FutureCampaigns

More Thoughts on FutureCampaigns

2009-10-20T00:53:00.000-07:00

Apologies that this blog has been dormant so long. I've been writing about tech and politics at The Huffington Post, the Personal Democracy Forum and techPresident (links go directly to my columns) as well as occasionally other publications.

The easiest way to keep track of what I've written is to follow me on Twitter. I'm @sairy for tech & politics (that's the busy feed), @sarahgranger for all articles including other topics, and @publicedge for new media, some relating back to new media uses in government and politics.

I'll try to be better about updating this blog, but I make no promises. See also sairy.com for my general blog and PublicEdge for new media strategy consulting & training.

Fem 2.0

2009-01-31T23:53:00.000-08:00

The question of where to go in terms of the feminist movement in the future with new media and the new millennium is a big one, and several people got together to plan a conference and brainstorming session around this concept. Feminism encompasses a broad range of ideals including gender equity, equal rights, pay equity, reproductive choice, and much more. The challenge of the original feminist organizations as well as some of the newer ones is: where do we go now? The Fem 2.0 conference and online dialogue will hopefully provide some direction in this area.

Sarah Granger of FutureCampaigns will be speaking on one of the panels about feminism in the media and how to help women's organizations expand their outreach online. The conference is being held Monday, February 2nd at George Washington University in Washington, D.C..

Join Me at South By Southwest Interactive

2008-12-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

March 13-17, Austin will be buzzing with web and new media professionals and enthusiasts for the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference, part of the entire SXSW festival which includes music and film and spans over a week of events.

I found out a couple of days ago that I will be leading a Core Conversation that I proposed a few months ago. It's entitled "Whitehouse.gov 2.0: Upgrading to Open Source Government." What that means is I'll be primarily operating in the role of facilitator for a discussion about how the new national administration can provide more open dialogue through new media and use of the Internet.

Here's how I described the session in my proposal: "The 2004 and 2008 campaigns' use of collaborative tools, blogs and social networking have shown citizen activism and online communities can wield powerful influence. In 2009, our challenge becomes how to harness these tools in order to reopen the policy-making process."

I hope to produce a report of the recommendations that come out of the discussion to submit to the new administration and I'm looking forward to getting as many people involved with this as possible. Please join me at SXSW in Austin!

Personal Democracy Forum and techPresident

2008-12-04T20:58:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to announce that I'm now writing regularly for the Personal Democracy Forum and techPresident, focused on emerging information technology in government and campaigns, respectively. PdF features articles about uses of social media and new online tools around the globe in communities and governments. techPres keeps up with the campaign beat - the latest and greatest of "how the candidates are using the web".

Both sites contain fascinating stories and information every day, and I'm excited to be a part of their team. Here's my blog there. I will occasionally cross-post here as well.

The Internet President

2008-11-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

Since Howard Dean's unprecedented fundraising success online in 2003, a lot of speculation has gone into how the technology of the Internet might transform politics and when we might have our first "Internet President." Over the course of the 2008 election, we witnessed a phenomenon that could never have occurred in the past as a little known senator harnessed the tools of technology to reach out to the masses, engaging us and giving us shared ownership of his national campaign. The Obama campaign was the likes of which we've never seen before, and because of their decisive mastery of the Internet, he not only won the presidency, but he won by a substantial margin.

In this election it was very clear that the Internet was a major force in helping Barack Obama win. Without it, he likely would not have secured the nomination or the presidency. His inspiring message of change resonated perfectly with the openness of the Internet and instead of just talking to one person in a small town who then used word of mouth to transport his message on the ground, he presented his message online as well, letting word ripple out across the country, building a huge wave.

Obama was able to do this via social networking tools and the most interactive political website built to date, along with online outreach through e-mail and and the blogosphere. Most importantly, the campaign was able to bridge the gap between online and ground level activism, fundraising through small donations and leveraging that money for expensive TV ad buys required to reach across the country to win big. It may never be possible to win a campaign entirely online, but Obama utilized a combination of traditional grassroots organizing and netroots tactics for success.

To understand why this was possible, it helps to understand the numbers - according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project report released early in the summer, we have nearly reached a point where the majority of American adults are using the Internet to learn about candidates and participate in elections. Merging that with Democratic voter demographics including a majority of youth and urban voters, we had an ideal online environment for a Democratic campaign to take the lead.

