Social Media,Disasters and Resilience

David AlexanderUniversity College London

Emilia-Romagna, n. Italy29 May 2012, 09:02hrsM5.8 earthquake: 17 dead, 40 towns damaged

Social media provided a clear pictureof the situation within 50 minutes

4 May 2013Wetteren, Ghent, BelgiumAcrylonitrile explosion, fire1 death, 300 evacuated

Social media reports were wildly inaccurate

We havecome along wayin a very

shortspace oftime...

E.L. Quarantelli: the informationtechnology revolution is in the sameclass as the invention of writing,printing, radio and television.

...close inspection of technologicaldevelopment reveals that technology

leads a double life, one which conformsto the intentions of designers andinterests of power and another

which contradicts them—proceedingbehind the backs of their architects

to yield unintended consequencesand unanticipated possibilities."

Quarantelli (1997)

Wisdom: ability to take decisionson the basis of principles,experience and knowledge

Knowledge: understanding of howthings function (or should function)

Information: description ofphysical and social situations

Data: basic facts and statistics

COMMUNICATION

Source: Y.F. Tuan

Information andCommunications

Technology

News andinformation

dissemination

Publicparticipationin disasterrisk reduction

Disaster research

Disaster managementand risk reduction

ICT is the nexus

Social media are now a the heart of ICT

Social media: blogs, micro-blogs, social book-marking, social networking, forums,

collaborative creation of documents (wikis), sharing audio, photographic and video files.

The age of the "selfie"...

• do not have an absolute centre

• do not produce an absolute consensus.

Social media

A different architecture: emergencymanagement systems are bureaucratic,social media form a true open system.

• how they are used technically (e.g.designing architecture and software)

• how they are used socially(e.g. how people interact).

What we know about social media,emergencies and disasters

• help disseminate alerts and warnings

• disseminate information to the public

• facilitate citizen journalism

• stimulate cash donation

• aid collaboration (e.g. on mapping).

In disasters, social media...

• help locate missing people

Impact of disaster Time

Deficit Surplus

Excess ofinformation

Informationcritical

but lacking

Shortage ofinformation

Social media in disaster

1. A listening function

2. Monitoring public debate

3. Integration of social media into emergency management

4. Crowd-sourcing andcollaborative development

5. Creating social cohesion andpromoting therapeutic initiatives

6. Furtherance of causes (including donation)

7. Research.

• rumour propagation

• circulating false information

• charlatan sites (e.g.earthquake prediction)

• deliberate personalattacks and defamation

• image manipulation.

Negative side of social media

• conspiracy theories

Conventional media are justas capable as social media

of distorting a story.

PS: The death toll was 31...!

Feedback

Feedback

Directcommunication

Pressconferences,communiques Consumer

relations

Civilprotectionservice

Themassmedia

Callcentre The

generalpublic

Social media

Social media dispense with‘‘information gatekeepers’’: and useapomediation or disintermediation

- i.e., group moderation

Organised

Spontaneous

Established

Kinshipgroups

Individualcitizens

Disastersubcultures

Emergentgroups

Citizens'organisations Charitable

NGOs

Some publicstakeholdersin disasterresponse

Schools

Workplacegroups

Rebecca Goolsby (2009): ‘‘finding useful‘tweets’ during a major event… is a littlelike panning for gold in a raging river.’’

Resilientculture

Culture ofresilience

Social factors

Plan

Message

Technology Response

Perception

Culture

Optimisation

Long term

Short term

Emic components

Etic components

METAMORPHOSISOF CULTURE

Experiences of culture[mass-media and consumer culture]

Accumulated cultural traits and beliefs

Inherited cultural background

Ideological(non-scientific)interpretations

of disaster

Learned(scientific)

interpretationsof disaster

Symbolisminherent in

technologicalculture

Traditionalsymbolism

and portent

Event

Interpretation

Dynamic culturalmetamorphosis

Emergency management:an evolutionary approach

Proxy Participatory

Civil defence...............Civil protection

Command and controlVertical chainof commandPopulation excludedLaw and orderSecrecy

CollaborationTask forces

Population consultedand included

Problem solvingOpenness

Are emergencies merely gigantic testsof the duration of batteries?

Change is inevitable:except from vending machines!

Oya District, Kesennuma, Japan tsunami area

1. How should we prepare forcomputer system-related disasters?

2. Will IT make the rich richer and the poor poorer in disasters?

3. How do we assure that technologythat is a "means" is not turned into an"end" in itself in the disaster area?

4. In what ways should we deal with theinevitable information overload problem?

5. How do we deal with informationthat becomes lost or outdated?

6. How do we handle the increasinglikelihood of the diffusion of inappropriatedisaster relevant information?

Quarantelli, E.L. 1997. DisasterPrevention & Management 6(2): 94-106.

7. What are the implications of further diminution of nonverbal communication?

8. Will the computer-based revolution make intra-and inter-level communication even more difficult?

9. What are the negative consequences of the probable acceleration of fads and fashions associated with computer use in the disaster area?

10. What kinds of general social infrastructures and cultures are necessary for the adequate functioning of the disaster-relevant technology?

11. How do we develop a critical ability to discernwhat is useful and what is not from amongthe plethora of information on the Internet?

12. How can we reorient ourselves to cope with an essentially formless topography that completely changes distance relationships in communication?

Quarantelli, E.L. 1997. DisasterPrevention & Management 6(2): 94-106.

Thank you foryour attention!

www.slideshare.net/dealexanderwww.emergency-planning.blogspot.comdavid.alexander@ucl.ac.uk