Category Archives: Global

Don’t Feed the Trolls: dealing with negativity in social media communities

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When I started a new job recently, I was stoked when I found out that my first project would be creating and managing a Facebook page for the organization. I’ve helped develop and administrate a social media presence for a few organizations over the past couple of years and I’ve always loved watching online communities develop and grow.

Trouble is, I’ve realized over the past few weeks that although I’ve administrated social media pages for varied organizations, they’ve all been organizations that have solid community support. And now, for the first time, I’m administrating a page that attracts a pretty decent amount of distrust, with a bit of full-blown hate and a couple of crazies thrown in for good measure.

There’s nothing quite like arriving at work on a Monday morning and combing through a weekend’s worth of wall posts and comments that, for the most part, are pretty negative about the organization I’ve chosen to work for. I knew when I took the job that it wasn’t going to be a picnic, but I may have underestimated the complexity of dealing with negative community sentiment. As a result I’ve done a lot of reading lately on this topic, and I thought I’d share what I think are the three best take home messages for keeping things positive and dealing with negativity in an online community.

1. Step away from the delete button. It’s easy for organizations and companies to head straight for the delete button when negative posts start to appear, but it’s not a sustainable or practical way of dealing with the issue. Being unresponsive is the same. It’s not a good look when organisations only respond to the people who say nice things about them, and if you’re not responding to any posts, negative or nice, then you need to seriously reconsider whether your organization belongs in social media. Instead of deleting negative posts, thank the community member for their feedback, respond to any specific questions and move on.

2. Let your community respond. If you’ve worked hard to develop an engaged and thriving social media community, then there’s a good chance that your community will respond to questions and comments before you even have a chance to. Let them go – a lot of the time your community are a better endorsement of the organization than you are.

3. Don’t take it personally. If you’re passionate about your job, it can be difficult not to jump on your high horse when people start to diss what you’re doing. Like I mentioned above, there’s something slightly demoralizing about receiving a barrage of negative feedback from your community, but you can’t take it personally. Stop, step back and have a cup of tea before your respond to anything negative. I guarantee it works.

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Masthead photo from this photostream, body photo from this photostream and this photostream. Both used with the permission of a Creative Commons license.

Las Malvinas conflict

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In addition to the end of the world, 2012 marks the 30 years “anniversary” of the Malvinas/Falkland islands war, fought between Great Britain and Argentina in 1982. In part for this symbolic year, this conflict has made its way back in the news. In the last few months, Argentina’s government has put pressure on Great Britain and on other countries to force negotiations concerning the control over the tiny islands, home of 3000 people, mostly British descendants. President Kirchner got most Latin American countries to denounce what she considers being British colonialism. She even left the Summit of the Americas early to protest the absence of the issue in the final resolution. For its part, the British government has maintained a none negotiable hard line, sending war ships and, beware Argentineans, Prince Williams to reinforce its military presence on the island. Nothing to worry about, neither country is looking for a war. What is all this about then?

A little history first, the Malvinas are under British rule since 1833, following French, Spanish, and short-lived Argentinean occupations (destroyed in 1829 by an American war ship). Because of its proximity with mainland (464 km), the fact they were expulsed by force and their past possession of the islands (including Spanish rule before independence), Argentina never recognized British authority over the islands. One must also note a long tradition of British imperialism in Argentina, mostly economically, but also militarily, such as the consecutives invasions in 1806 and 1807. Which brings us to 1982. An incompetent and corrupted military dictatorship, faced with its own failure to redress Argentina’s economy and eager to move the attention away from its terrible human rights record (about 30 000 individuals “disappeared” during the dictatorship), saw the invasion of the British Islands as great national cause that could get them popular support. Which it did for a few weeks, until Margaret Thatcher decided to response with force. The British navy crushed an inadequately equipped and formed Argentinean military. The truth is, the generals thought Great Britain would negotiate or maybe even let go of the islands. Result, more than 900 deaths, and the end of Argentinean military dictatorship who was completely discredited both in Argentina and abroad.