The McCain campaign in comparison, took more advantage of advanced Internet tools later in their campaign, admitting they were not targeting voters as actively that way because e-mail was still more successful in reaching their base online. In the Democratic primary race, the Clinton campaign held tightly onto traditional organizing methods rather than allowing for increased online techniques, which contributed to the campaign's demise. They did some impressive things through the Internet and new media, but without an infrastructure that embraced it in the way Obama's did, they were unable to sustain the same level of fundraising success or volunteer mobilization.

In an earlier article, I addressed what all of this means to the future of modern democracy in terms of open government by Obama, noting that our level of participation should expand drastically. Expect whitehouse.gov to look more like mybarackobama.com than the static website we've seen in the past, including a public comment area where the new president will invite feedback online for five days on any non-emergency legislation before he signs it into law. It signals the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Congratulations, Internet President Obama.

Originally posted at The Huffington Post, Off the Bus, November 5, 2008.

Polling trends and Google trends

2008-10-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Polling data is abundant online for this election and it's becoming quite a popular thing to follow.

Today, Daily Kos published results from eleven different polls. Pollster.com and fivethirtyeight.com are two good sites for polling data online. They also put up a tracking poll primer today.

Also I read an interesting article by Daniel Sinker showing the Google search data for Obama vs. McCain and how it parallels polling data.

I also like Slate's poll tracking application for the iPhone - it's been a good way to watch results on the fly.

Online Debate Coverage Tools

2008-09-26T16:46:00.001-07:00

See my latest article at The Huffington Post "Off the Bus" about some of the fun and practical online tools for debate coverage by bloggers and viewers.

Listen to Digital Politics Thursday

2008-09-24T23:33:00.001-07:00

Thursday, September 25th, I'll be on Karen Jagoda's "Digital Politics" radio show at SignOnRadio. The topic of the show is women voters and I will be on with Mindy Finn who ran e-strategy for Mitt Romney '08 and worked on Bush '04 as well as for the RNC.

The show begins at 12:00pm Pacific and those who are interested can listen live from the site via RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, or iTunes. Call-in number is 866-818-6384 for questions. The show will be podcast and available for listening after it's aired as well. Check back to the site for more details.

The DNCC & Netroots: They're Beginning to Get It

2008-09-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

The Democratic National Convention was full of phenomenal events geared toward delegates, staffers, activists, volunteers, supporters, traditional media and bloggers. Seeing everyone in one place together, moving from venue to venue, and sitting in on a wide range of panels that referenced the role of technology and new media in campaigns, it became apparent that people are getting on board. Perhaps it's slower progress than we would like, but it is probably the most realistic pace we can expect.

Bloggers still came across as a novelty to TV media. As Mary Rickles of Netroots Nation put it, the mainstream media is still "in awe" of the blogosphere. and some convention goers and The Big Tent gained a lot of attention. One person pointed-out to Raven Brooks that as Dan Rather was upstairs on the DIGG stage speaking about how traditional media isn't covering as much real news, Katie Couric was downstairs doing a story about the Google smoothies (which were, by the way, quite excellent and a great idea after all of the running around we were doing). It seemed that getting into The Big Tent had become almost as big a deal as snagging coveted Hall passes at the convention center. The Big Tent was a great respite for technology, nonprofit and new media crowd and we loved it.

Inside the Pepsi Center and the Invesco Center, bloggers had special access and were provided the same resources as other reporters. Everyone was on laptops with cameras - it was difficult to tell who was writing for what. Still, it's understandable why some bloggers were upset they couldn't get in - national blogs had an easier time with the credential process, but statewide blogs had a smaller chance of being accepted. In terms of total media representation, bloggers still represent a larger piece of the pie than they received. Regarding the DNCC approving more bloggers in the future, Brooks said, "they have a long way to go, but that's why things like The Big Tent exist."

Outside the official DNCC events, both The Big Tent and the New Democrats Network put on some great panels. Not everyone in the audience was part of the usual netroots and tech politics crowd, which was good - it means more people are there to learn. However, some of the questions showed that they still have a learning curve to travel.

