This is the time of year when Mother Nature imposes her will the most – at least you feel that way if you’re on the Gulf Coast this week.  With a hurricane like Gustav comes a refocus of priorities.  I was prepared to spend the better part of the week blogging and on twitter and our NextGenWeb social networking sites from the RNC.  But with Hurricane Gustav making landfall I’m now thinking about something else.  The convention is limiting itself only to official business as of right now – and rightly so.  For everyone here and across the country our time and prayers are now devoted entirely to New Orleans and all who are in Gustav’s path.

I am always amazed with the knowledge and on-the-ground updates I can get on the Internet when I’m somewhere far away from where events are occurring.  Here I am in Minnesota getting updates on twitter and other news sites that I’m connected to over broadband.  So many times on NextGenWeb we talk about the important role broadband plays in relationship to our economy, health care, education, the environment, and so much more.  But today I’m reminded how broadband offers another avenue of communication for those in harms way, and allows reporters and government leaders to channel information to those in need.  It’s incredible. 

The amount of information coming from the Gulf Coast, and being distributed over the Internet throughout the nation is astonishing to say the least. In a time when we have twitter, email, text messaging, live streaming straight to your laptop, and other new media it’s easy to overlook the foundation of these applications – broadband.  Perhaps there’s no better time than the present to realize broadband’s capabilities. 

Broadband provides a feeling of connectedness that all of us need when disaster strikes. It’s the support it provides to first responders before they even arrive on scene; it’s the instant access to electronic medical records of those in need of attention – do they have allergies?  Have they had surgery this year?  Technology now gives us instant access to that kind of information – which can save a life.  

Again, our thoughts are with those who live in the path of Gustav.  I should also throw in a thought for the East Coast as well as Tropical Storm Hanna continues to brew in the Atlantic; we on NextGenWeb are hoping for a safe and speedy recovery.

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