Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/87499
FLASH/FOWARD Open Source FLASH Annual Conference works to make the Disaster Safety Movement user friendly. best practices and successful initiatives in disaster safety need to be available, shared, used, re-used and constantly updated and improved. And that is the idea behind the 2012 FLASH Annual Conference: Open Sourcing the Disaster Safety Movement. To be held October 31 to November 2 at Disney's Contem- Information,resources, porary Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL, the FLASH conference brings together academics, builders, educators, emergency managers, engineers, researchers, scientists, and product and technology suppliers. Over the course of the day-and-a-half conference, industry leaders will share their best practices and attendees will engage in learning sessions on how to apply those best practices to their areas of the disaster safety movement. Sharing the origins, design and methods behind an idea or product is a concept known as open sourcing. In the digital information world, it is the idea behind Wikipedia. In the realm of education, Connexions, a global repository of educational content provided by Rice University, Houston, TX, is considered a pioneer. Connexions contains educational material authored by people from all walks of life and organized into small modules that can be connected to larger ideas. Its founder, Richard Bara- niuk is one of the featured speakers at this year's FLASH conference. He will lead attendees through a session on building a disaster safety open-sourced community online at www.disastersafetymovement.org. Active Participants The 2012 FLASH Annual Conference program has been built around the strategic areas key to the success of the disas- ter safety movement: Leadership, Partnership, Outreach and Education. Learning sessions will be led by Richard Baraniuk, founder, Connexions, Rice University; AnnMaura Connolly, president, Voices for National Service; Chris Noble, CEO, Cause Media; and Alexandra Samuel, director, social and interactive media, Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Each speaker will demonstrate how successful initiatives have been created and sustained in each of the four strategic areas. Each learning session is intended to allow attendees to: • Discover how the concept of open sourcing will work to begin a new era of collaboration in the Disaster Safety Movement. • Learn from the success stories told by featured speakers 16 Leslie Chapman-Henderson, FLASH president and CEO, begins the annual conference with a tour of StormStruck, its interactive and educational severe weather experience at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort. identified to be among the best in their chosen fields. • Participate in tabletop working sessions with other leaders in the disaster safety movement to apply the lessons learned to challenges and opportunities within the movement. • Use the discussions and ideas formed during the interactive sessions to define their organizations' roles in the process of open sourcing the disaster safety movement and to become active participants in the design and development of www.diastesafetymovement.org. Educate, Promote Since 1998, the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, Inc. (FLASH®) has led a public awareness campaign to educate citizens about disaster safety and to promote safer, better built homes. STORM&SEcURITY PROTEcTION / PEOPLE IN THE KNOW 2012