Douglas Gillies hosted teleseminars with Lois Clark McCoy, National Institute for Urban Search & Rescue - NIUSR. They were joined by some of the nation's leading information experts to explore strategies for responding to major urban catastrophes in the Fifth Dimension, where time and distance both equal zero.

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Steve Cooper, CIO for the American Red Cross and former CIO for Homeland Security, considered the possibility of creating a Scalable 911, so that every call can be fielded by trained 911 operators without any delay or busy signals. Then Jim Flyzik, former CIO for US Department of Treasury, explored the community organizing that spontaneously occurs after major urban disasters. A year later, Jim described the strategic implications of the newly emerging Fifth Dimension and how it is influencing decisions in government, business, and the military. Finally, Jeff Ribel, SRA, Phil Dixon, Google, and Roger Himovitz explored the need to develop a more effective response system in which the gargantuan flood of information released at the scene of a disaster can be flagged and incorporated into an immediate, effective response.

Here are the links to four 60-minute discussions that describe the fast-changing landscape of business, government, community organizing, and the emergency response system.