Researching and Contacting Organizations
Feb 3rd, 2012 by jen266
While last week involved some planning stages, this week we really got the ball rolling on our project. We met twice this week, Monday and Friday, to give quick progress updates, keep group members informed as to what we will be working on next, and to redistribute tasks as necessary.
Last week, Laura had written a letter of confirmation with a description of the deliverables to email to Dorit, just to ensure we were all on the same page as to what our project would entail. Paulette and Laurie from the NSEMO office responded back requesting some minor changes so we modified the confirmation and resent it to NSEMO, along with a completed project schedule roughly outlining the steps we are taking. (Civil 202- Schedule) As seen in the schedule, our main tasks for this week were mainly researching and contacting organizations. At our Monday meeting, we made further task divisions, especially among those who are contacting organizations. It was decided that Luke is contacting North Shore News and West Vancouver School District, Erika and Surabhi are contacting organizations, community groups, unions and aboriginal communities, and will communicate among themselves to ensure no organization is doubly contacted nor skipped; Angie is responsible for researching FOPIA legislation and making suggestions for modifications to NSEMO’s self-registration page; and Laura and Jennifer are researching the market plans of other cities. Originally, Laura and Jennifer were supposed to review the manual as well, but this task is removed from the deliverables as it is of lower priority to NSEMO.
For the most part, results of our inquiries came back quickly. Laura received some emails back from cities who are also using Rapid Notify, with information about the successes (or lack thereof) of their self-registration plans. Luke contacted the North Shore News regarding the possibility of including a brief article on NSEMO and Rapid Notify, and they were very enthusiastic about the suggestion. The North Shore News published an article on emergency response on their website on Friday, February 3, 2012 (link below), which hopefully encourages citizens to self-register for Rapid Notify. Luke also received very positive responses from the West Vancouver School District, and they would be happy to include a message about NSEMO and Rapid Notify in an upcoming monthly newsletter. Research on FOIPA has also brought about recommendations for the registration form and some insight on NSEMO’s legal responsibilities.
Overall, it has been a very productive week. We are still anxiously awaiting responses from various contacts, and are hoping for information as quickly as possible. Our first journal entry was due today, Friday, February 3, 2012, and has hopefully given each team member a chance to reflect on the experience, especially as we now move forward with our project. Our next meeting will be Monday, February 6, 2012, during class time, when we will discuss progress made over the weekend, and hopefully get a vague idea of the content and style of our presentation. Until next time!
http://www.nsnews.com/technology/call+want/6095952/story.html
This is looking great!
At this point, I’m wondering if you are able to connect your accomplishments to-date, with the management cycle (plan, do, monitor), and the various components of project management, including the project context. For example, regarding context, do you think that the enthusiastic responses you are getting from various stakeholders (eg, school district, local newspapers) is related to the level of common public understanding about the need to prepare for “the big one”? i.e., would you get the same response if the public was not aware of the earthquake risk in Vancouver, or if the public was unaware of the devastation experienced elsewhere?
Keep up the good work,
SN