Erik Endress's Page

Xpedite Network is a purpose-built social network that enables shared awareness, coordination and collaboration amongst those directly affected based on their proximity to an incident or emergency situation.

shared awareness: the ability of many different people and groups to understand a situation, and to understand who else has the same understanding.

Unlike other social networks that only enable you to communicate with people you know, Xpedite Network enables you to share information with people you may and may not know, but share something in common with, your proximity to an incident or emergency situation.

With more than 20 years of experience in the emergency services, Erik Endress has helped people who found themselves in emergency situations. Today, as the CEO and Founder of Xpedite Network, Endress is a Social Entrepreneur with a business that may actually help people worldwide before, during and after an emergency.

Set on a goal of enabling shared awareness amongst all of the people involved in an emergency - citizens, emergency response personnel and others, Endress realized the advent of social media and Web 2.0 technology could do just that. The idea for Xpedite Network was born in early 2008 and the site launched in the Fall of 2008.

"There is a universal problem that exists around emergency situations and disasters and that is the lack of shared awareness amongst those involved" says Endress. "Whether it is an emergency is a school, a huge building, a community or a major city, the situation is always the same - there is a tremendous lack of information sharing, coordination and collaboration amongst all of the people involved. When you fix that, you can positively impact the outcome of the sitation as a whole. You can find that missing child faster, you can prioritize resources and response to an active shooter in a school and you can mobilize people to respond and help with great speed."

To further explain the model, Endress cites an excert from the book "Here Comes Everybody" by Clay Shirky.

The military often talks about “shared awareness,” which is the ability of many different people and groups to understand a situation, and to understand who else has the same understanding. If I see a firebreak out, and I see that you see it as well, we may more easily coordinate our actions - you call 911, I grab a fire extinguisher - than if I have to call your attention to the fire, or if I am in some confusion about how you will react to a fire. Shared awareness allows otherwise uncoordinated groups to begin to work together more quickly and effectively. This kind of social awareness has three levels: when everybody knows somehting, when everybody knows that everybody knows, and when everybody knows that everybody knows that everybody knows.

"That is what Xpedite Network is about. Period."