Youth-oriented organizations, Rock the Vote and Mtv Street Team, clearly get it - they have been employing a blend of technology, music and media to reach out to voters aged 18 to 35 in GOTV (Get Out The Vote) efforts. Rock the Vote is partnering with a mobile program to engage younger voters more actively in politics via cell phones. WomenCount.org launched this week, using the adage that they are "the Moveon.Org for women" in order to drive home that they are pushing platform issues as well as candidates strongly based on online tactics.

More candidates seem to understand the power of the Internet as well. Scott Kleeb's campaign for Senate looks to be doing a good job translating online to field efforts, as more national candidates are doing each election. Talking with people at various events or in line to events, the average person understood blogging technology and how blogs work; however, most people still aren't on board with social networking software like Facebook or Twitter - at least not to a level that might provide a competitive advantage and most people don't yet even grasp how powerful email can be as a campaign tool.

Given generational issues, the digital divide and traditional technology learning curves, it could easily take another ten to twenty years before the maverick strategies employed by the Obama campaign online become standard fare in local and statewide elections, but on the national level, the movement that caught fire with Dean for America now has some serious traction. The next four years will show us how much.

Seeking Votes for Proposed SXSW Panels

2008-08-24T00:51:00.000-07:00

I have proposed the following panel for the South by Southwest Interactive conference in March...

Title:
Whitehouse.gov 2.0: Upgrading to Open Source Government

Summary:
The 2004 and 2008 campaigns' use of collaborative tools, blogs and social networking have shown citizen activism and online communities can wield powerful influence. In 2009, our challenge becomes how to harness these tools in order to reopen the policy-making process. Panel presentation followed by brainstorming session.

If you like the idea, please VOTE for it by Friday!

I really hope we can take the brainstorming session and turn it into a report to submit to the next presidential administration.

Please see also TechMama's recommendations for panels, including Joanne's on building political influence online and Beth's on moms using tech, where hopefully I'll have a chance to participate as well.

Interesting Take on Twitter

2008-08-10T14:33:00.001-07:00

TechCrunch has a great article up about "Why Twitter Hasn't Failed," exploring why Twitter is different in terms of distribution in feeds than facebook, FriendFeed, and other sources that produce feeds to specific audiences (vs. blogs where we don't often know where they're going.)

In the political context, we can see that Twitter does have a very targeted marketing capability in this respect. Campaigns - like Obama for America - can track exactly who receives their tweets from the candidate and use it to help hone message.

Latest Online Campaigning Tactic - Attack Websites

2008-08-08T15:03:00.001-07:00

Here's the latest in my column for The Huffington Post - "Smear 2.0: Attack Ad Culture Goes Online." It goes into detail about the latest campaign sites launched on specific issues targeting the media and the public. The sites are mostly being used as a campaigning tool by Democrats, but Republicans have launched a few as well.

e-Cards Still Make an Impact

2008-07-24T21:15:00.001-07:00

This JibJab Card, shown on the LA Times site, is a humorous take on this year's presidential election proving that animated e-cards can still have a place. Since they are essentially usable as videos, they easily translate to the '08 campaign technology. Humor also has always played a part in political campaigns.

Women Leaders in Technology & Politics

2008-07-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

I published a post earlier today that was a long time coming that lists many of the talented women working in the field of technology and politics at The Political Voices of Women, a blog launched in the past year by BlogHer and Care2 Contributing Editor, Catherine Morgan. The list I hope will become a living document like her list of what began as under 200 women bloggers who write about politics and now spans beyond 450.

John Edwards Cameo at PDF

2008-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of PDF was when Elizabeth Edwards spoke to the crowd via Skype - she was supposed to attend in person but her flight was cancelled. And at the end of her Q&A, John Edwards came home and answered a two-part question for the PDF attendees about the Internet and how it has affected campaigning in general and the '08 election specifically. He gave a great answer, shown on this ABC News video.

Campaign Internet Directors Turned Up the Heat in Person

2008-06-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a post just published at The Huffington Post "Off The Bus" that I wrote (mostly - they do have editorial prerogative!) about what transpired on Monday, including a video. It's from a panel called "What Worked, What Didn't" for the campaigns online during the primaries. The panel included six tech strategists for six campaigns: Obama, McCain, Clinton, Paul, Romney & Edwards and was moderated by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry of the Personal Democracy Forum.

