Journal 3, September 13th

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/08/trapped-girls-update-facebook-instead-of-calling-cops/

Recently in Australia two girls were trapped in a storm drain and instead of calling emergency services or their parents the girls chose to post their predicament on Facebook using a phone. Luckily one of their friends spotted the post and called the authorities who were able to bring the girls to safety. Even though the girls could of called for the authorities the girls opted to to try and go around the professionals by only notifying their friends. Unfortunately, according to the rescuers this causes a delay that uses up precious time when responding to an emergency. Coincidentally in the United States the Atlanta based nonprofit, The Safe America Foundation is now working with the federal government to implement other forms of communication in case of an emergency. This would include everything from social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to just a simple text message. According to the article this type of situation has occurred many times already. People are using these new types of communication for everything all over the world whether the authorities are up to date or not.

Modern technology has given people copious ways to connect which is invaluable to have when you just want someone to talk to or you really need help. If emergency services can implement these technologies people can be safer than ever. Today, just about everybody has a cell phone or some other way to communicate which could be used anywhere to contact anybody. At this point in time is the technology is readily available but has yet to be used as a means of contacting the authorities in case of trouble. If local authorities were to update their systems to use these technologies it would be an excellent asset to communities and allow the professionals to work more efficiently than ever. Until they update their system though the use of these new ways to communicate will only cause delays and possibly increase the risk of injury if the proper help in not notified in time.