In the 21st century, Las Malvinas plays a similar role it has played in 1982. Faced with slower economic growth for the first time since 2003 (although Argentina still enjoys an enviable economic situation and is still far from recession), Kirchner and her government are stimulating national fervor around Las Malvinas issue. Denouncing Great Britain, asking to negotiate the islands’ return to Argentina comes with no internal political cost and it gives Kirchner an image of power in front of imperialist countries. It brings together left wing entities – Imperialism, to this day, is part of many left wing discourses – and right wing groups – trying overcome of a national humiliation -. In my opinion, this is the main reason why this conflict has reappeared in diplomatic circles, combined to the fact that Las Malvinas are surrounded by immense reserves of offshore oil. Argentina is in dire need of energy sources, as the recent expropriation of the oil company Repsol-YPF shows, and could settle for a deal that would include share exploitation of these reserves.

The British point out to auto determination principles (most islanders want to stay under British rule) while the Argentineans underline some historical and geographical reasons to back their claims. At the end of the day, that the small community of las Malvinas are Argentinean or British matters little in the actual conflict. It is more a question of internal politics and interests than international law. Even if nothing comes out of these diplomatic and media actions, it would have served the simple political purpose of bringing Argentinean behind a national cause once again.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

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My cookbook reading group ventured into a classic this past week – “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” paired with “My Life in France”.   Compared to cookbooks being published now, MtAoFC doesn’t stand out.  It has a simple cover, lots of text and a few illustrations rather than large photographs of every recipe that can sometimes be best described as “food porn”.  But this was the book that when published in 1961 reignited interest in cooking in North America when every other trend was toward easy and processed convenience foods.  It was the book that dared to say that meals can take a long time and can be hard work, but the results are worth the effort for an authentic French meal.

I didn’t know much about Julia Child before this month.  I recognized her name and image because even in rural Nova Scotia, with only three TV channels in the 80s and 90s, she was a celebrity chef.  But other than recognition, I didn’t know much else.  And perhaps many 30-something’s wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t for the books “My Life in France” and ”Julie and Julia”, which in the last few years have introduced MtAoFC to a new generation.  Both of these books were featured in the movie, “Julie and Julie” (that I still haven’t seen), reaching an even wider audience.    If you only have time for one book, I recommend “My Life in France” as the better book (Julie Powell’s crises of turning 30 grew tiring after the first hundred pages).  “My Life in France” was coauthored by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme (her grand nephew).  It tells Julia’s pretty incredible story of arriving in France, discovering French cooking, ingredients and markets, going to cooking school, starting her own cooking school and the gruelling process (which she totally loved) of putting together a comprehensive cookbook for an American audience.

If you have never cooked from MtAoFC I recommend giving a couple of recipes a try.  It is easily found at libraries or used bookstores.  I imagine that many of the recipes are even available on the internet.   I made a garlic soup (way better than it sounds), scalloped potatoes, and a spinach soufflé, and they all turned out wonderfully thanks to the meticulously detailed directions offered by Julia Child.  And any meal with as much butter, cheese, egg yolks and heavy cream is guaranteed to be good (unless it is liver – the consensus of our cookbook group was that if the rich sauces in MtAoFC can’t make liver good, nothing can).  And with more calories on offer from a recipe or two than any one or two people should consume alone, it an ideal cookbook to use when cooking with members of your community.

Living Happily with No Regrets

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My Happiest Day ( thanks to shawna / a thousand words photography)

In my family, death was never a subject that was avoided at the dinner table. So it came as no surprise when my mom sent my sister and I an article from The Guardian called “Top Five Regrets of the Dying” – it discusses the stories collected by a palliative care nurse over her lengthy career.

The number one regret of dying people was/is: “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

I’ll just let that sink in for everyone. Especially you, parents who are un-accepting of your child’s passion for haiku poetry.

The second regret was/is: “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”

[Editor's note: Kurt, are you reading this post?]

Hopefully these two stunning – or not so stunning – realizations inspire you to change your life (or pat yourself on the back for living a regret-free existence!). If not, perhaps check out this blog post by Seth Godin, who breaks down the false-narrative of how so many of us perceive happiness.

One of my mentors recommends that our lives should be about collecting stories to tell our grandchildren. It’s a great message, for sure. And these are some of the stories that I hope to collect in my life.

Finally, let none of us regret or lament a shortcoming of kindness. After all, if the stories that we collect aren’t nice ones then we aren’t going to have too many people by our sides as we reflect on our lives lived.

