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FCC Workshop: Public Safety and Homeland Security

From the Official  FCC event website:

The goal of this workshop is to examine existing and potential uses of broadband technology by public safety entities and ways in which broadband technology can enhance homeland security. The workshop will bring together representatives from the public safety community, government agencies, industry, and academia to discuss interoperability, redundancy, cyber security, 911, and pandemic response, among other issues.

The first panel will focus on use of broadband applications by first responders to communicate emergency information and to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies. This panel will also explore issues relating to interoperability, redundancy, and the cost of providing broadband access to public safety. The second panel will focus on the impact of broadband technology on particular homeland security issues, such as cyber security, pandemics, bioterrorism, and critical infrastructure vulnerabilities. The panel will also examine current and future public safety use of managed IP-networks.

Topics

The following are some of the preliminary topics that will be covered at this workshop. If you would like to discuss any other topics, please send us your suggestions.

1. Interoperability
2. Public safety use of high-speed connectivity, the Internet and associated applications
3. Redundancy
4. Cost-efficiencies and practical issues
5. Cyber security and critical infrastructure
6. Pandemic/bioterrorism events
7. Coordination with other federal agencies and state and local governments
8. Pre-planning/Reliability

Agenda

9:00 am	Welcoming Remarks, James A. Barnett, Jr., Rear Admiral (Ret.), Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau
9:15 am	Panel 1 – First Responders Using Broadband Technologies to Advance Public Safety Moderator, Jennifer A. Manner, Deputy Bureau Chief, PSHSB This panel will examine how the National Broadband Plan (NBP) should reflect the current and potential uses of broadband to improve public safety communications and operations, including the utilization of the Internet and web-based applications. The panel will also examine issues that impact broadband deployment and/or technologies in the public safety arena, such as interoperability and cost and infrastructure limitations. Panelists: Charles Brennan, Deputy Secretary, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Office of Public Safety Radio Service (OPSR) Stephen Carter, Vice President of Technology, Qualcomm Pete Eggimann, Chair, Operations Committee, National Emergency Number Association/ Director, 9-1-1 Services Metropolitan Emergency Services Board, St. Paul, MN; NG911 Trial Participant/ (Representing NENA and NG 911 Pilot Participant) Ralph Haller, Chair, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) Glenn Katz, President and Chief Operating Officer, Spacenet, Inc. Harlin McEwen, Chair, Public Safety Spectrum Trust Bill Schrier, Chief Technology Officer & Director of Information Technology, City of Seattle (Representing APCO) FCC/Other Government Agencies Moderating Panel: Jeffery Goldthorp, Chief, Communications Systems Analysis Division, PSHSB John Leibovitz, Deputy Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Kathyrn Medley, Chief, Satellite Engineering Branch and Acting Chief, Systems Analysis Branch, International Bureau Erika Olsen, Senior Advisor, PSHSB Laurie Flaherty, Program Analyst, Office of Emergency Medical Services, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation Charles Hoffman, Chief, Disaster Emergency Communications Programs, Disaster Emergency Communications Division, FEMA Daniel Phythyon, Chief; Policy, Planning & Analysis Division; Office of Emergency Communications, DHS
9:50 am	Panelist Discussion and Responses to Questions
10:45 am	Comments from DHS’ Office of Emergency Communications, Daniel Phythyon; Chief, Policy, Planning & Analysis Division
10:50 am	Comments from FEMA, Charles Hoffman; Chief, Disaster Emergency Communications Programs, Disaster Emergency Communications Division
10:55 am	Break
11:05 am	Panel 2 – Homeland Security: Uses, Benefits and Challenges of Broadband Technologies in Large-Scale Events—Moderator—William Lane, Chief Engineer, PSHSB This panel will examine ways in which broadband technology can enhance homeland security. The panel will explore how best to utilize broadband technologies to prepare for, respond to and recover from major natural disasters, pandemics, acts of terrorism, and cyber attacks. It will also focus on how public safety networks and applications can be secured and protected. The panel will also examine current and potential new applications and research that has been conducted in the managed-IP arena that could improve response to large-scale emergencies. Panelists: Andrew L. Afflerbach, Ph.D.; P.E.; Chief Executive Officer; Director of Engineering; Columbia Telecommunications Corporation—(CTC) [Representing National Assn of Telecommunications Officers &Advisors—NATOA] Emmanuel Hooper, Ph.D., Senior Scholar and Researcher; Harvard University, Leadership for Network World; Harvard-MIT-Yale Cyber Scholar; Founder, Global Information Intelligence Murad Raheem, Branch Chief, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response; Information Technology, Electronics & Communications Marc Sachs, Executive Director, National Security and Cyber Policy, Office of Federal Government Relations, Verizon Government Affairs Steve Souder, Director, Fairfax (Virginia) Department of Public Safety Communication FCC/Other Government Agencies Moderating Panel: Jeff Cohen, Senior Legal Advisor, PSHSB Jon Peha, Chief Technology Officer, FCC Dr. Carlos Kirjner, Senior Advisor to the Chairman on Broadband Charles Hoffman, Chief, Disaster Emergency Communications Programs, Disaster Emergency Communications Division, FEMA Daniel Phythyon, Chief; Policy, Planning & Analysis Division; Office of Emergency Communications, DHS

