Video footage provided courtesy of Washington Adventist HealthCare.

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/

Our CEO, Ali Manouchehri, was recently interviewed on Federal News Radio (1500 AM).  He was featured on Francis Rose‘s “In Depth“ show that airs Monday-Friday from 1pm-3pm.  The interview was part of Mr. Rose’s “Industry Chatter” series and they discussed President Obama’s memo on Transparency and Open Government (pdf), the Open Government directive that followed, as well as issues dealing with collaboration, participation and security.

You can listen to or download the interview here: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=17&sid=1925310.

Source: www.FederalNewsRadio.com

You can read the web article “How Web 2.0 tools help victims of Hatian quake” and listen to an MP3 of the interview to learn more about these efforts.

How can you help?  A great benefit of technology and social media tools is that it makes it easier for us to help those in need. Here are some resources, links and information on how you can assist earthquake victims:

The following organizations are accepting SMS donations (U.S. only):

• SMS text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts
• SMS text “YELE” to 501501 to Donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake Relief efforts
• SMS text “GIVE10″ to 20222 to donate $10 to Direct Relief

For more information and ways to donate, you can visit the websites of these organizations that are providing support and aid to the earthquake victims and international relief efforts:

• American Red Cross
• UNICEF USA
• Yele Haiti
• Doctors Without Borders
• Direct Relief International
• Ushahidi

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and all of those who are helping with this humanitarian emergency.

]]> http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/2010/01/15/how-web-2-0-tools-help-victims-of-hatian-quake/feed/ 1 http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/2009/09/21/metrostar-ceo-interviewed-by-federal-computer-week/ http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/2009/09/21/metrostar-ceo-interviewed-by-federal-computer-week/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:35:35 +0000 Daniel Nguyen http://blog.metrostarsystems.com/?p=1685 ... ]]> MetroStar Systems‘ CEO Ali Manouchehri was recently interviewed by Doug Beizer of Federal Computer Week in an article titled “5 Reasons Why DOD Should Embrace Social Media (and 5 reasons why not)”

Source: http://www.fcw.com/Articles/2009/09/07/DOD-and-Web-2.aspx

The article lists 5 reasons why the Department of Defense (DOD) should embrace social media…

1. Web 2.0 technology improves collaboration.
2. It streamlines internal and external communications.
3. It costs little or nothing to use.
4. It has the potential to attract young recruits to DOD.
5. It’s highly portable.

and 5 reasons why the DOD should not embrace social media…

1. Sensitive information is on the public Internet.
2. The tools can make it difficult to comply with federal regulations.
3. The technology lacks standards.
4. Sharing personal information can put employees at risk.
5. The tools demand a lot of bandwidth.

Expanding on reason #4 of why the DOD should not embrace social media, Ali Manouchehri “suggests allowing employees to post to public sites such as Twitter and Facebook without some kind of parameters is dangerous. For example, a DOD employee could put himself and others at risk by tweeting about his day. ‘Adversaries with poor intent can target federal workers by knowing their routine through following them through a social-media outlet,’ Manouchehri said. ‘Protecting your privacy is certainly an aspect to take into account, and the risk can be detected, mitigated and deterred by following mission-oriented rules of engagement.’ ”

In the article, reporters Doug Beizer and Amber Corrin interview a broad range of government, university and industry experts to present both sides of the argument of why or why not the DOD should embrace social media.  The article provides a great starting point for discussion since both sides of the argument have valid points.  You can read the full article by visiting this link: http://www.fcw.com/Articles/2009/09/07/DOD-and-Web-2.aspx

You can watch the full interview here.

Video URL: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7293394