Decisions for a sustainable future

India maps, sites, begin to track swine flu

Angelo — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:21:31 +0000

As India copes with the spread of swine flu, we are beginning to see a more forms of collaboration.

This site was put together not be people in healthcare, but by some Indian techies.

After one of them got sick, and fanatically searching for information about the virus and testing, they decided to ‘bridge the information gap’ and put together the site. It has contact information for hospitals and quarantine centers in several cities etc.

Another map lets you check the number of documented cases.

Google’s Flu Tracker now has more detailed views (as the one above).

Here at the Decision Theater, we have moved into a new phase of using visualization as a planning tool for emergency planning exercises. Software that enable training of healthcare workers, volunteers and those planning the logistics of dispensing medication or treatment in the event of an outbreak.

Visualization by itself is not enough, unless it is (a) connected to data and has the ability for people to input data to make it smarter; (b) it lets you adjust behaviors to make intelligent responses.

Immunization registry, about time

Angelo — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:38:43 +0000

Arizona is finally getting an electronic immunization registry.

Many other states such as New York, Utah, and and countries have done this, before the swine flu threat. Nevada’s Immunization Coalition has a presence on Facebook, while Utah uses GIS to map this data.

The registry will be a ‘receptacle’ of data pertaining to immunizations administered to children from birth to 18 years of age, reported to the state’s health department.

According to the DHS, the goals are

To capture 100% of the vaccinations provided to children within the State.
To promote efforts to ensure that 95% of all children within the state who are under six years of age are participating in the registry and have at least one immunization event on record.
To provide all registered ASIIS providers with access to data stored in the registry, thus allowing them to query the registry for current and historical patient immunization records.
To maintain the confidentiality of all patient information received in the registry.
To ensure that healthcare professionals administering immunizations are reporting to the ASIIS registry in a regular and timely manner.
To maintain the security of patient information stored in the registry.
To provide a means for improved monitoring of immunization levels.

Could a poster capture a multimedia event?

Angelo — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:12:55 +0000

Posters are a popular form of capturing a story, a piece of research, an event.

If you’ve visited Decision Theater, you can’t escape some of these lining our walls. They are an alternative to videos and other digital presentations.

So this one, for a economic summit was a bit of a challenge. Hosted by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, the one-day event had several components to it, much of it (details here) interactive, and with some social media layers as well.

It’s not easy to visually display what a twitter stream or podcast looks like. Or what some 700 virtual attendees watching the live high-definition feed were querying.

If you need it, however, there’s a printable version here.

Govt prepping for swine flu encore

Angelo — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:47:14 +0000

Just two weeks after the swine flu summit was held here at Arizona State University, the federal government convened a large summit today.

Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary pointed to the urgency at hand, and the need for preparedness:

“We can step back from our planning. What we can’t do is wait until October.”

The summit had been pulled together on the request of president Obama. It’s part of a series of heightened actions to prepare for the fall flu season.

The department of health is seeking community participation, offering a $2,500 prize for a winning public service video. Details here.

The government is injecting $350 million in preparedness grants for fighting the H1N1 virus. Of this $260 million will be allocated to state health departments, while $90 million will be for hospitals.

In June, Sebelius issued a joint statement with DHS Janet Napolitano on the need to start preparing now.

Cyber threats are real, not emerging says Napolitano

Angelo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:37:42 +0000

There’s a hacker who’s part of the Advisory Council of Homeland Security, one of the many interesting steps the former Arizona governor is now taking to make the department more pro-active, more resilient.

These initiatives, discussed in Napolitano’s blog this week give you a sense of where the bigger picture of emergency preparedness and securing critical infrastructure is headed.

Last month, Homeland Security announced two key posts, that of the Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications, and a Director of the National Cybersecurity Center.

Counter-balancing surveillance, the department is also pursuing collaboration. Its Facebook page, for instance, for DHS Alumni, is also open, to ‘anyone interested in Homeland Security news.’

The other virus we once tracked

Angelo — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:43:56 +0000

H1N1, the swine flu virus that dominated the news for a few months, has all but dropped off the news, so as if to take its place there’s West Nile virus.

As you may have noticed, Maricopa County just reported a case of a woman having contracted the virus.

A few good pieces of coverage.

KJZZ did a short segment last week
Arizona Republic has some good background
CDC has a good map that breaks down the number of cases in 2008
Maricopa County has a chart with the breakdown of 2008 infections + deaths

But not many people know that three years ago, Decision Theater participated in an exercise to map the spread of West Nile, working with the Arizona Department of Health. The 3d spatial map that became a visual and statistical analysis tool.

More details here – opens a PDF

Aliens with two heads, security drones and other things

Angelo — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:54:07 +0000

Great story by ASU’s Judith Smith, about the event held here last month.

Young readers ‘game’ for Sci-fi series

The event was an unveiling of the wiki for a science-fiction series that involves two-headed aliens and drones, but also involved high school students who have begun to approach literature and learning in through new media channels.

New podcast on swine flu conference

Angelo — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:46:15 +0000

Just uploaded the second podcast on the swine flu tracking that has been going on at ASU.

I had interviewed Marco Herrera, a researcher at the Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Science Center at ASU, as he was here one day in summer.

The podcast is on the media page of this blog. Click here to listen

Swine Flu conference wrap up

Angelo — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:24:11 +0000

How did the swine flu conference go? I have gotten a lot of feedback from different people who attended. Most of the attendees from out of state I spoke to were excited about how much they were beginning to share. Three things stood out: a sense of urgency, a greater need for collaboration, a need to work with more groups outside our line of sight.

The above photo is from an interactive decision-making exercise we conducted on the second day of the swine flu conference.

We equipped scientists and decision-makers with laptops, and took them through the scenarios laid out in the real pandemic flu exercise conducted in February this year.

To complement our coverage here and on our podcasts about the swine flu conference conducted last week, here are some media reports on the events.

East Valley Tribune: Conference at ASU projects swine flu’s future - Mark Branom
Newswise - Outsmarting Swine flu
ASU Insight – Researchers meet at ASU to discuss Swine Flu strategies

Interview with Dr. Carlos Castillo-Chavez

Angelo — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:44:42 +0000

Last evening, I caught up with Dr. Carlos Castillo-Chavez, Regents Professor and Dir. of Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center (MCMSC).

Dr. Castillo-Chavez pulled together researchers for the swine flu conference taking place today. His research puts emphasis on the role of dynamic social landscapes on disease dispersal, and he has co-authored more than 175 publications on HIV, influenza, childhood diseases, STD diseases and addiction.

Check podcast here.