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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