Jump ahead to the present and larger bandwidths and the experience from video conferencing is much better. Somewhere along the way I stumbled across The Future of Visual Commu8nications which is a Polycom publication. The date on it is 2008, so it is probably a bit out of date already--but much of it is talking about the future, so maybe not. It has a specific government focus, but the applications it discusses cut across the government and private sectors.
I do pity the IT departments that have to try and keep up with the relentless march of innovation. More bandwidth please! Integrate my iPhone and now the iPad please! One thing is for sure--that scenario is not going to change. They will always be playing catch-up.
Personalize video is here already. It is being used by the general public and there is no reason it can't be integrated into our operations. For situational awareness having a video link with the first responders in the field and back to the EOC would be where we are headed. I'm certain that some progressive departments have those features now.
The key is of course making the operation of the equipment very intuitive and have it integrated with the systems and applications that we use every day. As costs go down we will have more technology tools at our disposal. It is up to us to find the best uses for the technology in emergency management.
