In a meeting today, I was having a discussion with one of our young staff members.  The optimum word being young. Interpret - Gen Y.  We were discussing how to make a website easier for users to find and I told her type in “Search Engine Optimization” in Google.  The discussion them turned to Google and how easy it is to get answers.  She then made the statement, “I wonder what it would be like if we couldn’t get answers in 5 minutes?”

For those of us that remember, Before Google, this question is shocking but we know the answer to that question.  Before Google we spent hours, days, even months researching projects and trying to find answers to questions.  Often finding only one or two solutions because of limited books and resources at hand.  Sometimes we found all the information needed, sometimes we made decisions on the information we had only to find we didn’t have all the facts.  Doing research and getting answers to questions could be a painful process.

With Google and a host of other search engines, getting answers to questions is fast and easy.  Type in anything and you will get something back.  Find out about people, restaurants, building permits, definitions, maps that you can drive the route, anything you want to know.  And the 5 minutes in the question, if you have access to the information, you can get it from anywhere in the world in 8 seconds or less.

Those who hate change would say that this rapid access to information is bad.  Others would say that the information in cyberspace contains a lot of misinformation.  But to me the question represents an exciting time in our lives.

With the information available and the ease of access, people today have the tools to be more informed, the resources to make better decisions, and the power to challenge the status quo.  Research can be completed in a shorter period of time with more detail than we even thought to be possible Before Google.  Projects can be completed faster and one can build upon the knowledge gained from similar project information all over the world.  This feeds the change engine and leads to faster growth and innovation.

So “What would it be like if we couldn’t get answers in 5 minutes?”  I know the answer to that question, lived it, survived it but I wouldn’t want to go back.  I like having instant access to information and believe that it is making the world a more informed, better place to live.

So to my young colleague, take this powerful tool and change the world……

Catawba County has begun providing a new information service, via Twitter, to let motorists know of the locations of possible traffic delays and tie-ups. 

The County has launched a feed from the Catawba County 911 Center of the information on calls reported in Catawba County regarding traffic incidents.  The feed shows the type of incident reported, such as a vehicle accident, stranded motorist or vehicle fire, and gives the location of the incident.  Only traffic related incidents are reported through this feed. 

We’re providing this information as a service. Many people are using Twitter to communicate and receive information and numerous cell phones have this capability.  Providing traffic information is an effective new way to inform the public of possible hazards and delays along their intended route, and we hope will alert them to take alternate routes or prepare to safely navigate through the area where an incident has occurred.

Anyone who has a Twitter account may simply go to http://twitter.com/catawba911 and select “Follow”.   Those who do not have a Twitter account may sign up for an account, free of charge, at http://twitter.com/.

 For those who prefer not to open a Twitter account, an RSS feed is available with the same traffic incident information at http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/60704763.rss, and may be accessed by most RSS readers.

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The Fourth of July is always great; warm sunny days, good food, friends, and a chance to celebrate the freedom that we all hold so dear in our hearts.  Hopefully your celebration will be one with fond memories but if you do find yourself in need of assistance for an emergency, a 911telecommunicator is always there to help you.  We want your holiday to be a safe one but if you do need assistance, here are some pointers that you should know:

First, you will be asked 3 questions:

1. What is the address of the emergency?
2. What is the phone number you are calling from?
3. What  is the problem, tell me exactly what happened?

You may be placed on hold at this point while we dispatch help.  We may then ask you additional questions.  If it is health related, we EMD the call. In other words, ask you more about the medical conditions of the victim.

The first reaction of a caller is usually to give as much information as possible.  While we will want that information, our first priority is to get help on the way.  For the victim, seconds can mean the difference between life and death.  Here are some additional pointers to remember:

• Stay calm
• Know the location of the emergency and the number you are calling from.
• Wait for the call-taker to ask questions, then answer clearly and calmly.
• If you reach a recording, listen to what it says.
• Let the call-taker guide the conversation
• Follow all directions
• Keep your eyes open.
• Do not hang up the calluntil directed to do so by the call-taker.

The telecommunicators in the 911 Center hope that you have a wonderful 4^th of July and that you never have to call them.  But if you do, they are there to assist and get help on the way.  The better informed you are, the faster that help can be sent.

Have a Happy Fourth and remember 911 is for Emergencies Only.

Many of you have seen the news about Lucille Pitts retiring.  For those of you who haven’t, Lucille retired a few weeks ago after serving Catawba County for 65 years.  Most of us can’t imagine working for one employer for that long and even more amazing, most of us were not even born when Lucille came to work in 1944.  That fact started me thinking about the technology and changes that Lucille had experienced during her employment with Catawba County.

