Proteus guy says we need a mobile 911 coop – biz opp and public need. In San Diego in the fires, they had spike for their 211 web site and callers (275 vols) who became news central because the MSM just ran the same video over and over. “Local pockets” of community needed local media which mobiles and web could supply.

Comments on web sites went wild. Jeff Bell ex of qualcomm — cells were working because they have batteries, datacenters have batteries but if the power stays out more than 24 hours, that network will go down, too.

Robin Miller driving through Alligator Alley noted that there isn’t any news radio anymore, and in this kind of event, you turn to news radio for the updates.

Mike Maidenberg from Knight Foundation: trying to get foundations geographically bound to look at info “eco system” in their communities and add study of ecosystem of information as an important part of safety, public health.

Ronnie Sandroff, consumer reports (?) was on a plane and people not being able to get on the phone was causing panic.

A fellow notes that twitter rises to the occasion in these kind situations. Micro-blogging, twitter is a great model in this “post-Katrina” world. Tap into the twitter network and then post personal twitters into a spur of the moment wemedia news network. A woman notes that Spanish radio shut down their music and turned their radio into a community news center.

No discussion this year about whether this is big J journalism or something else. The conversation has moved to focus on social networks and communication, not any pro vs. am journalist kind of discussion.

Five or six years ago, wemedia report first came out as forecast of changes to society, news & info — it was dismissed or made light of for “turning their backs on media that reared us. “Mediamorphosis” was the first, a turning point (one editor stood up and cried…) It yielded forecasts, but mainly realizing that the work that Andrew and Dale was transforming because the Culture was transforming, not simply workplace change.

Cross-sector, global conversation about how people are informed. Reviewed the 3 proposals:

• all news and information will be digital (not dismissive, but observation about the nature of where info will come from)
• power of individual — indiv exerts unprecedented power in this modern world where all are creating media
• informal networks and communities for infomation exchange will emerge as principal means of learning