Social-networking 9-1-1?

Disaster relief would benefit from developing social networks. That's the view of two University of Maryland scientists pointed out by MIT's Technology Review. Jennifer Preece, an expert in human-computer interactions, and Ben Schneiderman, a computer scientist, suggest in Science magazine that "local, state, and federal governments develop 911.gov, a social network that would allow residents to report disasters, request assistance from neighbors, and check for emergency updates and relief information." Because phone operators and relief agencies are usually quickly overwhelmed by call volume, social networking could spread out the information and contact points in something more like a telephone chain that would let people know at a glance who's nearby and what aid is available. Preece and Schneiderman are really describing what I'd call peer-to-peer disaster relief as opposed to the traditional top-down kind. Online marketing expert Max Kalehoff builds on this idea in his blog in a way that makes sense: "Instead of building a new network that nobody even knows exists, emergency personnel should leverage the ease and dispersion of existing networks that have already proven their utility in real life." In other words, the social-networking services aggregate people for a lot of purposes other than socializing; they're a sign of how society will tackle large-scale problems in the future – something that people seeking to ban social sites should be aware of.