2007 Annual Report

Emergency Information Infrastructure Project

Background
Technical Information
Management
Status
Outlook

BACKGROUND

The Emergency Information Infrastructure Project (EIIP), physically located in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, was registered as a Web-based corporation October 1, 1999.

The EIIP is a public benefit corporation for educational purposes under the State of Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act, and Section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The EIIP promotes the safety, health, and welfare of the general public by supporting and enhancing the effectiveness of those individuals, whether paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time, engaged in emergency / disaster management. The EIIP accomplishes this goal by providing educational opportunities that include participating in or hosting public discussion groups, forums, panels, lectures, or workshops through the EIIP Virtual Forum Web site (http://www.emforum.org). The EIIP also provides technical and liaison support to research and analysis projects via contractual agreements.

The EIIP corporation is not for profit. All funds, from all sources, are devoted to said purposes as stated in the EIIP Articles of Incorporation.

The EIIP Virtual Forum resides on a server provided by the WWW Community of Emergency Services (WCES) in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a service for the emergency / disaster management community, the EIIP Virtual Forum presently conducts and promotes live chat discussions, lectures, workshops and online demonstrations through a hosted service provided by Digi-Chat Technologies.

Staff and Board Members:

Direction and growth of the EIIP is under the leadership of Avagene Moore, CEM, EIIP President / Coordinator, and Amy Sebring, EIIP Vice President / Technical Projects Coordinator. Assisting with the preparation of transcripts, and providing backup for chat sessions, staff member Lori Wieber provides valued assistance.

The EIIP Board of Directors support and provide guidance for all EIIP activities. Board members for FY 2007 were:

• Stephen O. Bender, Independent Consultant, Risk Management and Development Issues
• Robert J. Coullahan, CEM, Senior Vice President for Public Safety, Mission Assurance Services, Inc. (MASI)
• Susan L. Cutter, Director, Hazards Research Lab, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina
• Frances Edwards, Director, Masters of Public Administration Program, San Jose State University
• Eric E. Holdeman, Principal, ICF International
• Jane Kushma, PhD, Associate Professor of Emergency Management, Jacksonville State University
• K. Joanne McGlown, PhD, Board Chair, McGlown-Self Consulting, LLC
• Dale Shipley, EIIP Financial Officer, Vice President, Emergency Management and Homeland Security, ARMADA, Ltd.
• Burt Wallrich, EIIP Secretary, President, Emergency Network Builders

The EIIP celebrated its 10th Anniversary on August 15 as a testament to its primary mission - the promotion of emergency or disaster management online education and training in the EIIP Virtual Forum. Timely topics were addressed two times per month by subject matter experts drawn from all levels of government, the private sector, NGOs and academia to meet the needs of the domestic and global EIIP audience. The EIIP Virtual Forum is advanced by EIIP Partners, Forum participants, word of mouth and various means of outreach used by the EIIP audience.

Formal Partners: Interested organizations and agencies are welcome to join as Partners. The invitation is extended via Virtual Forum sessions, the EIIP Virtual Forum Web site, and announcements to various mail lists. A concerted effort is currently underway to update EIIP Partners, confirm Points of Contact and solicit new Partners. As result, the number of Partners is now 239 including 14 new Partners that were added this year. EIIP Partners represent domestic and international organizations, agencies, academic institutions and/or volunteer groups with Private Sector Partnerships making up 41% of all partnerships. Percentages for Partner categories are as follows:

• Academia (21, 8%)
• Business/industry (private sector 98, 41%)
• Government (83, 35%)
• Volunteer groups/NGOs (36, 15%)

Contract Work: The EIIP contracted with Battelle / Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMI-Services) to assist with outreach on behalf of DMI-Services among the nation's response community. The project was under Disaster Management, a communications program of the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Interoperability and Compatibility that is managed by the Science and Technology Directorate. The Disaster Management Program included the Disaster Management Standards Initiative, Disaster Management Interoperability Services, and the Open Platform for Emergency Networks (OPEN).

Site Content: Most of the new content on the site is attributed to the transcripts of the Virtual Forum sessions conducted each month. Accordingly, the majority of traffic statistics are tracked to the archived transcripts with a good percentage for live chat sessions and the current news feature posted weekly on the homepage. News items may now be accessed via RSS Feed, and a Google Custom Search feature is also new this year.