School at Work – Learning that Grows Business

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lumaxart / flickr

Developing talent through innovative learning is cool. And a lot of companies are doing it. Transforming their recruitment, retention, development, and even business processes by emphasizing education and online approaches. Such a focus that empowers people with resources and tools tends to authentically marry – or, simply put, “combine” – learning with technology. Instructional Designers refer to this sort of evolution in the classroom as an ecosystem (“interconnected not linear” or “discussion-centric not broadcast-driven” learning), where the instructor behaves more like a master of facilitation-judo who builds awesome activities instead of a sagely projector of information to an audience.

This is a good fit for the business world because training and development typically unfolds as a peer-to-peer (or colleague-to-colleague) process, as nicely evidenced by Steve Trautman’s book Teach What You Know or this article from Fast Company or this article from HBR Blogs.

Here are some specific ways that non-educational institutions (banks, retail chains, non-profits) can adopt awesome educational models to get the best out of their employees:

Example the First. Say that you have a Vision – such as redefining the very meaning of wealth to include not only profit-making but also community well-being – that requires massive internal understanding in order to achieve its full potential with current and prospective stakeholders. An online platform (I like WordPress) for digital storytelling where employees can showcase their interpretation of what said Vision means to them and how its evidenced by their work – bonus points if said digital storytelling (videos, blog pots, slideshows, Excel spreadsheets) is incentivized with crowdsourced voting and a rewards system. After all, people should be recognized for genuine passion about where they work.

Example the Second. Say that you want to spread Heath Hall and Brett Thompson’s “Secret Sauce of Teamwork” all over your organization so employees can better work in cross-functional teams to achieve sustainability goals. A virtual classroom tool like Blackboard’s Collaborate can bring employees together in-person and online at the same time. Not only are such tools great for saving time, but, as a shared workspace, a virtual classroom leaves a digital footprint of consistent and accurate information for all (who have access) to see, so cool ideas about recycling, community and/or eating locally can be recorded and shared for others to see. Hall and Thompson’s tenets of teamwork are “coming together, staying together and working together” (they admittedly borrowed them from Henry Ford), and a virtual classroom – or “meeting” – space allows for all three. After all, a record of thousands of hours of trial and error will undoubtedly reveal some important moments for learning about how to make a workplace more sustainable.

Example the Third. Say that a big part of your talent-retention strategy involves supporting employees to learn, develop and grow within your organization. This kind of project has to be 3-Dimensional, which, in the instructional-design/online-learning world, simply means that every learner can have a personalized experience with the material and activities. I mean, a bank teller and director of information technology security are going to have very different career development goals … or maybe not (everybody wants to get over their fear of public speaking, right?). So, the elegant educational solution here is to build a uniquely navigable online space chock-full of resources (assessments, testimonials, presentations, articles, and experiential opportunities) that are connected by online and in-person activities where said resources and ideas the ideas from them can be unpacked and explored amongst peers and facilitators who want to get the best out of people. After all, everything – from phones to clothes to computers to food – is customizable, so shouldn’t education embrace this trend, too?

lumaxart / flickr

And such is how school at work can be an engaging process for getting the best out of people. Speaking of people, we’re pretty smart and we’re pretty intuitive when it comes to learning how to find information. Google is good at supporting this, too. My point is that any kind of great learning experience needs to have the potential for learners to explore resources with cool tools in a customizable way.

So, what are you going to do to flip the classroom – or meeting space – on its head and empower your employees to learn, grow and develop in ways that support your business goals?

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Thanks for the images, lumaxart

Time Management for Guys… A Six Pack for Success

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tylerToronto / flickr (the content has nothing to do with time management, but the mind map does!)

This article was co-written by Robert Bryce and Peter Mackenzie.

Grandma used to say, “Some people can fall into a bucket of crap and climb out smelling like a rose”. As we grow older, we start to realize the wisdom behind those words. Why do some people have a ton of excrement in their lives and still keep it together while others fall apart? Men, it comes down to 6 simple rules for beating the clock:

1. Don’t half-ass 2 things. Whole-ass 1 thing.

Multitasking doesn’t work and it certainly doesn’t work for guys. Figure out what’s important, what gets results and do it. If you spend all your time jumping from one thing to the next, maybe it’s time to ask yourself if there’s a way to simplify your work.  Start asking yourself, “Is there an easier way to get the same result?”    If not, “Who can I delegate this too?”

