Proposed request for comments on
international cell alert via cell broadcasting channelisation codes. V3
By Mark Wood, CellAlert Project,
Friends,
The CellAlert program seeks to put the power of Cell Broadcasting to the service of the humanitarian agenda. CellAlert intends to provide government to citizen mass communications, for the purpose of public safety.
However there are two channelisation issues;
· In many regions, more than one official language is used. In such regions, people speaking one language, can be regularly crossing borders into countries which in themselves have multiple official languages, with primacy in different order.
· In some cases, such as the maritime service, information must always be on the same code, regardless of which country the ship is in range of, or the benefit of a large enough audience would be lost.
Language codes for emergency alerts.
If we were to provide a single code for public safety alerts, it may cause practical and political problems, as to which language is used for the alert. Clearly the alert message must be transmitted in all major official languages for that region. Language is a very sensitive issue and there may be arguments as to which is primary and which secondary.
We need to head off that problem now by providing a mechanism that gives the networks and governmental authorities the most flexibility as to how to deal with this situation. It will be a matter for the networks and governmental authorities to recommend which languages must or may be used for alert messages, probably around 2 or 3 languages at one time in most cases.
The problem is that users need to turn the function on, through their phone. The user is best motivated to do that if he knows that he will get messages in his language. If the user can speak more than one language, he can enable more than one code at his discretion. In addition, if the user is a tourist or traveling businessman, he will get messages in his own language if that host country transmits them as such. For example, at airports, authorities may decide to transmit in English as well as the official languages, so as to warn passengers regardless if they speak the local language or not. Popular holiday resorts is another example.
Furthermore there may be politically sensitive positions regarding which language is the first and which the second. By pre assigning them according the internationally recognized order specified in ISO 639, we avoid any potentially embarrassing arguments.
Naturally the use of 145 codes in order to cover most languages (plus some spare for special cases) does use up a lot of codes. However a network may use the unused codes for another purpose. In any case since there are 1000 codes available, this loss is a low price to pay in return for a good solution.
International codes
There are some cases where internationally agreed codes are required.
One case in point is that of the maritime service channel. Many small pleasure craft and small coastal fishing vessels are not fitted with marine radio equipment. However in many cases one of the occupants of the boat does have a mobile phone in their possession. Certainly most large ships do have a GSM installation. If so the coastal authorities may decide to relay maritime safety information over a CB maritime service channel. If so, we could expect coastal shipping to switch on this channel. In that case the channel number must be the same for every port the ship may visit, requiring an internationally assigned channel.
In another example, the UN has the responsibility to care for the security concerns of all international relief workers working for them and any Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). If the UN security co-ordinator (UNSECORD) had a standard channel, then this highly mobile but very vulnerable group would be reachable on a geographically specific basis, but without having to change the channel number on their phone each time they change border.
These two examples, while extreme, do show that, to gain the most from geographically specific information by cross border users, international codes would be a prerequisite.
Therefore I propose that the Cell Broadcast Forum endorse the following coding scheme, subject to voluntary adoption by the networks concerned.
Mark Wood, CellAlert, Dec 2003.
Appendix 1 Proposed CellAlert channelisation according to ISO 639.
500 common training, exercise and test channel.
501-650 Languages listed in order according to ISO 639.
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646-669 locally specified purpose or language.
670 – 699, International alert channels.
671 Maritime service channel.
672 Aeronautical service channels.
673 Amateur service channels.
674 Scientific services.
690 – 699 UN and International Organisations. E.G.
690 UNSECORD (UN Security Co-Ordinator.)
691 UNICEF (Child security)
692 WFP
693 WHO
694 UNHCR
695 OCHA
696 Red Cross/ Crescent Movement.
697 ICRC
Other channels at the discretion of the networks, and in conjunction with the governmental authorities and other interested parties.
Mark Wood, CEASA