Intro Post

I chose to blog about emergency responder technology and communications this semester.  I’ll start with a little background about myself first.  I am a Junior Communications major and also a full time Volunteer Firefighter at the College Park Fire Department.  Some of my interests include new technologies in the fire service and how they can be used to help firefighters better perform their jobs.  I will mainly focus on the fire side of the emergency responder field, but I will also blog about the law side of the field because many of the technologies used by policemen are also used by fireman.  Some of the technologies which I am already using on a regular basis in the fire service includes twitter to receive texts with call information on my phone, advanced radio communication, and also GPS laptops to log patient information and call information.   This topic is interesting to me because technology is used in a way which makes our jobs faster and more efficient.  A great example of this is in some jurisdictions such as the Washington D.C. Fire Department, the units are equipped with GPS units which are automatically updated with the location of calls.  This helps the drivers of the apparatus get to scenes faster because before GPS the drivers would have to remember every single street in their area and if they could not find the address they would have to take time to look up the location of the incident.  In the emergency service field, every minute could make a huge difference in the outcome of a call.  Whether the call is a burning building or somebody experiencing a stroke, technology is helping responders do their jobs better to that lives can be saved. 

                 Some of the goals which I have for this semester in Jour289I is to learn more about all different forms if technology.  The technology world is exploding and I’m just trying to keep up as best as possible.  The new innovations which are coming to the market are truly amazing and life changing.  I’m excited to explore some of these innovations and apply them to my own life and interests.  One thing which I would like to accomplish this semester is to maybe “invent” a technology or idea and bring that to the emergency responder field in order to better serve my community.  There are so many technologies out there today that haven’t yet made their way to the responder field so I hope that I can help that.  All in all I’m excited to take this class and I plan on learning a lot about new innovations and technologies with a hope of keeping up with our continuously evolving modern word.