social media and disasters

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Social Media, Disasters and Resilience David Alexander University College London

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See: Alexander, D.E. 2013. Social media in disaster risk reduction and crisis management. Science and Engineering Ethics (published on line 4 December 2013).

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Page 1: Social media and disasters

Social Media,Disasters and Resilience

David AlexanderUniversity College London

Page 2: Social media and disasters

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

Page 3: Social media and disasters

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

Social media reports were wildly inaccurate

Page 4: Social media and disasters

We havecome along wayin a very

shortspace oftime...

Page 5: Social media and disasters

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

Page 6: Social media and disasters

...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)

Page 7: Social media and disasters

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

Page 8: Social media and disasters

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

Page 9: Social media and disasters

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

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

Page 10: Social media and disasters

The age of the "selfie"...

Page 11: Social media and disasters

• do not have an absolute centre

• do not produce an absolute consensus.

Social media

Page 12: Social media and disasters

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

Page 13: Social media and disasters

• 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

Page 14: Social media 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

Page 15: Social media and disasters
Page 16: Social media and disasters

Impact of disaster Time

Deficit Surplus

Excess ofinformation

Informationcritical

but lacking

Shortage ofinformation

Page 17: Social media and disasters

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.

Page 18: Social media and disasters

• rumour propagation

• circulating false information

• charlatan sites (e.g.earthquake prediction)

• deliberate personalattacks and defamation

• image manipulation.

Negative side of social media

• conspiracy theories

Page 19: Social media and disasters

Conventional media are justas capable as social media

of distorting a story.

PS: The death toll was 31...!

Page 20: Social media and disasters

Feedback

Feedback

Directcommunication

Pressconferences,communiques Consumer

relations

Civilprotectionservice

Themassmedia

Callcentre The

generalpublic

Social media

Page 21: Social media and disasters

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

- i.e., group moderation

Page 22: Social media and disasters

Organised

Spontaneous

Established

Kinshipgroups

Individualcitizens

Disastersubcultures

Emergentgroups

Citizens'organisations Charitable

NGOs

Some publicstakeholdersin disasterresponse

Schools

Workplacegroups

Page 23: Social media and disasters

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

Page 24: Social media and disasters

Resilientculture

Culture ofresilience

Page 25: Social media and disasters

Social factors

Plan

Message

Technology Response

Perception

Culture

Optimisation

Page 26: Social media and disasters

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

Page 27: Social media and disasters

Symbolisminherent in

technologicalculture

Traditionalsymbolism

and portent

Event

Interpretation

Dynamic culturalmetamorphosis

Page 28: Social media and disasters

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

Page 29: Social media and disasters

Are emergencies merely gigantic testsof the duration of batteries?

Page 30: Social media and disasters

Change is inevitable:except from vending machines!

Oya District, Kesennuma, Japan tsunami area

Page 31: Social media and disasters

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.

Page 32: Social media and disasters

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.

Page 33: Social media and disasters

Thank you foryour attention!

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