Having been in their shoes, it was difficult to write about the panel without interjecting my own experiences on the topics, but Tracy Russo did a fabulous job defending the points she made online in the offline forum which is now traveling around the web so I knew that was what readers would want to hear the most about. The rest of the article is an attempt to cover some more of the important issues touched on during the panel discussion that I (and Mayhill Fowler made this point as well) wish would have been a bit longer.

Here's Mayhill's post about her experience at the conference and her remarks about what it was like as a presenter and why she was there as well as what it means to her and all she's learning about journalism.

What Do the Techie Politicos Do At PDF?

2008-06-24T17:32:00.000-07:00

So while participating in the Personal Democracy Forum conference (that it sounds like will be rebranded to the "Participatory Democracy Forum", it was hard not to also notice in passing what everyone else was doing at the event since I was often plugged in at the back of the room... so I thought it would be fun to write about it.

During the conference sessions, people were...
- watching/participating, mild but not much Q&A
- on laptops (80-90% had) - usually in the middle of the sessions (closed up/saving energy @ the end)
- on pdas/checking (majority - blackberries)
- occasionally stepping out to take calls (but frankly not as often as I'd expected)

Those on phones/pdas were...
- returning voicemail
- checking email
- stopping phones from ringing

Those on laptop were...
- blogging
- checking email
- viewing yelp for restaurants nearby (just saw that once)
- reading news online
- occasionally messing with social networking sites (mostly facebook & twitter)
- watching the occasional youtube video, esp between panels so could have volume

In between and outside conference sessions, people were...
- networking, meeting each other
- chatting about issues/ideas and panels
- making jokes about Twitter (there was a lot of that)

So it was in a sense just like any other conference except more wired and definitely on the power user side of things. I will note that most people had multiple windows open on their laptops and were juggling a lot of different tasks.

Twitter Debate Online Leading Up to PDF Conference

2008-06-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Beginning a little bit ago, two reps from each campaign are debating issues related to technology on Twitter. Given 1-2 questions/day through the end of Tuesday's PDF '08 conference, the campaign reps will be responding to each other and commenting on issues, 140 characters at a time.

Easiest to follow at summize.com, check out the hashtag #pdfdebate. The participants, @ anamariecox, MikeNelson, and LizMair, are a Time magazine blogger, outside advisor for Obama, and RNC Online Communications Director, respectively.

So far Mike Nelson is dominating the conversation with a lot of great information. We'll see how the rest of the weekend transpires...

See also: the piece I wrote about the Twitter debate for The Huffington Post "Off the Bus".

What the Latest Pew Numbers Mean

2008-06-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

According to Pew Internet and American Life Project, an initiative launched to "explore the impact of the Internet" on civic and political participation, the number of Americans of voting age who watched political videos online during the primaries (by May 11) nearly tripled from 2004 (35% in '08 vs. 13% in '04). And more people are using social networking sites for participating in campaigns (10%) than are contributing money to them (6%). Translating that to real numbers, in 2004, roughly 21 Million people were obtaining news and campaign information online (the most prominent online activity related to campaigns). According to Pew, that number has probably doubled for 2008.

As I mentioned Monday, Pew released their latest survey results Sunday, having interviewed 2,251 Americans of voting age. 1,553 of those surveyed are online in some form - email, web, text messaging, etc.. That's nearly three out of every four American adults, up from two out of every four in 2000. The results produced some interesting stats, but the big number gaining attention is that almost half of Americans (46%) have used online technologies (via the Internet or cell phone) to participate in political activity during the 2008 campaign to date.

Ben Adler from Politico.com asks the question of the hour: "Can McCain compete with Obama online?" It's no secret. As ABC News noted, "the survey finds Sen. Barack Obama is winning the online political war in 2008." This data just confirms what we already know. Democrats are winning online. That doesn't necessarily translate to votes, but times are a-changin.

We still have a long way to go in terms of convincing the American public of the Internet's legitimacy in the process, however. Approximately 60% of Americans believe that "the Internet is full of misinformation and propaganda that too many voters believe is accurate." With new media and citizen journalism abounding next door to unsubstantiated rumor sites, it's no wonder the public is skeptical. But it's just a matter of time...

