RE: [xml-dev] Any way to volunteer XML development skills to hel pwith the recent events???

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

Go to the next meeting of your city council and ask the following 
questions:

1.  Is the city or county public safety system physically protected?

2.  Are your dispatch and emergency service systems open to communication 
across political/service boundaries (can your neighboring county's system 
dispatch or post events to yours?)

3.  Are the tools provided to your agency officer's report oriented or 
analysis oriented?  It makes a great deal of difference if for example 
the field reporting system is designed to report information for 
the executive information system or the state or federal agencies versus 
being a feedback tool for the officer to analyze a situation and respond.

4.  Are the public safety systems capable of using XML to pass and 
receive messages, archive situational data, and create multiple views 
based on the role of the user?

The answer to most of these questions will be no.  Given what we 
know about interoperation and mission critical systems, you should 
decide if you are satisfied with that answer.  The vast majority of 
public safety systems are like Victorian bathrooms:  ornate, large, 
expensive, hand-carved, customized, and inefficient.  When they 
back up, you get a stink.

Those systems are now front line C5I systems and they are the 
means by your local governments coordinate in an emergency. 
Be certain they work as well as you need them to.

Len 
http://www.mp3.com/LenBullard

Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h