Attend the Workshop Online:

You’ll need to register to attend the webinar. You’ll also need to set up the required webinar software prior to the event. Also check to make sure that you have the appropriate players needed to playback the UCF (Universal Communications Format) rich media files. The sooner your computer is properly set up, the sooner you can join the event! If you have problems joining a meeting or viewing the webinar, please contact the events administrator.

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Tags: bioterrorism, blogband, broadband, broadband.gov, BroadBandUSA.gov, critical, cybersecurity, Emergency, FCC, homeland, Infragard, infrastructure, Julius Genachowski, michael j. russell, mike russell, national broadband plan, pandemics, planetrussell, preparedness, public safety, rural, Security

Google, Maslow and Yoda

From the recent WordCamp San Francisco, here’s Google’s perennially entertaining and informative anti-SPAM guy, Matt Cutts:

Whether or not you use WordPress as a blogging or publishing platform is actually far less important than his presentation’s most important takeaways: namely, that successful blogging and achieving prominent search engine ranking, (like most things), are largely about doing the basics consistently and well, and that the biggest obstacles to achieving success are almost invariably behavioral, not technological.

Obstacle #1: Don’t just aspire to write. Do it.

To paraphrase Jedi master Yoda:  Aspire not. Write, or write not. There is no “aspire.”

Obstacle #2: For those of us (i.e. pretty much all of us) seeking a quick and easy way to reach the top of Maslow’s pyramid, in the hopes of attaining some sort of Web 2.0 self-actualization through an abundance of Google juice, and the respect of our professional peers, the secret is… that there is no secret. (Sorry about that.)

Instead,  it’s almost entirely about hard work, integrity, a passion for constantly learning (and then sharing what you’ve learned), the self-discipline to buckle down and write, and a sincere desire to help others solve real-world problems or otherwise improve their lives. Of course, there are SEO best practices…and pitfalls, which, to his credit, Matt Cutts doesn’t minimize.

Likewise, he offers some other specific guidance, as well, using the Japanese game Katamari Damacy, (in which the players begin by rolling up small objects, then progressively larger ones) as a metaphor for content creation…and life.

First, start out small. Find your niche. Learn your stuff. Develop a following. Grow from what you know.

Second, be a really good specialist, rather than a mediocre generalist. (My take: Better a rolled-up Katamari than a multi-tentacled calimari, basically.)

That should get you started.

By the way, Matt has an excellent, extra-curricular (i.e., non-Google-related) blog, that’s almost certainly worth an investment of your time.

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Tags: 2009, blogging, blogs, canonical, Google, Hierarchy of Needs, Jedi, Katamari, Maslow, Matt Cutts, META, metadata, michael j. russell, mike russell, planetrussell, publishing, San Francisco, self-actualization, self-discipline, SEM, semantic, SEO, Social Media, success, tips, WordCamp, wordpress, WordpressTV, WP, writing, Yoda