is designed for convenience using accessible technology, according to Schaefer.
“People are going to be holding smart phones during disasters,” he said. “They’re not going to be going to laptop computers or cafés with time to look up the syntax.”
Schaefer entered the Bucket Brigade Keyboard in the Federal Communications Commission’s Apps for Communities contest. The challenge calls for apps that help local government deliver quality-of-life-improving information to populations that are typically disenfranchised or disconnected from broadband communications.
The Bucket Brigade Keyboard has been downloaded in 20 countries.
Schaefer says a planned update to the Bucket Brigade Keyboard will add more Twitter shortcuts to the app, as well as auto-fill and auto-correction features.
For more information on the Bucket Brigade Keyboard visit https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bucketbrigade.softkeyboard&feature=search_result. For information on the Apps for Communities challenge visit http://appsforcommunities.challenge.gov/.
-CU-
Prince William to wear famous British army redcoat
Apr 28th
Robin Millard April 29, 2011 – 9:14AM GM
Prince William has made a surprise choice of a military uniform for his wedding on Friday, opting for the world-famous scarlet colours of the British army.
As a search and rescue helicopter pilot in the Royal Air Force, most had predicted William would wear his plain, blue RAF flight lieutenant’s uniform for his marriage to Kate Middleton at London’s Westminster Abbey.
However, the prince is also the honorary colonel of the Irish Guards infantry regiment and has chosen to wear their red tunic, his highest-ranking uniform.
His choice will likely be seen as a nod of recognition to those Irish Guards serving in Afghanistan.
The regiment deployed in October 2010 for a six-month tour of duty and has lost three soldiers on the current operation.
Their scarlet uniforms will be familiar to anyone who has seen the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
However, the prince will not wear a bearskin hat — instead he will wear a peaked cap known as a forage cap. He will also be without a sword.
“It’s a personal preference what he chooses to wear but the main reason is it’s his senior honorary appointment in the army,” a spokesman for his St James’s Palace household told AFP.
“It is the highest-ranking uniform that he has at his disposal.”
Queen Elizabeth II made her grandson the colonel of the Irish Guards in February. It is William’s only honorary appointment in the army.
Though not as feverishly anticipated as Middleton’s dress, the prince’s uniform is nonetheless a surprise.
Some bookmakers had stopped taking bets on William wearing his RAF colours, with the odds reaching 20-1 on.
The last British royal wedding to feature a groom marrying in red was that of William’s aunt Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey in 1973.
William’s Irish Guards uniform will be topped off with a gold and crimson sash and gold sword slings.
The insignia on the forage cap features the regiment’s Latin motto “Quis Separabit? (Who shall separate us?)”.
William will also wear his Garter sash and star, RAF “wings”, and the Golden Jubilee medal.
Based at the Victoria Barracks in Windsor, west of London, the Irish Guards recruit in Northern Ireland, as well as cities with large Irish populations such as Liverpool, London and Manchester.
Prince Harry, William’s younger brother and best man, is a newly promoted captain in the Household Cavalry’s Blues and Royals regiment and will wear the uniform of his new rank.
Their father Prince Charles will wear his Royal Navy admiral’s uniform, complete with a sword.
© 2011 AFP
This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency as an additional service to readers. Spelling follows North American usage, along with foreign currency and measurement units.
US Marines Ready for Egypt Rescue Mission
Jan 28th
Posted by MARK THOMPSON Friday, January 28, 2011 at 5:09 pm
The U.S. Marines have a pair of warships — the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce — just hanging around the southern end of the Red Sea waiting to see if they’re needed to rescue U.S. diplomats and citizens from Cairo. They’re half of the Marines’ 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a mini-armada that recently dispatched 1,400 of its 2,000 Marines into Afghanistan. But they’ve got a “fair number” of helicopters, and Marines, still aboard. “They’re not in the on-deck circle yet,” a military official says. “They’re kind of getting ready to come out of the dugout.” Meetings in Washington through Friday night and into the weekend will determine if they’re ordered to carry out a NEO — a non-combat (but potentially dicey) evacuation operation.