I want to extend my condolences, thoughts and best wishes to London and its people following yesterday’s brutal and cowardly attacks. I hope all our London-based readers are safe and that those directly affected find comfort soon. Without making light of the tragic events, I want to take a look at the role mobile phones and technology played.
The most striking example was the widespread circulation of photos and videos taken with mobiles in the aftermath of events. While people have been using blogs and tools like Flickr to report their own news and images and share information for quite some time, and mobile photos have made their way into mainstream media, never before had user-generated content, much of it from mobile phones, played such a big part.
British news organizations had received their first images from the public within minutes, and some footage was on air within 20, relaying the vicious nature of the attacks. Very quickly, there was footage from inside Tube trains revealing the confusion and panic of the immediate aftermath of the blasts — changing the nature of reporting from the professional polish of news crews arriving after an event to amateur footage showing a much more human side of things. User-generated content even went deep into the oldest of old media: The Guardian says (reg req’d, unfortunately) the image used on its and the Daily Mail’s front page was sent to the BBC by a member of the public (image 8 in this slideshow).
Beyond the role mobile technology played in news gathering, there were plenty of articles about how mobile networks strained to keep up with demand; how text messages fared better; how operators gave priority on networks to emergency workers and authorities, though contrary to many rumors, the government did not shut down the cellular network.
But just as the Asian Tsunami highlighted the need there for early-warning systems — and suggested how mobiles could play an important role — Paul Golding’s done a good job of wondering what the intial lessons for mobile networks from yesterday’s London tragedy will be, suggesting a number of crisis-management features. The overloading of mobile networks is a serious problem on many levels — first because they’re relied on by emergency services for vital communications, but also because it’s important for people to be able to communicate to friends and family their condition and whereabouts. Given the high level of connectedness we enjoy at all times because of mobile phones, email, IM and the like, there’s the absolute expectation that we’ll be able to use our phones in times like this — times when it’s most important.
Some operators said they shifted yesterday to half-rate coding, a measure that reduces voice quality and increases capacity, but Golding has a few more ideas — the most interesting of which is a “roll call” measure allowing users to be hailed and respond if they’re ok. This message could then be played for callers trying to reach someone if the network is too overloaded to connect the call. But in any case, he makes it clear that there’s room for active crisis-management protocols for operators to put into action for events like this.
To echo Paul’s last comment, we can all hope these types of things won’t ever be needed, be it in London, or anywhere, as the result of another attack. But being prepared doesn’t have to mean being afraid.
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