Meanwhile, if we extrapolate the numbers Pew just released, the majority of Americans of voting age will be turning to the Internet and online technologies in their process of determining who to cast their ballots for in 2012 - if not by 2010. It's even possible we could achieve a majority before this November, and we know what that means.

New Data Reported on Internet Use in Political Campaigns

2008-06-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

The Pew Internet and American Life Project released their latest report yesterday. It's chock full of stat nuggets in terms of percentages of adult Americans who are online, politicking online, watching videos online, and using social networking online all for the purposes of finding and choosing candidates to vote for in the election.

Most of the numbers aren't surprising. That 46% of Americans of voting age are doing something online related to politics is, however, a big deal in terms of providing data supporting that candidates in future elections need to take advantage of online technologies more and more in order to increase their chances of winning. It's also important in terms of people working on tech related to politics: it means we're here to stay.

Convincing candidates and potential candidates to use online technologies for their campaigns when money is tight is always a challenge and is sometimes a gamble. In more rural areas where the majority of voters are not necessarily online, tried and true field and direct mail methods still work best. But these numbers show a shift in terms of who's online and they show that nearly 75% of Americans have access to campaign communications via the Internet or cell phones. Even for those campaigns, not having an Internet presence at all could be dangerous.

So for everyone out there working on campaigns, here's the story: incorporate online methodology within your campaign, and for Democrats seeking a younger voter base in particular, integrating technology-based strategies within the entire framework of the campaign organization, as Obama has, will make your field organization stronger. Build the best web site you can, get people working on smart email communications, put up a blog, and find ways to make the campaign have two-way traffic, receiving information back from potential voters, not just sending out the usual sound bytes to them. Create a dialogue with potential constituents. Learn about their needs. Utilize social networks. Make the campaign engaging and interesting.

There are a lot of lessons within the data, but I encourage anyone interested to look at the reports yourselves and take what you will from them. The campaigns of the future will only build on what we have now, so learning about what worked in '08 will only improve chances your candidate will win in '10 or '12.

A Two-Way Street

2008-06-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

This blog is not just about sharing news in terms of what's going on in campaigning technology. It's also about educating people and organizations about why it's important. Social networking tools, for example, work because they connect people in a way that makes the world seem smaller which is incredibly important in politics and activism. We all want to know how this affects us.

So when you take a political campaign, you have voters wanting to hear from candidates, but the candidates really do want to hear from the voters. It's supposed to be a two-way street. When you're talking about a massive state or a national campaign, that's more difficult to achieve. Candidates of recent years found that the best way it worked was to reach out to people in events and via radio or television. But that was largely one-way communication. They only get a few questions here and there from individuals or media commentators, vetted through committees often wanting to target the questioning, so people get a limited view of the candidates.

Throughout the primary season, you hear presidential candidates talk about how much they like going to Iowa and particularly New Hampshire, because given the way the process works, they are forced into more two-way settings where they really get to talk back-and-forth with voters, get a sense of their concerns, and hone their policy proposals as a result. And the voters can talk in small communities with each other.

This is where the Internet and online technologies come into play. Now with bloggers having the opportunity to ask their questions of candidates and receive answers back, as MOMocrats did, for example, we can continue the discussion on a local (in virtual space) level. And with tools like online polling, candidate blogs, social networking tools like MySpace and Twitter, we can interact more with the campaigns.

In Obama's case, it seems to be working. People really feel he's out there listening to them. The other day, I met a woman who said she twittered with Barack Obama and she really believed it was the senator himself doing the twittering. And even when pressed that it was probably a staffer, she didn't care - she was just excited that they cared to keep her in the loop. You can't buy enough TV advertising to get that kind of effect.

So these are examples of why using these tools can help your campaigns. It brings voters closer to where we really should be in participating in the political process. So next time you feel guilty for wandering around facebook, remember this: it works.

Countdown to Personal Democracy Forum '08

2008-06-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

In eleven days, I'll be traversing Central Park on my way to Lincoln Center for the Personal Democracy Forum 2008 conference June 23-24 in New York City. PDF, as it's called, is the major annual conference for everyone involved in the technology behind politics and advocacy (databases, action centers, blogs) and the tools that teach us about government (like mashups and online polls). PDF is run by the same people
who publish the techPresident site and they always have fabulous speakers.

