Keeping empathy alive: New media and storytelling on disasters

Sanjana Hattotuwa Editor, Groundviews (www.groundviews.org)

disasters

reporting disasters

Protracted ethno-political conflict is difficult to report

Sudden onset disasters are easier to cover, but attention difficult to sustain over time

Competing disasters, limited attention

Fatigue, hopelessness are enemies of charity and humanitarian aid

what is empathy?

Noun, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

why empathy?

Guilt-tripping people doesn’t work, nor does jumping and down about millions of people dying or destitute.

Helps media consumers connect.

Highlights shared concerns over basic human needs - food, security, shelter.

Focuses on individuals, not groups.

Positive stories of success and transformation generates and sustains interest.

free mandela

social psychology

One experiment found that people are quite willing to pay for a water-treatment facility to save 4,500 lives in a refugee camp with 11,000 people in it, but they are much less willing to pay for the same facility to save 4,500 lives with 250,000 inhabitants.

Paul Slovic, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon who has pioneered this field of research, notes that saving a large proportion of a group is very satisfying, while saving a small proportion seems like a failure—even if it's a high number.

4500

11000

IDPs saved Total IDPs

4500

250000

IDPs saved Total IDPs

greater proportion = more attention

lesser proportion = limited attention

feeling good or feeling guilty

Make people feel good for helping and intervening.

Show them how they can help.

Acknowledge both the desperate needs and also tangible progress.

Flag the prospect of improvement in real people's lives if the help goes forward.

impact on women

Carolyn McAskie, Acting Head of UN OCHA notes in 1999,

“While both men and women are affected by conflict, crisis situations have a differentiated impact on them. Conflict and war are not gender neutral. Thus, eighty percent of the internally displaced persons and refugees around the world are women and children. Women are in flight, adapting to life in camps, or are directly caught up in the midst of conflict. In many cases, women and teenage girls in conflict zones are the sole providers and protectors for their families, since most men have either been killed or are away on combat duty. This situation leads to a shift in gender roles with a dramatic increase in the number of women heads of households.”

Pablo Bartholomew, 1984, Bhopal

what works? shock?

James Nachtwey, 1992, Somalia

what works? shock?

Arko Datta, 2004

what works? symbolism?

James Nachtwey, 1994, Rwanda

what works? symbolism?

what works? symbolism?

Mike Wells, 1980, Uganda

new technology&new media

new technologies

Blogs

Social networks (Twitter, Facebook)

Web 2.0

Mobiles | SMS | MMS | Mobile video

VoIP / Skype

what’s new

Ubiquity of two way communications

Addressable peoples, even those displaced

Victims no longer mere passive recipients of aid

Disaster early warning, preparation, response and recovery tied to communications and technology

First stories from disasters come from victims and witnesses

what’s new

Low resolution content broadcast on high definition media

Content from ordinary peoples juxtaposed with professional journalists

Technology now accessible and produced by women, children and even those who are illiterate

enduring challenges

Impartial, accurate coverage still vital, increasingly hard to ascertain

Torrent of information. Trickle of knowledge.

Post-disaster communications can be unreliable and difficult

Early warning does not save lives without disaster preparedness

power of sms

“My name is Mohammed Sokor, writing to you from Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab. Dear Sir, there is an alarming issue here. People are given too few kilogrammes of food. You must help.”

What if mobile phones were also handed out with aid?

SMS text messages from IDPs / refugees could become an effective SOS for millions

power of sms

The web is littered with examples on how SMS helped in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

“I'm standing on the Galle road in Aluthgama and looking at 5 ton trawlers tossed onto the road. Scary shit.”

“Found 5 of my friends, 2 dead. Of the 5, 4 are back in Colombo. The last one is stranded because of a broken bridge. Broken his leg. But he's alive.”

“Made contact. He got swept away but swam ashore. Said he's been burying people all day.”

“Just dragging them off the beach and digging holes with his hands.”

london bombings | CJ

7 July 2005

Within 24 hours, the BBC had received 1,000 stills and videos, 3,000 texts and 20,000 e-mails.

flickr

visualisations | google earth

visualisations | google earth

pc broadcasting | ustream.tv

mobile broadcasting | bambuser.com

twitter

First reports of Chinese earthquake in May 2008 were from Twitter

Mexico City earthquake in 2007

Minneapolis Bridge collapse in 2007

Post-election violence in Iran in 2009

http://www.twitter.com/apelankawe

facebook

facebook for disasters

Australia to use Facebook, Twitter to issue disaster warnings

Social networking sites are to be trialed for issuing urgent messages about natural disasters in the Cairns region in far north Queensland.

Many young people access their social networking websites several times per day.

Using Facebook and Twitter as a way of communicating with young people.

wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_November_2008_Mumbai_attacks

wikipedia on mumbai attacks

400+ edits / updates, including emergency evac information

100+ authors including eye-witness testimonies

Less than 24 hours after first attack

reliefweb

http://www.reliefweb.int

irin

http://www.irinnews.org

prevention web

http://www.preventionweb.net/english

reuters alertnet

http://www.alertnet.org

google reader

http://reader.google.com

Both ways: YouTube, SMS + mobiles, Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc

Both ways: YouTube, SMS + mobiles, Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc

Pull: RSS, Web, Wikipedia, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Google News alerts,

Alertnet, IRIN, Reliefweb etc

Publish: Vodcasts, Podcasts, Blog, Flickr,

SMS, Mobile video/photos etc

reporting toolkit

recap

Highlight shared concerns and basic human needs - food, security, shelter.

Focus on individuals, not groups.

Write positive stories of success and transformation to generate and sustain interest.

recap

New technologies give voice to the illiterate and voiceless

Be sceptical of information, but use new media

Develop media literacy to embrace new technologies

thank you