Thanks to @TheRedElm for the 140confNW VOST photo.

It seems like a good time to discuss methods for collecting and discussing disaster app info & reviews.

My #SMEM and #VOST friends talk about our favorite tools, apps, techniques, platforms, OS’s, etc… all of the time. The discussions happen sometimes spontaneously on twitter, during the weekly #SMEMchat, and sometimes on Skype or Google+ chats, but there’s yet to be a specific place where all social media in emergency management practicioners can post about our favorite disaster apps and add comments, or perhaps even host a poll on which apps people are using for what.

After a twitter conversation a couple of days ago on the subject of disaster apps with Caroline Milligan (@mm4marketing) on twitter , I set up a collection of Disaster App Pinterest boards and invited several people to collaborate on them. The process of inviting each person to each separate board is tedious, requiring multiple clicks to get to the board page, then to the specific disaster app page to add them, then to the next. I’m not 100% sold on this being the best place for the discussion, but it’s great getting a chance to try out Pinterest, and who knows, it may end up being great once people start using it – if not,  we’ll try something else. Maybe a disaster app blog?

I’m a big fan of the tech website LifeHacker; they have a regular segment called “The Hive Five”, in which they ask their listeners to post their favorite apps for some specific use, and they then add up which are most popular and make a list of the top 5 mentioned, with comments. Something like this, I think, would be a good way to discuss disaster apps and how people use them in all phases of disasters.

I participate in the #IAEMETC – International Association of Emergency Managers Emerging Technology Committee – and we’ve discussed creating a database for collection of disaster apps, which I’ve volunteered to help put together via an initial google survey, but I’m also wondering if we need something more than just a collected list of apps.

I’d love to hear what others think of this, so feel free to comment here, but for now we can collect disaster app info on Pinterest, or via this disaster app survey form. You may then view the collected data here.

Happy disaster-apping!

NOTE: @CherylBle suggests a discussion on twitter at #DisasterApps for those interested! Thanks to Caroline Milligan (@mm4marketing), Cheryl Bledsoe (@CherylBle) and Bill Smith (@EmrgncyTraffic) for discussions leading to this post and input on the survey, and thanks to Alisha Griswold (@Alisha_Beth) for suggesting the survey in our IAEMETC discussions. Hope this turns into a helpful resource.