2. Take it if it’s easy.  And if it’s easy, take it twice.

Reach for the low-hanging fruit, gentlemen.  Focus on what you’re good at, on your strengths, and don’t waste a lot of time on things that you suck at.  It’s a simple rule, “If it’s easy and it gets results, do more of it.”  Use the KISS system “Keep it Super Simple”

3. Something not not worth doing isn’t worth doing well.

This is the most pivotal lesson I learned in high school.  Our best friend said this and we never forgot it, although we think he might be in jail now.  By now, you should see a simple theme emerging: “Work to your strengths, not your weaknesses.”  If you continually work for employers that have you spend more than 20% of time on busywork or things at which you suck, maybe it’s time to go in a different direction. 

4. Work with people you like.

It’s a myth that you shouldn’t have friends in the workplace.  You’re going to be spending 50-70 hours per week with them for the next couple of years, so it helps if you can have friendship in addition to a semi-professional working relationship.  Sometimes you have to draw the line and kick some butt, but that happens in friendships too.  There’s no reason why people can’t be friends at work as long as they both realize that results take priority.  Friends have an easier time deciding what those results should be and how to streamline processes to make room for other creative pursuits.

5. Giggedy, Giggedy.

Have fun always.  Guys are hard-wired for fun mischief.  It’s science.  Life should be fun, work should be fun.  If your workplace doesn’t allow you to get up to a little no-harm mischief now again, you work in the wrong place.  All managers should be forced to read Dave Barry’s “Complete Guide to Guys.”  Productivity will skyrocket.  And if it doesn’t, no one will notice.

6. No Pissing Around.

Gents, true productivity is a responsibility that each of us must must man up to when things skid sideways.  NHL legend Bobby Clark once drank beer for thirteen straight hours without leaving his bar stool to drain the pipes.   Impressive, yes, but endowed with same human anatomy as the rest of us, it was Clark’s absolute focus and appetite for greatness that separates him from ordinary mortals. Each of us has this level of bladder control if we want it badly enough. It’s a matter of blocking the disruptive thoughts and unwanted distractions that creep into each workday.

If your stock hasn’t improved after making this six pack of changes… consider changing brands.

Jamie Oliver’s Food Fight Arrives in Oz

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Australians have known for a long time that we have a bit of a problem with food. As a population we’re not the healthiest eaters, which our national dish of meat pies with chips and beer is a pretty good indication of. But over the past five years, our little problem with food has grown into a big national issue.

A bit over 17 million Australians are overweight or obese, a figure that has more than doubled in the past ten years. If we continue to gain weight at the current levels, by 2020 we’re going to be a country where 80 per cent of adults and one third of all children are overweight or obese.

Obviously, this is going to lead to some epic issues if something isn’t done about it soon. Financially, there will be the enormous increase in healthcare costs as the Australian population succumbs to the inevitable health problems that come with being overweight. Then there’s the fact that on the basis of present trends we can predict that by the time they reach the age of 20, our kids will be the first generation with a shorter life expectancy than earlier generations, simply because of obesity.

So how is the government dealing with this problem? Well, judging by today’s announcement, by bringing in the culinary big gun himself – Jamie Oliver.

Jamie Oliver and Victorian Health Minister David Davis (who incidentally, has not let a ridiculous name stand in the way of his political career) announced today that Jamie’s Ministry of Food would be implemented to Victoria in an attempt to solve the state’s substantial obesity problem.

Jamie’s Ministry of Food is a community-focused program that teaches basic cooking skills and good nutrition to non-cooks, regardless of age, demographic or ethnicity, to improve their quality of life and health. It’s very much a grass-roots program that’s based on empowering people to think differently about food by equipping them with simple cooking skills and knowledge.

In the food guru’s own words: “The Ministry of Food is so simple in what it does: it’s about celebrating great food with guidance, love, care and attention. It’s for anyone over the age of 12, from any background and it really does change lives.”

Judging by the comments on today’s Ministry of Food announcement, opinion is split fifty-fifty amongst Victorians about whether this program is the right way to tackle the obesity problem. About half of the comments were applauding both Jamie and the government for attempting to provide a solution to this issue, and the other half were lambasting the government for getting a ‘foreign celebrity chef’ involved in our domestic health issues.

It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how it all pans out, and if a community-based program really can change the way all Australians think about food.

Masthead photo from this photostream, body photo from this photostream. Both used with the permission of a Creative Commons license.

