Jesusita Fire: As I sit in front of two computers with multiple Google maps, news sites, live video streams, Twitter feeds, email and IM open, I’ve been thinking why, with all this technology, does it still seem so hard to find out which homes have burned? There is a TV reporter in Linda’s general neighborhood. I know this only because once in the multiple times he’s reported he mentioned the street. He is showing homes that have burned, but when he mentions homes on other streets, he doesn’t say which streets. I can only imagine the people who live near there who have heard tidbits about damage in that area frantically searching all of these sources to determine whether they’ve lost everything. All of this new technology available to spread information, and no thought (yet) put into how to collect and organize this information. I think this will change, but for now, the official sources are out-of-date, and we’re left with random shouts from citizens (Twitter and blog comments, and even some of the Google maps), good information from some sources but organized in blog or article form rather than a structured format (edhat, newspapers), and TV coverage that is clearly biased toward the best visuals (burning cars and smoldering mansions) without any context. All of this is much, much more than what we would have had a few years ago, but I can’t help thinking how much better it could be.

I would love to see a database where information about houses that are damaged are burned is collected, better protocol for things like Google Maps, real-time updates on government sites, and better presentation of all information so it’s easy to find and, most importantly, can be processed and translated by machines. It can happen. I understand why it hasn’t happened yet, but it can happen.

As I started writing this I came across this blog post, which ties in well with what I’ve been thinking. Imagine an iPhone or other mobile app that could collect all this information. People who have evacuated could have everything they need at their fingertips, including the status of their house. This can only happen with well structured information and coordination. I hope some thought is put into this.