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I am interested in the Macro scale and the macro effects evident at a city-scale level. I remember visiting New Orleans in 2016 and vividly remember seeing several signs with a large 'No' symbol drawn and the text  "neighbors not tourists" printed on the sign. Recently, as part of my research into New Orleans, I stumbled on this piece by the Guardian on how short-term rentals through platforms such as Airbnb are leading to gentrification in New Orleans. Highlighted in the article is how several Airbnb hosts do not reside on the listed premises. I remember the place we stayed, as we were a large party, having a 617 prefix number.  The prefix stood out as I knew the code 617 represented Boston and was curious what someone with ties to Boston doing in New Orleans as a host. In a similar vein, the article also highlights the problem of absentee hosts, hosts who acquire property for the sole purpose of setting up the property as an Airbnb site.

To tackle the problem, one councilwoman passed a law that required any Airbnb hosts in residential zones to have a homestead exemption verifying they live on site. In this case, a city-wide measure was taken and passed into law affecting the micro. It is common to have one host having several properties in different residential areas in New Orleans. From a technical standpoint, it could be viewed that Airbnb as technology is developed and presented as a scalable product. With no limits to reproducibility. Meanwhile, real-life discontinuities exist in the form of such homestead laws. It is impossible to live in more than one homestead at the same time. In other words, the concept of the human is not scalable.
Likewise, neither is cultural heritage. The city of New Orleans positions its self as a city with great cultural heritage. It is through this heritage that they seek to draw more and more tourists. How do cities think of scaling up successful initiatives and how do they navigate the political, social, ecological, or economic entanglements. At what point is downscaling necessary? Is culture scalable?

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/13/new-orleans-airbnb-trem…

I am currently a Ph.D. student interested in exploring the entanglements of scale, especially in the context of environmental sensing.  My primary research seeks to engage in discourse around the value of scalability that is presented as inherent in computation. While the term scale-up is almost synonymous with computation, sustainability; on the other hand, is known as a problem of scale. Take for example, the discourse on climate change where the actions required to combat climate change requires interventions at different scales. In this context, demanding changes at individual scales while no corresponding changes happen at larger scales would not yield much.

In looking at New Orleans, I came across a video on IoT cameras developed by Cisco, the networking giant. What struck me other than the apparent rise of surveillance capitalism was the narrative of one of the police officers highlighted in the video. The officer mentions that it is not feasible for the city to place police officers on every corner. In the context of scale, the police officer is implying that cameras are useful as they extend the police officer's ability to surveil the city. In other words, cameras and the networks help scale up the police officer, making it possible for them to cover a larger scale than before.

One of the police officers, in the video, also mentions that New Orleans is a tourist and hospitable town. Which brings up the question at any given period, what scale of visitors can New Orleans support without stretching the city's resources? Several other cities in the world have made efforts to limit visitors, in order not stretch city resources. The recent crisis at Mount Everest is an excellent example of what happens when resources are stretched to accommodate the increasing number of local visitors. How could something of this nature similarly impact New Orleans?

At the communication center where the video feed is analyzed, the IT manager provides reasons as to why they chose Cisco as their vendor. One of the reasons he gives was that the system is easily expandable, allowing the ability to scale out/up the network.

The NYS Ebola Preparedness Plan was a multilateral set of guidelines and protocols set forth by the Office of the Governor of the State of New York in anticipation of a potential outbreak of the ebola virus disease, also known as ebola hemorrhagic fever, in the State of New York. The stated goal of the policy was to prevent the further transmission and spread of the disease in the event of a isolated cases. The policy included guidelines for isolation, quarantine, treatment, and transportation, and involved numerous organizations, including various hospitals, EMS agencies, public safety departments, and transportation authorities. 

The primary function of the US Department of Veterans Affairs is to provide benefits and support military veterans following their time in service. Although benefits have been provided to military veterans since the Revolutionary War, the VA administration was formally founded in 1930. The department now provides healthcare, insurance, education, financial assistance, and burial/memorial service to military veterans and their families. 

In presenting the case of Riker's Island, the author cites numerous sources, including government officials, government agencies, industry experts, photos and maps of the island and facilities, activist groups, and two former inmates.

In this article, the author discusses the Chernobyl disaster and its impact on those who were exposed to the nuclear radiation. Moreover, she discusses the healthcare, disaster aid, and financial aid that were provided or withheld from those who survived and were affected by the disaster. The author highlights the interaction of emergency response, politics, healthcare, and economics.

The platform enables sharing of medical cases and discussion through a HIPAA compliant system.

This article was created by Dr. Scott Gabriel Knowles, PhD, an associate professor and department head of the Department of History, Center for Science, Technoloy, and Society at Drexel University. Dr. Knowles earned both his Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Philosophy and his Master of Arts degree in History from The University of Texas at Austin. He later earned his Doctorate degree in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology from Johns Hopkins University. 

His research is focused primarily on risk and disaster with interests in modern cities, technology, and policies. He has authored several publications. He also currently serves as a faculty research fellow of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware and is a member of the Fukushima Forum collaborative research community. 

The Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA) was enacted by Congress to ensure that patients are granted and provided access to appropriate emergency services and medical care regardless of their ability to pay for the cost of said services and care.