 Lucille worked in the Register of Deeds office and you can look at records from 1944 that were recorded in Lucille’s very neat handwriting.  Through the years things progressed and records were scanned, digitized and everything transferred to electronic format.  From writing to complete records delivered online, from interoffice mail to email, from turning on the lights in the morning to booting up a dozen or so workstations and connecting them to the network, Lucille did it all.  Yes I hear she didn’t really like email to start with but she learned to use it and mastered what she needed to do her job.

So as Lucille worked away in the Register of Deeds office, how did the world change?  The list below contains some of the inventions and technologies that came about during Lucille’s time with us. Some reflect major inventions, some minor but life changing and some are just for amusement.  They are listed in chronological order and some are hyperlinked to give you more information.  Enjoy the changes that occurred while Lucille served Catawba County.  And for those folks that tell me the world is changing to fast and they can’t understand the new technology, trace the timeline, Lucille had already worked 50 years before she learned to use email.  Unless you can break that record, you are still young enough to learn so dig into the new technology…….

The Lucille Pitts Technology Timeline 1944 - 2009

The kidney dialysis machine, Atomic Bomb, microwave oven , Polaroid Camera, Mobile phones invented, transistor, Tupperware seal , electric Guitar, Frisbee, Velcro, Wurlitzer jukebox, Cake mix, credit cards, UNIVAC 1, Super glue, Power steering, video tape recorder (VTR), Mr Potato Head, bar codes, diet soft drink, hydrogen bomb, Heart-lung Machine, Radial tires invented, musical synthesizer, black box - flight recorder, Transistor radio, the pill, Teflon pans, solar cells, McDonalds, Nuclear Submarine, Optic fiber, computer hard disk, hovercraft,  Liquid Paper, Polio Vaccine, Fortran, Explorer I, computer modem, the laser, Hula Hoops,  integrated circuit, pacemaker,  Barbie Doll,  microchip, halogen lamp, Valium, nondairy creamer, audio cassette,  fiber-tip pen, Spacewar, silicone breast implants, video disk, Operating Systems, Acrylic paint, Permanent-press fabric,  BASIC,  Minicomputer, Astroturf, Soft contact lenses, NutraSweet,  compact disk,  Electronic Fuel, handheld calculator ,  Automatic Teller Machine, computer mouse,  first computer with integrated circuits, RAM (random access memory), Moon Landing, arpanet (first internet), artificial heart, bar-code scanner, Optical Fiber, daisy-wheel printer,  floppy disk, dot-matrix printer, food processor,  liquid-crystal display (LCD),  microprocessor, videocassette,  Pong,  word processor, Gene splicing,  ethernet, disposable lighter,  Barcode. post-it notes, liposuction,  Microsoft, laser printer, push-through tab on a drink can, Magnetic resonance imaging, VisiCalc, artificial heart Jarvik-7,  Gossamer Albatross, Cell phones, Cray supercomputer,  Walkman,  hepatitis-B vaccine, Space Shuttle, MS-DOS, IBM-PC, scanning tunneling microscope, Human growth hormone genetically engineered,  PC named Times Man of the Year, Soft bifocal contact lens, virtual reality, CD-ROM, super-conductor, Synthetic skin, disposable camera, 3-D video, Disposable contact lenses, Graphic User Interface, Digital cellular phones,  RU-486, Doppler radar,  Prozac, genetically engineered animals,  Indiglo nightlight, High-definition, Hubble Telescope, World Wide Web, Internet protocol, HTTP, WWW, HTML, digital answering,  smart pill,  Pentium processor, HIV protease, Java, DVD, Web TV,  fuel cell, Viagra, Tekno Bubbles, Segway,  Artificial liver, Self-cleaning windows iPod, Braille Glove, Wireless headsets, Mars Rover, virtual Keyboard, Breath strips, iTunes Music store, Digital guitar, hydrogen fuel-cell generator, camera phones, Prius, Infrared Fever Screening System,  Glowing fish,  Adidas 1, Translucent Concrete, Jawbone, GPS and more, YouTube, hypoallergenic cats, steam clothes dryers, Gorilla tape, iPhone, Ford/Microsoft Sync, Chevy Volt, $4 Gas, Camera pill, Blackberry Storm, Facebook, and Tweeting everywhere, not to mention the tanking economy, and last, a president holding press conferences on YouTube.

By the way, I’m not sure about Lucille and Twitter but rumor has it she was tweeting from the George Strait concert.