[EAS] Fwd: FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System's (IPAWS) Workshop Sessions at the 2015 NAB Show

[Edward Czarnecki]

FYI - Two Monday EAS related events at the NAB show:

Preliminary Findings From Preparations for The IPAWS National Test
Mon. April 13| 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM
In preparation for the pending Integrated Public Alert and Warning System
National Test which will exercise all available message delivery pathways
FEMA made a number of interesting observations. Local test exercises added
new insight into how the EAS pathway actually works in the real world when
alerts are originated through IPAWS OPEN. Presentation will include
audio/video capture file playback.
Presenter(s):
Alfred Kenyon, FEMA -  IPAWS Engineer

Reaching New Audiences: Meeting Multilingual Challenges for EAS/Public
Warning
Mon. April 13| 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
The FCC has formally raised the question of what can be done to support
multilingual and more accessible emergency alerting by broadcasters and
wireless. This session reviews the status of - and prospects for -
multilingual alerting, exactly one year after the FCC issued a Request for
Comments on requiring multilingual alerting. This panel will draw directly
from a major multilingual alerting project, to review findings and best
practices of potentially national impact for broadcasters, emergency
managers, and technology partners. The panel will review approaches and
capabilities available to broadcasters to support and implement multilingual
alerting in their own operations. Under a grant from the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, a comprehensive team of expert partners were assembled
to develop and implement a system compatible with both FEMA's IPAWS and the
Emergency Alert System (EAS) that will serve Minnesota's Spanish-speaking,
Hmong, and Somali communities, who have never before received emergency
information in their languages. The project works in collaboration with the
Minnesota Department of Homeland Security, as well as the state IPAWS
Committee. The team of partners in the project include Twin Cities Public
Television (tpt), ECHO Minnesota, Digital Alert Systems, Wilder Research,
several Minnesota emergency management agencies, and the University of
Minnesota. Presenters at the session include key project stakeholders.
Presenter(s):
Jim Dubois, Minnesota Broadcasters Association - President
Edward Czarnecki, Digital Alert Systems (Monroe Electronics) - Senior
Director - Strategic Development & Global Government Affairs
Don Heppelmann, Twin Cities Public Television (tpt) - Technologist
Lillian McDonald, ECHO Minnesota (Emergency, Community, Health, and
Outreach) - Executive Director

Tuesday at the NAB show will include the "fireside chat" beween the FCC and
FEMA on EAS (which may be a lot more forward looking than many may expect),
and then the BWWG session right after that.