Equipment/websites
Medusa computer (5 video capture cards in one computer allowing for 5 simultaneous recordings)
Radio Shark (AM/FM antenna attached to computer for recording local radio)
Sharpreader – RSS
RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Website

We have two separate but similar systems to handle media monitoring. We have one PVR computer that can record five channels simultaneously preprogrammed to record the various news broadcasts that happen outside of normal work hours. These recordings are reviewed every morning with the items of interest edited out, and copied to our internal network. These clips are then catalogued and a short description of each clip and link is sent to those people on our base who by position would be interested in the subject of the report. The description of the clip is also sent by email to those individuals within the military but outside of our location with a link to an internal FTP location to download the selected clips from.

The second system is an almost real time distribution system. Due to security restrictions, a PVR system cannot be attached to our internal network. To counter this we have a second bank of PVR computers maintaining watch over the main 24 hour news channels available in Canada; CNN, CBC Newsworld and CTV NewsNet. These systems all have their own LCD/Plasma TVs constantly on during the workday. When we note a story of interest, we start recording, doing line editing as the story progresses. On completion we transfer the clip to the internal network using a thumbdrive. The distribution system is the same as the overnight clips, just sent from a different email account.

We monitor one local and one regional talk radio broadcast using streaming audio and an AM/FM radio antenna attached to our computer. This allows us to digitally capture audio broadcasts and distribute them quickly to those people who are interested for their situational awareness.

RSS
RSS feeds have become integral to our ability to quickly receive breaking news. We receive feeds from over 100 different sites, covering all types of information.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center and the Alaska Volcano Observatory both send out alerts using RSS. In the past we would surf every few hours to both of these sites, plus we were on their respective e-mail/fax list. Now that we have subscribed to their RSS feeds we receive alerts wherever they provide an update.

RSS feeds cut down on our workload and stress from having to constantly search websites for updates and has improved our speed-reading ability from having to scan the over 1600 messages that we receive daily.

We have subscribed to Google News Feeds using a number of keywords for our searches. We have then subscribed to the news RSS feed allowing for specific news articles to be sent to our RSS reader. This system has assisted us in finding obscure stories of interest that we would have not normally have found so easily.

Stories
Situational Awareness

We watch for stories to distribution to the group in the military called Joint Task Force Pacific. JTFP is the military section that responds quickly and efficiently to civil emergencies in British Columbia including floods, major forest fires, devastating earthquakes or any other emergency that the civilian authorities require military assistance for. The JTF commander can order any military asset within their area to assist the civilian authorities under this arrangement. Being aware of a mounting problem allows for added time to plan and prepare for any event.

We watch for stories dealing with emergency preparedness, potential or actual disasters, major changes to transportation routes and the local government and community’s relationship with the military. This information is brought in for review, comment, and situational awareness and/or for planning purposes. During an actual emergency a Public Affairs Officer will be part of the deployed task group. We have a pack-up box containing all the material needed to set up a remote office and maintain communications between the deployed Public Affairs Officer, the media and our office.

The role of media monitoring during a natural disaster would be to provide the decision makers in the military with media reports, giving them an added source of information for their situational awareness. As we have seen during Hurricane Katrina and the confusion around the Superdome, the media can sometimes have important information that the local powers don’t or reports that substantiate information that we currently have. These added pieces of information are an important part of the situational awareness that the commanders must have to make an informed decision.

The Canadian Military coordinates with many countries around the Pacific in military exercises, United Nation missions and humanitarian assistance. When a ship or a unit from our base is deployed we are constantly searching for news items about their activities. This includes mainstream news items, blogs and other services such as YouTube/Google Video services. Not only are these reports captured for our records, but they are also forwarded to the organization in charge of that activity.

Download the Sharpreader OPML file

RELATED WEBSITE LINKS
www.navy.forces.gc.ca/marpac
www.snapstream.com/community/articles/medusa/
www.sharpreader.net/
http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert.php?lang=eng

Encoding your experience from Chris Pirillo’s perspective.

Here’s some sites definitely worth checking out:

www.Vixy.net

www.Heywatch.com

www.Mux.am

www.Zamzar.com

www.Media-convert.com