Conference info can be found here, and they just posted the agendas for day 1 and day 2.

This will be my first time to attend. I've known about it for a few years, but there was always a major reason I couldn't go - and I'm still upset about that! So I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of people in person who I've worked or conversed with remotely but never met.

Welcome

2008-06-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the FutureCampaigns blog. This online publication focuses on the intersection between technology, politics, advocacy and government.

Most of the posts published on this blog before today were cross-posted from sairy.com, my personal site that covers a wide range of topics including technology and culture, and a few posts come from the Silicon Valley Moms Blog from the last election. It became clear to me that it was time to focus a bit more for the benefit of this site, clients, colleagues, friends in the space, etc. And I thought it made sense to include some legacy posts here to reference as time passes and we look back at what was the future of campaigning in the past.

If you have feedback about the site and/or blog, please send it to sarah(at)futurecampaigns(dot)com.

PC Magazine on Top Tech Issues for Next President

2008-06-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

For a comprehensive look at the major technology issues on the plate for the next presidential administration, PC Magazine has a great article out that covers 5 biggies and what the positions are on those issues of the candidates (McCain, Obama and Clinton since it was compiled before Obama had enough delegates and since she could potentially be a VP nominee). This stems from discussion that happened at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in May.

I first attended CFP in 1994 in Chicago. Every year, they have an incredible group organizing the conference. This year, they honed in on what we would like to see in a next presidential administration in terms of information and communications (ICT) technology policy recommendations. This wasn't the first time, of course. CPSR and other organizations have done this in the past - analyzing policies of current and potential future administrations. I'm glad it's elicited some results in terms of recommendations and positive media attention.

...
Originally posted at sairy.com, the personal blog of FutureCampaigns founder, Sarah Granger.

The Internet is Helping Us in Natural Disasters, But Not Enough

2008-05-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

I just published a new post on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog about what's now being called the "Summit Fire" in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Watsonville. As a kid who grew-up in tornado country, I was completely clueless about wildfires until yesterday. Now I've been studying everything available online to track the blaze because it's just a few miles from my sister's dream home, her animals, and one of the most beautiful pieces of property I've ever seen in my life. I don't know if I'm at liberty to describe it, but even if I did, still, it's one of those places where you have to see it to believe it.

In any case, what I learned over the past 24 hours is that although we have 2700 firefighters on the scene to battle these fires, we only get semi-accurate updates about once a day about where the fires really are. People are in their homes waiting for calls or knocks on the door to evacuate. The neighbors who may or may not have phones or power communicate to the best of their ability, but they're still not certain how far away it is. They see the smoke or possibly the flames, but it's difficult to discern the distance. I found one live blog site where there was some minimal conversation via locals about what was going on to help sift through the mystery, but that was it.

So what I want to know is where do we go from here? What is the future of emergency response online? It has to be better than a few news sites and links. I'm not saying what we have now isn't good. I'm happy we have the resources we do. But I know from my technology background that we can do better. We've put together phenomenal outreach programs and online activism to raise money and repair devastated areas. Why not create a place where communities can create ad-hoc emergency response sites as they arise? It's possible something like this already exists, but not enough of us know about it.

What I found was one site for firefighters that said how to listen on short range scanners, some articles on the local newspaper site, a few maps that are only updated daily, the state fire site with data updated periodically (like every day or half a day), one satellite image of the fire, brief TV and radio coverage, a state road closures page, one live blog on the local news station web site where people exchanged notes, and a totally overloaded fire detection map at noaa.gov that nobody can use because everybody's trying to get to it. And when watching the news and hearing from locals, it seems that the firefighters and police are keeping things barricaded for safety and not allowing any information transferral during the process.

Fires are dangerous, but if people can use personal weather stations and webcams like linked on the Weather Underground, why not have a system that applies locals as information centers online and includes what's coming across the waves from emergency support services? Anyone out there have an idea of how to do this?

...
Originally posted at sairy.com, the personal blog of FutureCampaigns founder, Sarah Granger.