Mail Lists: The EIIP Mail Lists are subscription-based and were used to promote EIIP Virtual Forum sessions, availability of transcripts, and other news of interest. The EIIP mail list has grown considerably during the year and is approaching 1500 subscribers, with nearly half of those subscribing this year. Session announcements are posted to other emergency management-related mailing lists, and based on the number of first time Forum attendees we have observed, it is clear that our information is widely read in the professional community.

The EIIP also managed four DHS Disaster Management Mail Lists to notify subscribers across the country of monthly events, meetings, updates and a quarterly newsletter, Disaster Management SIGnals.

Web Site Statistics: EIIP Web site statistics are provided monthly by the Webmaster of the WCES server. The data is helpful in determining the interests of the EIIP Virtual Forum diverse audience as well as monitoring trends and hot topics. According to Web site numbers, the EIIP Virtual Forum visitor is usually a self referred person who seeks the site because of announcements and promotion through EIIP Mail Lists and those of our Partners. The Web site reports for this year again show the value of the archived transcripts as a resource with visitors seeking topical interests that go back to our earliest 1997 transcripts.

• 9,936 hits on April 11, 2007;
• 2,091 views of The New FEMA transcript between 4/11-16/07; and
• Six slides used in 4/11/07 presentation were among top 14 views out of 50 reported by Web statistics.

The past year's statistics (October 2006 - September 2007) offer insight into the interests and needs of our Web site visitors:

• For the year, there were more than a million hits on the EIIP Virtual Forum Web site. (A hit is defined as a single action on the Web server as it appears in the log file. Hits include HTML pages, pictures, forms, scripts, and downloaded files.)
  
  
• Visitor sessions averaged 20-23 minutes.
  
  
• Transcripts of EIIP Virtual Forum presentations continue to be the focal point of the site. The subjects drawing the most attention this past year with 1,000 or more views were:
  

• 1,127 views of 2/28/07 ASTM Standard Guide for School Preparedness and All Hazard Response with Kay Goss and Rick Tobin, ASTM Task Group;
  
  
• 1,872 views of 1/24/07 First Response to Radiological Emergencies: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Resources featuring Elena Bulova, IAEA;
  
  
• 1,116 views of 5/23/07 The National Response Plan/NIMS Review: The Local Stakeholder Perspective with Steve Detwiler, IAEM;
  
  
• 1,008 views of 7/11/07 Command or Collaboration? A Group Discussion on Effective EOC Organization led by Lucien Canton, Consultant, Author
  

All other transcripts for this fiscal year were viewed on average 500 or more times.

Other Dates / Topics -

The following dates and topics also showed up with unusually high numbers in a review of Web Stats over the past two years. These were intriguing because the transcripts go back a few years. An analysis of these topics and the current interest in them may be useful in determining the need for further discussion and updates on these and related topics.

• 21,346 views of 5/19/04 The American National Preparedness Standard: An Update on NFPA 1600 with Lloyd Bokman, NFPA Technical Committee Chair;
  
  
• 5,369 views of 3/21/01 The Forgotten F5 - The Lawrence County Supercell featuring Mark Rose, National Weather Service;
  
  
• 2,587 views of 11/22/00 New JCAHO Emergency Management Standards for Health Care Facilities with Dr. K. Joanne McGlown, Jacksonville State University; and
  
  
• 2,252 views of 3/31/99 Special Event: Student Day with Kay Goss, Associate Director, Preparedness Directorate, FEMA; Brent H. Woodworth, IBM Global Services; Butch Smith, State of Texas Division of Emergency Management; and Dr. Gary R. Webb, University of Delaware.

OUTLOOK

With America's history of disasters, catastrophic devastation, displacement of thousands of people, and the country now looking to better preparedness, response and recovery capabilities at all levels of government and among our citizens, open dialogue and information sharing continue to be critical needs in this country and abroad. The EIIP provides a valuable service for domestic and global audiences. With the continued support of EIIP Partners, participation of our growing virtual audience, and guidance of the EIIP Board of Directors, we trust the EIIP can provide an exciting schedule of educational opportunities in the coming years to help make the world a safer place by encouraging learning experiences, networking and disaster reduction.

The EIIP is currently in a short-term contract with SAIC as part of the DM Transition Team to move the DMIS and OPEN components of the DM Program to FEMA. We will continue the EIIP Virtual Forum for the immediate future and are looking for funding to support and carry the effort through FY 2008 and beyond.

Respectfully Submitted 10/10/07: