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EOC - Emergency Operations Centre

OfflineWilliam MacKay
November 29, 2011

Google Wave - A Great Virtual EOC Tool to Sunset on April 30, 2012

By William MacKay

When I started using Google Wave, I thought it would make an excellent tool to support emergency management communications and the virtual EOC concept. With wave, multiple users could simultaneously edit a structured outline type document to gather information about an incident and the response to simultaneously share information with all involved. My reason for sharing this is to ask what your tool of choice would be to virtually share information to support response to an incident.

Google Wave Sunset Announcement:

More than a year ago, we announced that Google Wave would no longer be developed as a separate product. At the time, we committed to maintaining the site at least through to the end of 2010. Today, we are sharing the specific dates for ending this maintenance period and shutting down Wave. As of January 31, 2012, all waves will be read-only, and the Wave service will be turned off on April 30, 2012. You will be able to continue exporting individual waves using…

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OfflinePete Learoyd
November 24, 2011

Can an EOC be virtual!!!

By Pete Learoyd – 7 Comments

We hear about some great software... and I have seen many of the applications that can help us share information, fill request and build overall situational awareness, but is this really an EOC? What make something an EOC? I think we have to go back to the basics and ask ourselves about the core functionality and purpose of an EOC. For agencies/organizations that are spread out geographically they may never be able to pull staff together to activate an EOC, but what can they do and is it an EOC?

I can share some more ideas around this... but thought I would first post this to see if there is the interest to explore the topic let me know and we can continue on...

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This a forum to focus specifically on Emergency Operations Centres (EOC) - design, policy, procedure, communications, information sharing, best practices etc. This channel has been added at the request of Jason Redlarski who has graciously agreed to contribute to and monitor it.

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  • Can an EOC be virtua…
    Phil Gibson says:
    Thanks, Bill.  That's why I always use PA/Communications in reference to the public affairs function. Having had ample experience in the EOC environment, I'm ever mindful of the distinctions.  Even while I proselytize about the unique nature of the operations (i.e. EOC) and the public affairs functions, I also preach about the necessity to make…
    5 months ago
  • Can an EOC be virtua…
    William MacKay says:
    I could not agree with you more Phil.  Our use of the English language tends to confuse us at times and my earlier comment about the Virtual EOC was intended to help put us on the right track but I did not succeed according to your understanding of my comment. 
    In the CSA Z1600 Emergency management and Business Continuity Standard the term…
    5 months ago
  • Can an EOC be virtua…
    Phil Gibson says:
    I came to this website to learn and this sort of discussion will certainly fill the bill.  But isn't it too categorical to assign virtual EOC functions to public affairs communications? Aren't there legitimate operational incident management reasons to supplement a physical ops center with e-EOC capabilities.  As a public affairs/communications…
    5 months ago
  • Can an EOC be virtua…
    Eddy Weiss says:
    I was recently at a function with a lot of govt reps and the discussion turned to PROXIMITY of mobile command units to the actual zone. This, of course turned into infectious disease/dirty bomb and terrorism discussions and I believe that we decided many of these situations would almost demand for a virtual EOC because of the threat and scale.…
    5 months ago
  • Can an EOC be virtua…
    chiefb2 says:
    Depends on the functions virtually performed, and the type of collaboration capabilities of the platform.  When it comes to policy setting/planning/"discussion", noting beats face to face, 2nd place - video conferencing.
    5 months ago
  • Can an EOC be virtua…
    William MacKay says:
    Pete, I believe this is an excellent topic for discussion for the reasons you stated. I wonder, however, if we should be calling the process of sharing information electronically  for the purpose of incident management an EOC? I know the term virtual EOC is used but I believe an EOC (emergency operations centre) is a physical facility.  In the CSA…
    5 months ago
  • Can an EOC be virtua…
    Barry Radford says:
    The Ontario Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services where designing a virtual EOC in their Emergency Management Ontario division. The project is a major undertaking but seemed to have the capacity to meet EOC/JIC operations virtually.
    For an update of this project, I'd suggest contacting the MCSCS Communications Services Branch…
    5 months ago
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