Moving People vs Moving Data: What Saves More Lives?
Much has been said about the “Cajun Navy” and how they did an amazing job using their iPhones with aiding first responders with evacuating flood victims. There are a lot of people alive today who wouldn’t be otherwise if it wasn’t for this massive community effort.
Zello was their app of choice for communications in the last couple of years. Reporting in August 2016, David Morris of Fortune Magazine attributed this civilian corps’ effectiveness during unprecedented flooding in Baton Rouge last year to the rise of technology.
Again this year, during Hurricane Harvey rescue efforts, the Washington Post writes about how this app came into play:
The app allows flood victims and rescuers to communicate instantly. It also allows both groups to post voice messages to specific channels that have been set up to aid people seeking assistance, such as “Texas Volunteer Rescue/Support” and “Harvey Animal Rescue” and the “CajunNavy,” which has nearly 25,000 users.
Over the past week, Moore said, Zello usage has increased twentyfold. The number of user sessions increased 600 percent over the past week, with the amount of time users in the Houston area were on the app increasing to 22 minutes, Moore said. –Peter Holley, The Washington Post
Modern technology makes it easy disconnected strangers to coordinate their efforts quickly. Hurricane Harvey was the first major hurricane to hit the United States in the age of the smart phone. The Cajun Navy made full use of the data available to cover large areas as efficiently as possible.
Moving people is critically important, and probably nothing makes that point more than a mass evacuation. But what I’ve been arguing for a long time now is that we’ve solved that problem a hundred years ago. All the technological improvements coming are only changing how we do it or how much it costs.
Moving people gets all the glory, but when it comes to the really consequential things in life, it is moving data that is impacting the world in far more profound way. Connecting people with data in new ways is changing the world.
Now available in iBooks —> The Tesla Bubble
Again this year, during Hurricane Harvey rescue efforts, the Washington Post writes about how this app came into play:
The app allows flood victims and rescuers to communicate instantly. It also allows both groups to post voice messages to specific channels that have been set up to aid people seeking assistance, such as “Texas Volunteer Rescue/Support” and “Harvey Animal Rescue” and the “CajunNavy,” which has nearly 25,000 users.
Over the past week, Moore said, Zello usage has increased twentyfold. The number of user sessions increased 600 percent over the past week, with the amount of time users in the Houston area were on the app increasing to 22 minutes, Moore said. –Peter Holley, The Washington Post
Modern technology makes it easy disconnected strangers to coordinate their efforts quickly. Hurricane Harvey was the first major hurricane to hit the United States in the age of the smart phone. The Cajun Navy made full use of the data available to cover large areas as efficiently as possible.
Moving people is critically important, and probably nothing makes that point more than a mass evacuation. But what I’ve been arguing for a long time now is that we’ve solved that problem a hundred years ago. All the technological improvements coming are only changing how we do it or how much it costs.
Moving people gets all the glory, but when it comes to the really consequential things in life, it is moving data that is impacting the world in far more profound way. Connecting people with data in new ways is changing the world.
Now available in iBooks —> The Tesla Bubble
RSS Feed