So technology that we all use daily, that is deeply integrated with our favorite search engine, that allows us to see where our eBay purchases are at any given moment, is the same technology that was used to find these bombs.

Good stuff.

Whatever strum und drang there is can almost always be solved with calm, honest communication instead of getting yer backs up.

Photoblog – Is photography a crime?.

Robert Hood says: Carlos Miller tirelessly advocates for photographer rights on his blog; Photography is Not a Crime. He is particularly interested in the times when photographers intersect with what he claims are heavy-handed police tactics. I’m a reader of his blog because the topic comes up often in the photojournalism industry.

Social media play key role in Boulder fire – Lost Remote.

When the Boulder Sheriff’s emergency alert system failed, its emergency operations center asked that residents use Twitter and Facebook to help spread the word of mandatory evacuations, reports the Boulder Channel 1 Blog. The hashtag #boulderfire has become a lifeline of sorts for many looking for the latest information on the fire, as well as people and businesses offering to help evacuees.

New DHS program to automate transmission of watch list data — Government Computer News.

DHS and the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), which maintains the consolidated database, are putting in place a program called DHS Watchlist Service (WLS). WLS will replace multiple data feeds from TSC to Homeland Security agencies that handle various missions such as counterterrorism, law enforcement and border security, the department’s privacy office said in an assessment of the program.

The Joint Threat Anticipation Center

The Joint Threat Anticipation Center was a collaborative project of the Center for International Studies and the Center for Complex Adaptive Agent Systems Simulation at Argonne National Laboratory

. It was funded by the Advanced Systems Concepts Office (ASCO) of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) from 2004-08, as part of the agency’s larger Threat Anticipation Program.

The foundational objectives of the center were as follows:

• Expand and champion the art and science of anticipating threats.
• Establish a center located at the University of Chicago that will become a recognized ?center for excellence? of threat anticipation expertise, promotion, and products.
• Develop a repository at Argonne National Laboratory for models, publications, and institutional memory of threat anticipation.
• Provide the services that can assist ASCO with focused TAP activities and contacts that facilitate federal interagency participation.

As with any extended collaborative research project, these objectives evolved as the relationship between the two partners and funding agency grew and developed over four years. As concerns CIS, the Director and Associate Director identified and developed the relevant social science research and research product of the University of Chicago community, and built links between those researchers, Argonne, and DTRA to help advance the field in computational social science modeling and the anticipation of national security threats.

Read more about JTAC’s activities from 2004-2008…

Google Crisis Response: Haiti Earthquake -.

Jeremy Johnstone (@jsjohnst) will be leading up a team. Look for Jeremy and the Random Hacks of Kindness signs when you arrive.

This event is free and open to the public. You don’t have to be technical to volunteer time.

Project Proposals for CrisisCamp Haiti

1. Base layer map for Port Au Prince: This project would create a new collection of imagery and a new base map for NGOs and relief agencies. Post available imagery to share with the public for open source applications.

2. Family locator systems: Uniting efforts of interested technologists, developers and communications experts to provide technical assistance.

3. Tech Volunteer Skill Matrix/Volunteers: Create a role of volunteer as well as

4. Managing News Aggregator: Provide content channel management to coordinate data feeds

5. Defining the Collective: Create what we are and why we are doing this. Coordinate and post historical timeline/archive for the CrisisCamp efforts.

About CrisisCamp

CrisisCamp will bring together domain experts, developers, and first responders around improving technology and practice for humanitarian crisis management and disaster relief.

Each and every day, people across the world can find themselves in crisis. Whether it be for a day, a month or an area of social distress, we all have a common need to connect with loved ones, access information and offer assistance to others.

During Transparency Camp 09 and Government 2.0 Camp, several campers exchanged a host of ideas on the need to better connect people with their social networks and information through the use of technology, especially during times and places of crisis. For example, campers shared how mobile innovation on mobile health and alternative power supplies was happening in Africa. Others shared how how citizens of the cloud used their technical skills to aggregate data to help people (often in another part of the world) synthesize desperate pieces of information into something they could understand. We uncovered a dividing line between international humanitarian relief and domestic crisis response. We saw common themes across all efforts including: the use of mobility, the Internet as a common coordination platform, the need for volunteers and the ability to provide alternative community communications access areas. By the end of the tweet-up, we had 40 volunteers sitting around in a circle with an agreement that there should be a forum to exchange these ideas. And it was there, where a common goal brought government, NGOs, private sector, hackers and activists together to create CrisisCamp.

CrisisCamps are hosted in a barcamp style where great minds come together to share their knowledge and expertise for social good.

CrisisCommons Wiki: http://crisiscommons.org/wiki/index.php?title=Haiti/2010_Earthquake

CrisisCamp on Twitter: @CrisisCamp

Be our friend on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=72817669768&ref=ts

CrisisCamp Ning: http://crisiscampdc.ning.com/

CrisisCamp Haiti – Silicon Valley – Eventbrite.

@NavyNews/haiti-relief

A compilation of official US Government twitter accounts following Haiti relief.

Twitter / @NavyNews/Haiti-Relief.

Why the increase in bird-strike reports?

Airports and airlines have become more diligent about reporting, said Mike Beiger, national coordinator for the airport wildlife hazards program at the Agriculture Department. But experts also say populations of large birds like Canada geese that can knock out engines on passenger jets have increased.

Bird-Plane Collisions Near Record 10,000 – CBS News.

The review of our security and intelligence systems following the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day has been completed. The President spoke two days ago about “the urgency of getting this right,” and the identification of failures in this review, along with the immediate ordering of reforms and corrective steps both today and in the days since this incident, are a recognition of that urgency. This review is also a recognition that while there is no place for partisanship and the old Washington blame game in dealing with Al Qaeda and the threat they represent, keeping American safe depends on honest and direct accountability.

• Read the summary of the security review (pdf).
• Read the President’s Directive on corrective actions (pdf).

Release of the Security Review Conducted After the Failed Christmas Terrorist Attack | The White House.