|
Virtual USA
Virtual USA (vUSA), is a joint federal and state collaboration on a project that would allow state and local on-line tools and technologies, such as caches of geospatial data, to be interoperable and more useful with the goal of creating a "Virtual USA" for emergency response purposes. The initiative was developed by the DHS Directorate for Science and Technology (S&T), and currently operates as a pilot in eight states — Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia and Tennessee — with plans to incorporate additional states. Virtual USA is part of the DHS' Open Government plan, which is part of the Obama administration's goal to promote a greater amount of transparency and openness between the government and citizens. Purpose and overview The stated goal of Virtual USA is to aggregate existing data, from federal, state, local, tribal, and other information into a common operating picture to assist first responders during emergencies. Virtual USA: *Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Information Sharing
Information exchange or information sharing means that people or other entities pass information from one to another. This could be done electronically or through certain systems. These are terms that can either refer to bidirectional '' information transfer'' in telecommunications and computer science or ''communication'' seen from a system-theoretic or information-theoretic point of view. As "information," in this context invariably refers to ( electronic) data that encodes and represents the information at hand, a broader treatment can be found under data exchange. Information exchange has a long history in information technology. Traditional information sharing referred to one-to-one exchanges of data between a sender and receiver. Online information sharing gives useful data to businesses for future strategies based on online sharing. These information exchanges are implemented via dozens of open and proprietary protocols, message, and file formats. Electronic data interc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transparency (behavior)
As an ethic that spans science, engineering, transparency (market), business, and the humanities, transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is practiced in companies, organizations, administrations, and communities. For example, in a business relation, fees are clarified at the outset by a transparent agent, so there are no surprises later. This is opposed to keeping this information hidden which is "non-transparent". A practical example of transparency is also when a cashier makes changes after a point of sale; they offer a transaction record of the items purchased (e.g., a receipt) as well as counting out the customer's change. In information security, transparency means keeping the arcane, underlying mechanisms hidden so as not to obstruct intended function—an almost opposite sense. It principally refers to security mechanisms that are inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Information Systems
An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems comprise four components: task, people, structure (or roles), and technology. Information systems can be defined as an integration of components for collection, storage and processing of data, comprising digital products that process data to facilitate decision making and the data being used to provide information and contribute to knowledge. A computer information system is a system, which consists of people and computers that process or interpret information. The term is also sometimes used to simply refer to a computer system with software installed. "Information systems" is also an academic field of study about systems with a specific reference to information and the complementary networks of computer hardware and software that people and organizations use to collect, filter, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regional Information Sharing Systems
Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) is an information-sharing program funded by the U.S. Federal government whose purpose is to connect databases from local and regional law enforcement so that they can use each other's data for criminal investigations. In 1997, RISS created RISSNET, a network to interconnect many local, state, regional, and tribal law enforcement databases. In 2002, RISSNET was connected with the FBI's Law Enforcement Online system. In 2003, the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan (NCISP) declared that RISSNET would be the official "backbone" for all unclassified, but sensitive criminal intelligence data traffic. Later that year, members were also given access to the Automated Trusted Information Exchange (ATIX) database, which contains information on homeland security and terrorist threats. See also * Automated Trusted Information Exchange * Joint Regional Information Exchange System * Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange The Mul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange
The Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange Program, also known by the acronym MATRIX, was a U.S. federally funded data mining system originally developed for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement described as a tool to identify terrorist subjects. The system was reported to analyze government and commercial databases to find associations between suspects or to discover locations of or completely new "suspects". The database and technologies used in the system were housed by Seisint, a Florida-based company since acquired by LexisNexis. The Matrix program was shut down in June 2005 after federal funding was cut in the wake of public concerns over privacy and state surveillance. History Matrix was the brainchild of Hank Asher, a businessman in the data aggregation field. Asher reportedly contacted Florida police immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks, claiming he could find the hijackers as well as other potential terrorists. Asher reportedly offered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joint Regional Information Exchange System
{{more footnotes, date=December 2009 The Joint Regional Information Exchange System (JRIES) began in December 2002 as an all-source intelligence / information sharing system, designed initially as a grassroots pilot system to connect the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center, the New York Police Department, and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Purpose These groups designed JRIES, which was first deployed in February 2003, to facilitate the exchange of suspicious activity reports, register events potentially related to terrorist activity, and foster real-time intelligence and law enforcement collaboration in a secure environment across federal, state, and local jurisdictions. JRIES used a commercial, off-the-shelf software collaboration tool application to enable multiple groups to share the information securely. A JRIES executive board, composed of representatives from the participating groups, provided guidance and structure to help manage the system. JRIES proved usef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dangerous Goods
Dangerous goods are substances that are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment during transport. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabically abbreviated as HAZMAT or hazmat). An example of dangerous goods is hazardous waste which is waste that threatens public health or the environment. Hazardous materials are often subject to chemical regulations. Hazmat teams are personnel specially trained to handle dangerous goods, which include materials that are radioactive, flammable, explosive, corrosive, oxidizing, asphyxiating, biohazardous, toxic, poisonous, pathogenic, or allergenic. Also included are physical conditions such as compressed gases and liquids or hot materials, including all goods containing such materials or chemicals, or may have other characteristics that render them hazardous in specific circumstances. Dangerous goods are often indicated by diamond-shaped signage on the it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disaster
A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by natural hazards. ''Human-made disasters'' like oil spills, terrorist attacks and power outages are caused by people. Nowadays, it is hard to separate natural and human-made disasters because human actions can make natural disasters worse. Climate change also affects how often disasters due to extreme weather hazards happen. Disasters usually hit people in developing countries harder than people in wealthy countries. Over 95% of deaths from disasters happen in low-income countries, and those countries lose a lot more money compared to richer countries. For example, the damage from natural disasters is 20 times greater in developing countries than in industrialized countries. This is because low-income countries often do not have well-bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emergency Management
Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actually focus on the management of emergencies; emergencies can be understood as minor events with limited impacts and are managed through the day-to-day functions of a community. Instead, emergency management focuses on the management of disasters, which are events that produce more impacts than a community can handle on its own. The management of disasters tends to require some combination of activity from individuals and households, organizations, local, and/or higher levels of government. Although many different terminologies exist globally, the activities of emergency management can be generally categorized into preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery, although other terms such as disaster risk reduction and prevention are also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Department
A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and Firefighting, fire suppression services as well as other rescuer, rescue services. Fire departments are most commonly a public sector organization that operate within a municipality, county, state, nation, or special district. Private and specialist firefighting organizations also exist, such as those for aircraft rescue and firefighting. A fire department contains one or more fire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed by firefighters, who may be professional, Volunteer firefighter, volunteers, Compulsory Fire Service, conscripts, or Retained firefighters, on-call. Combination fire departments employ a mix of professional and volunteer firefighters. In some countries, fire departments ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Police
The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers encompass arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence. The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the Law enforcement agency powers, police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. Police forces are usua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open-source Software
Open-source software (OSS) is Software, computer software that is released under a Open-source license, license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and Software distribution, distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative, public manner. Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration, meaning any capable user is able to online collaboration, participate online in development, making the number of possible contributors indefinite. The ability to examine the code facilitates public trust in the software. Open-source software development can bring in diverse perspectives beyond those of a single company. A 2024 estimate of the value of open-source software to firms is $8.8 trillion, as firms would need to spend 3.5 times the amount they currently do without the use of open source software. Open-source code can be used for studying and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
