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Socio-Behavioral Aspects of Emergent Forms of Communication

Socio-Behavioral Aspects of Emergent Forms of Communication. Christine Bevc and Sophia Liu Natural Hazards Center University of Colorado at Boulder. October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE. Disaster Research. Emerged following the 1920 study of the Halifax disaster

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Socio-Behavioral Aspects of Emergent Forms of Communication

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  1. Socio-Behavioral Aspectsof Emergent Forms of Communication Christine Bevc and Sophia Liu Natural Hazards Center University of Colorado at Boulder October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  2. Disaster Research • Emerged following the 1920 study of the Halifax disaster • Developed after WWII with the Cold War and threat of nuclear exchange • 1970s – First assessment • 25 years later – Second assessment October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  3. Definitions • Disasters • Events concentrated in time and space • Hazards • Extreme natural events that may affect different places at different times • Disasters occur when hazards combine with vulnerability • Hazard + Vulnerability = Disaster October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  4. Vulnerability • Progression from root causes, dynamic pressures, and unsafe conditions • Women • Children • Elderly • Minorities • Also vulnerability is created by • Language • Social and economic inequality October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  5. Types of Disasters • Natural • Technological/”Man-made” • Human-Induced • Should focus rather on more abstract properties of disasters • Look at how the public, organizations, and communities respond to events October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  6. Behavior Communication Predictions/Warning Systems Emergency management Engineering GIS/Remote Sensing Impacts Land use/planning Mitigation Preparedness Recovery Relief and rehabilitation Technological aids Theory Vulnerability Gender Societal influences Research Areas October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  7. New Orleans • Established by French in 1718 • Entered the US in 1802 – Louisiana Purchase • Port city • Diversity – Racial and economic October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  8. Disaster Subculture • Adjustments used by residents to cope with past and future disasters • 1965 – Hurricane Betsy (4) • 1969 – Hurricane Camille (5) • 1992 – Hurricane Andrew (4) • 2004 – Hurricane Pam • 2004 – Hurricane Ivan () October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  9. Scenarios/Predictions • 2001 Scientific American • 2002 Times-Picayune • 2004 National Geographic • 2004 Natural Hazards Observer • 2001 FEMA Report* October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  10. Hurricane Katrina October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  11. Hurricane Katrina • Largest dislocation of the US population in 150 years • 95,316 evacuees in 863 shelters throughout the country • Every state has declared a state of emergency • 3rd Deadliest Storm in US History October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  12. Communication in the Aftermath • Vital when infrastructures are down • Formal communications • High-level emergency responders • Informal communications • Grass roots level of the public October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  13. Emergent Forms of Communication • Handheld devices and mobile phones • Email, SMS, MMS • Internet • Forums, blogs, wikis, podcasting October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  14. Emergent Uses in Recent Crises • 2001 SARS epidemic in China (Law & Peng 2004) • December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami • July 7, 2005 London Tube bombings October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  15. Response to Hurricane Katrina • Blogs provided detailed info of neighborhoods • Missing persons websites • Disorganization of infrastructure at local/state/federal level • Various forms of citizen journalism or participatory journalism • Democratization of the news process October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  16. Previous Communication • Radio communications • Ham radios orAmateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) • Television stations • News services • Message boards • Low or no-tech means of communication October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  17. Evolutions ofCommunication and Technologies • The Public • Victims, survivors, volunteers, humanitarians, observers, etc. • Impacted / Disaster Zones • Blurring due to displacement • Blurring due to the evolution ofemergent communication tools October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  18. “Disaster relief in the post-Internet age, and a call for hardware” • Centrality of IT to disaster relief • 2 basic social networking problems • Rebuilding shattered social networks • Weaving permanently displaced families and individuals into existing social networks in new locales • Obtain hardware donations • Create and host pages of links & info for shelters October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  19. KatrinaHelp Wiki It represents a clear and direct effort at helping coordination, communication, and cooperation for rescue, recovery, and relief efforts. KatrinaHelp Wiki http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Main_Page October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  20. Craigslist Forum on Katrina Relief October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  21. Craigslist Job Search for “Katrina” October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  22. NOLA.com October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  23. Scipionus.com October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  24. Missing Persons Websites • Hurricane “I’m OK” Registry • Hurricane Katrina Survivor Locator • Other dozens of sites • Is there some type of categorization scheme and temporal analysis with this outdated info? October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  25. Standard & UniversalNotification Warning Systems • “All Hazards” response • Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) • Emergency Email Network • Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMI-Services) October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  26. Future of Communication & Technologies • Larger ecology of communication activities by the worldwide public • Humanitarian relief in conjunction with notification and warning systems • Victims become active participants • Encourage openness of communication October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  27. “Maybe Not What They Wanted to Hear” • How do we leverage digital convergence to get the most capability, reliability and reach for all modes of emergency communication? • Need a more dynamic spectrum management to create more efficient ways of organizing, identifying and prioritizing communications • Need independent sources of information and planning for our future emergency infrastructure • We can no longer afford an intermittent series of post-disaster quick-fix programs for emergency communications October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  28. Reflecting Back on Recent Crises • Connect the public, academia, non-profits, and open source communities • How feasible is a truly seamless communications network • Difficulty of collaborating and replacing existing equipment October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  29. Final Thoughts • What role is IT playing in any of the media reports in the response efforts? • What role is the web playing in this? How are those that are computer illiterate getting help or are they seriously disadvantaged? • How do you collect data from websites? How do you track them, record data, and analyze this type of data? • How can the interface between emergency response agencies and the public be better organized and encourage two-way communication and participation? October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

  30. Questions? christine.bevc@colorado.edu sophia.liu@colorado.edu October 7, 2005 UCIrvine-RESCUE

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