Thursday, October 20, 2005

Taran Rampersad on the Use of SMS In Preparation for Wilma

Taran Rampersad urges someone to set up an SMS (cell-phone Short Messaging System) server to collect emergency text-messages from people otherwise incommunicado--and set it up ahead of time.
What do you need? An Asterisk Server, running Linux, a mobile phone number (or a number that can receive SMS), and some scripts to get the information to email lists, a website and RSS. There are many ways to do this, and if a few different groups explored different possibilities, the progress could really be worthwhile. (Link.)
Rampersad has been trying to get people to experiment with such symptoms since before the Tsunami, when I first came across his work. Check it out and spread the word, especially if you know any Linux geeks.