Grantland, The Wire and Smacketology

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If you like The Wire, March Madness and democracy then you should read the next 250* words.

You know, if Kurt, Mike and I had the resources (money, time, reputation, skill, connections, ESPN-overlords) we could pull off something like Grantland.com, the masterpiece of Bill Simmons, who continues to define himself as an innovative leader within the edutaining space where sports, pop culture and media collide.

Some of the similarities between Mr. Simmons’s online project and ours are uncanny. Grantland and the Daily Gumboot each boast writing staffs chock-full of people who went to grad school and try really hard to showcase that this was not a poor decision; I think the former website’s writers get paid, though. Sorry, Jim and Martin. Oh, we both use semi-colons and footnotes, too. We love soup. And, as with Mr. Simmons and his team, Kurt and I love to hypothesize about hypothetical tournaments involving incredibly nerdy supercool things/people/nouns like superheroes, historical figures, athletes (me), politicians (Kurt), and our friends challenging each other until only one is left standing.

Oh, and 92% of Daily Gumboot Correspondents think that The Wire is the greatest television show ever and that it is one of the most important cultural contributions of the twenty-first century. I can only assume that it’s the same over at Grantland.

This is where the similarities end, though. Because the fine folks at Grantland created something amazing, hilarious, and score-settling that we could never produce. It was called the Souperbowl – a March-Madness-like tournament that put one soup against another and we the people voted for the outright winner – and it was pretty great.

But that’s not what I’m writing about today. The Souperbowl isn’t the thing that’s rocketed Grantland into a new whole class of awesome.

Smacketology is what’s rocketed Grantland into a whole new class of awesome. It’s got all the cool components of the Souperbowl and is also important.

David T. Cole/Grantland Illustration

Because Smacketology is a March-Madness-like tournament that will determine the greatest character from the greatest television show, The Wire. [Editor's note: Michelle and I aren't actually sure if the tournament is designed to determine the greatest character or if it's, like, a death match - it's not entirely clear. And my endictment of said lack of clarity is in no way a criticism of past, current or future grad students]. In terms of historical perspective, Smacketology was partially inspired by a conversation that Mr. Simmons had with an up-and-comer on the American political scene, President Barack Obama. Awesome.

According to Alex Pappademas, here’s what the tournament is meant to achieve:

What if we actually did subject the key players of the Wire-verse to rigorous bracketological inquiry? If we played corner boys against dock workers, murder-polices against hoppers, and craven politicos against enigmatic not-actually-Greek human traffickers, in matchups as arbitrary and occasionally unjust as life and death on the mean streets of West Baltimore, would the king stay the king?

I encourage you to, first, check out the Facebook commentary, which is as hilarious as it is inspiring – people really, really, really care about The Wire and have some really, really, really strong opinions about how their most/least favourite characters will do in the tournament. And, once you’ve settled down, get voting so that your favourite characters make it through. Most importantly, have fun with it!

Well played, Grantland. Well played.

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Masthead photo courtesy of eli.pousson

*it was actually 500 more words … I regret nothing

Buenos Aires’s Terrible Train Tragedy

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As newspapers from all over the world have discussed, Argentina has faced a terrible train tragedy last week resulting in 50 deaths and 600 people injured. Obviously, accidents happen, a normal reaction would be to investigate what caused it (material or human failings) and make sure such tragedy does not happen again. In this particular case, it is more complicated since the punctual cause matters less than the structural issues related to argentinian trains. Such accident was to be expected (since 2009, 70 persons have died in train accidents) and many actors had warned public opinion and authorities of the poor state of Buenos Aires communal trains – many of them dating from the 1950s.

As so many problems in Argentina, they are better understood from an economic point of view. All trains still in function in the country were put in place by the state after the second-world war and its union became one of the strongest, very close to the peronist party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peronism). Under President Carlos Menem government (1989-1999), Argentina followed neoliberal precepts to implement radical reforms. Which meant privatizing most public companies such as trains, water distribution, electricity, phone, etc. So trains were acquired by private enterprises, paying little for the infrastructure and to this day getting subsidies to maintain tickets price relatively low. Government officials has been in charge of controlling security and services provided. In the case that interest us, TBA acquired its trains in 1994.

