Emergency situations are per definition unexpected and have asymmetrical effects (meaning it destroys multiple times faster than something requires to be build). Because of that character it is necessary to respond fast and adequate whenever an emergency happens. Mobilisation is obviously problematic, as time and place are scarcities when there is only a limited team available. To separate specialist’s operations and more general tasks that do not require expertise can help in such occasions to speed up the process if you are able to use the public’s capacities and scale.

In Portland, USA, such a system is in use. Whenever an emergency call comes in at 911 the necessary public service (police, medical and/or fire response teams) is alarmed, just like it used to be, but at the same time a message is send out into the network. As a result operations like evacuation are done a lot faster and also with the help of less officials, who thus can concentrate on other activities. At the moment the system uses the Internet as main channel and trusts on the network to mobilize other media, but we can also think about sms warning, emergency warnings on your phone or, maybe more traditional, the bat sign up in the sky What is essential is that the public is always there and can respond immediately. Imagine the effect this could have on locating and following a robber.

What I think is also really intersting in this is the link with what Dave Bunjowski describes as the entitlement people consider to have. I would say people do not only feel an entitlement to the American Dream, but as well to safety. We expect our government to supply us with safety and it is them we turn to when we have become a victim. But becoming part of the network makes us become part of the solution and gives us parallel to a certain entitlement (the efforts of experts) a duty to participate. Whenever you get an sms about a robbery one block from you position in my opinion you can’t turn your head around and pretend not to see. Even if you would like to do so others will not accept your failing and will blaim you (at least I will). I think this enforced awareness makes you accountable and maybe that is characteristic to the network.