Thanks to Barry Radford and Patrice Cloutier for recommending this project.

A major factor in PTSC-Online making the decision to support this project will be the comments that members post in this discussion forum either supporting the need for developing the communication tools the proposal describes or comments which suggest the project is not required because the templates, tips and list of available resources already exist elsewhere or are not needed. Please try to provide provide valid reasons for your comments either pro, con or suggestions which recommend modifying the scope of the project. 

As an emergency manager I have been involved with crisis communication and I am likely an above average user of social media. I was also very much involved in developing section 6.6, communication and warning and supporting annex material, for the Canadian Standards Association Z1600 emergency management and business continuity program standard.  The next version of the standard is currently under development and I believe it should reflect the importance of social media in the communication section and annex material and provide resources as described in the proposal for its effective use.  From this perspective I hope PTSC-Online member support will be positive. 

As the PTSC-Online community facilitator I appreciate that this project will use the collaborative tools available within PTSC-Online and will likely create discussion and resources that will increase the value of PTSC-Online to its members and supporters. It will also likely attract more members to our on line community.  The only element of the project I believe is missing is the cost to complete the project, but that can be determined after its final scope is determined based on member input.  PTSC-Online does have a budget of $7k for communication support for one or more projects which must be completed by March 30, 2011.

I encourage PTSC-Online members to comment on this discussion forum to validate the value of on line collaboration and help provide direction regarding this project. 

I would very much like to be involved in this project

I am very interested in becoming involved in this project.

As emergency managers we are very aware of the importance of getting the message out to the public as soon as possible. Also as emergency managers we are very aware that with the vast use of social media globally that our public information officers cannot get the message out before the public. It is my strong opinion that we need to embrace social media and ensure that we are extremely versed in all aspects of it to minimize the impact of false information that is released. I feel that a majority of emergency managers are getting on board with social media, but there are those that are still wary of using it as an effective tool in crisis communication. A project such as this will provide useful templates and training for those that are still apprehensive in using the tools that are out there. This project will also promote the use of social media in non-critical times where we can continue to use as a tool to provide emergency preparedness messaging out to the public.

I look forward to seeing this project get approved and hopefully have the opportunity to be involved in its creation.

Thank you to Barry and Patrice for bringing this project forward!

I owuld be intereted in seeing what the budget parametres are for this money (e.g. expected outcomes, goals , objectives, etc)

Congrats Barry and Patrice on this initiative!! I've collected some lists and links that could help advance the online crisis and emergency management communications tool kit. Emergency Information Officer colleagues with forest fire agencies across Canada (National Forest Fire Information Officers Group) who'd be interested in this effort as well as possibly some Amercian colleagues.

Thanks Art, for bringing in your network of provincial information officers. Already the scope of the project has been altered!

Excellent project, thanks to Barry and Patrice, hope it becomes approved and would like to be involved.

Although I would have liked to see more comments it looks like we are seeing positive support for this project. Can you provide us with a project estimate, any change from your initial proposal and to the extent possible address the questions raised by Lynn Orstad.  As I said previously, more comments would have been nice but we also have to consider that the March 31 deadline for completion of the PTSC-Online pilot project is fast approaching so our steering committee, who I believe will make the final decision based on member input need to have the facts necessary to make that decision. Please contact me or post a reply in the discussion forum if you have any questions. 

Hello William, Barry and I will further refine our project in the coming days and cleary set out proposed outcomes and timelines. Our objective is the creation of open-source crisis communications tools that can be easily adapted and used by PTSC-Online members and others. We will focus on sample checklists and procedures, templates, best practices, etc.

Thanks,

Patrice Cloutier

I am very interested in this project.  I believe it could pay dividends in all communications, not just emergency situations.  I will be interested in following this.

Yes, this looks like a very interesting project to work on.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities can help publicize this project anywhere along the way. Let us know how.

The PTSC-Online Steering Committee and CAFC Executive Director Donald F. Warden approved proceeding with this project during the steering committee web conference this morning.  As PTSC-Online's communication and collaboration technology will be used extensively in the completion of this project members wiil want to follow and participate in this project. 

Copying Bob Gaspirc's comments about this project from the Developing PTSC-Online blog.  Bob, you may want to check the privacy settings on your profile as the fact you made these comments and your profile information is not visible to members. 

Thank you for participating in this discussion forum to identify and select a PTSC-Online project.  To participate in this project please click here to go to the project summary page. 

Hi Patrice and Barry.  As I think you know, I believe this project is exemplary for the long term viability of the PTSC.  Tomorrow, I am meeting with Health Canada to discuss using the ptsc-online community to build a service thaqt can be used to respond to pandemics and perhaps other medical-related emergency management incidents.  Any suggestions for positioning the PTSC with this requirement?

Hello Edward ... I think PTSC-Online can be a very useful background channel and a knowledge sharing platform for people in emergency management, risk and crisis communications and those who provide emergency information. As a network building tool, it offers lots of possibilities. I'd be wary though, of positioning it as a main source of information for the larger public. The material we'll find here is mostly geared at practitioners. 

I'd certainly be interested to see how Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada respond to ongoing health emergencies and the planning they've undertaken featured on this site.

I am in full support of this project. We are currently trying to develop our own Crisis Communications Plan and this type of tool kit would be most valuable.

Patrice and Barry, 

This sounds really good. I will mention this to our comm's lead and also to Public Safety. I work with a small group there who would benefit from knowing about this initiative.  Patrice, perhaps in the summer we could possibly organize a crisis omm's driven scenario with you and use our Crises Mngt Cell. Also, perhaps organize a tour of EOCS or something like that for the following day to make a face to face visit worth your time. Just thinking out loud, no $ at this point, but one can always dream :). Connie

The Crisis Communication Template idea holds great potential for crisi/emergency communications officers, it can define timelines, media formats including the social networks and the message formatting for all the types of media uased, who should be doing the communications and who should be compiling and tracking the messages and response. This project could really assist new emergency/crisis communication officers and those who may have that responsiblity in smaller more rural communities or smaller organizations overall, and should really help define that role with both internal and external crisis, plus the overall emergency  communications program of an entity by providing best practices to inform the public stakeholders at critical times with critical types of information.

It would seem that the budget should be covering a few meetings , online or teleconferencing, materials coordination/production and possibly webinars/PR for the final

product(s) out to the users/stakeholders throught various channels ,  associations and word of mouth. I'am wondering cost benefit analysis is really

needed, but always a good practice and starting point to develope the best presentation product. This project should be very successful if it is targeted correctly

and I think OAEM would be very interested in assisting to promote it.

Sincerely, Dan Metcalfe, VP OAEM

Thanks Dan ... Barry and I have always thought that the materials and entries we'll post on PTSC-Online would be starting blocks for adaptation by all sorts of users from all areas: emergency managers, communicators, first responders with a comms role and much more.

Once we've put the products online, they can serve as an available library of sorts and we would definitely look at promoting them and presenting on their best use through various online and social media channels ...

Thanks for the comments ...

I have GoToMeeting which can host small group meetings and I would certainly be pleased to host a session if that would be helpful to the project.