What is the problem then? Shouldn’t private companies be more efficient than the government to run things? When circumstances are right, it might be so. It is definitely not the case here. The whole argument behind private advantage over public is based on competition. Any company will try to offer the best services at the lowest price possible to get more customers and ultimately more profits. However, communal trains rarely face real competition. |In Buenos Aires, customers have little or no alternatives, since having a car is very expensive, impossible for most Argentinians using trains to go to work. In any case, traffic jams also represent a real problem in Buenos Aires. Furthermore, TBA, as most privatized services, enjoys a virtual monopole. It got the trains in the 90s and since then are cashing in, squizing every penny out of their “investment”. In this context, the enterprise has no incentive to invest in security measures, renew its trains or even offer a comfortable travelling experience. Trains are full, people do not have any other option, so every dollar invested means a dollar less of profit. One could, in many aspects should, blame negligent behaviour of the company, union collusion, and incompetent state control, however, as horrible as it sounds, TBA is acting  according to capitalist principles. It maximizes its profits…

In my opinion, public transport is structurally organized in Buenos Aires to produce bad and even dangerous services. For example, buses are in the same situation, every line is “owned” by a different private company… Therefore, the most logical solution would be to go back to state own public transport. Nonetheless, some things can be done within the actual flawed system. The situation is quite complex, since it reflects many common “argentinian” problems. For example, the head of TBA is very close to Kirchner’s government and has allegedly participated actively in fund raising activities for the actual President. Some claim that explains why state control was so deficient. One can also point out the difficult re-professionalization of state agencies, after decade of destruction. The other issue is “terciarización” or outsourcing. The company hires third parties to perform activities such as maintenance, pays union leaders to look the other way, and get cheaper workers. This issue has engendered a few violent confrontations between different unions. These corruption problems could probably be addressed with some political will.

Last week accident goes way beyond a punctual accident – even if it represents a terrible tragedy – it speaks to us about the legacy of the 90s neoliberal reforms. It is important to put in context this tragedy in a time when many countries are facing similar situations to what Argentina has experienced 20 years ago. Greece and Spain might wake up in a decade or so with the kind of headaches Argentina is having today…

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Masthead photo courtesy of born1945

Emergency Warnings: how much warning is too much warning?

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A bit over a year ago, Daily Gumboot correspondent Katie Burns wrote a great post about the rise of resilience planning in emergency management, focussing on some great work being done in Australian cities. I remember reading it and feeling pretty stoked to be part of such a forward thinking and innovative bunch of people.

For a good ten years in Victoria, Australia, there was a significant movement towards developing resilient and responsible communities that understood the dangers of where they lived, knew how to respond to an emergency and could look after one another in a crisis.

Then, exactly three years ago today, everything changed when 173 people died and 2029 homes were destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires. A Royal Commission was launched into how and why so many people lost their lives, and the final report included 67 recommendations for how emergency preparedness, education and response could be better managed.

One of the biggest changes for Victorians was the implementation of the Emergency Alert Warning System – a phone based warning system that sends a recorded message to landline phones and a text to cell phones advising people of impending emergencies. Over the past two years, the system has been used extensively to spread messages about floods, fires, chemical spills and cyclones, and I’m fairly certain that a message for the zombie apocalypse is ready to go, and just waiting for someone to push the button.

The system is a great tool, and is undoubtedly an important part of the overall emergency warning process, but sadly, it seems to be slowly removing the resilience and sense of responsibility that used to be a characteristic of Victorian communities during emergencies.

Anecdotal evidence is starting to show that instead of using intuition and local knowledge, people are now waiting for official warnings before they decide how they will respond to an emergency situation. One quote from a Melbourne newspaper has stayed with me since the floods in Victoria early last year, when a long-term local in a flood-prone area was quoted as saying “we could see the river rising behind the house, but we never got a warning”.

Don’t get me wrong, Emergency Alert is a great system, but like all great systems, it replies on a person to operate it, and sometimes that person has far less idea of what is actually happening than the people on the ground that are living the emergency.

It’s a simple fact of emergency management that sometimes, communities know better than official sources, and if you can see, hear, smell or feel an emergency happening around you, waiting for an official warning might not be the safest thing to do.

What do you think? Is there such thing as over-warning a community of an impending emergency situation? Or is it the role and responsibility of emergency agencies to ensure that as far as possible, everyone receives a warning whenever and wherever they need it?