Networked volunteering during the 2013 Sardinian floods

The article describes how ordinary citizens used Twitter as an emergency-management tool during the heavy floods that occurred in Sardinia, Italy, in November 2013. The case study constitutes an example of digital volunteering in the aftermath of a disaster event. The article applies the connective action framework (Bennet & Segerberg, 2012) for a deeper understanding of the dynamics of self-organized disaster communication activities on social media. Utilizing a dataset of 93,091 tweets that used the hashtag #allertameteoSAR (weather alert in Sardinia), the analysis focuses on: 1) the roles and patterns of influence among the main actors; and 2) the strategies for a peer ‘curation’ and sharing of a disaster-recovery oriented communication. The article highlights the role of Twitter celebrities and engaged ordinary users as digital volunteers and explains how they succeeded in activating bottom-up disaster-relief oriented communication

Learning from information crises: Exploring aggregated trustworthiness in big data production

In a crisis situation when traditional venues for information dissemination aren't reliable and information is needed immediately "aggregated trustworthiness", data verification through network evaluation and social validation, becomes an important alternative. However, the risk with evaluating credibility through trust and network reputation is that the perspective can get biased. In these socially distributed information systems there is therefore of particularly high importance to understand how data is socially produced by whom. The purpose with the research project presented in this position paper is to explore how patters of bias in information production online can become more transparent by including tools that analyze and visualize aggregated trustworthiness. the research project consists of two interconnected parts. We will first look into a recent crisis situation, the case Red Hook after Hurricane Sandy, to see how the dissemination of information took place in the recovery work, focusing on questions of credibility and trust. Thereafter, this case study will inform the design of two collaborative tools where we investigate how social validation processes can be made more transparent

Sharing news, making sense, saying thanks: patterns of talk on Twitter during the Queensland floods

Abstract: This paper examines the discursive aspects of Twitter communication during the floods in the summer of 2010–2011 in Queensland, Australia. Using a representative sample of communication associated with the #qldfloods hashtag on Twitter, we coded and analysed the patterns of communication. We focus on key phenomena in the use of social media in crisis communication: communal sense-making practices, the negotiation of participant roles, and digital convergence around shared events. Social media is used both as a crisis communication and emergency management tool, as well as a space for participants to engage in emotional exchanges and communication of distress.Authored by Frances Shaw, Jean Burgess, Kate Crawford and Axel Bruns

Inter-Organizational Collaboration, Information Flows, and the Use of Social Media During Disasters: A Focus on Vulnerable Communities

This study contributes to ongoing attempts by scholars to understand the many ways that social media is being used by disaster and crisis response actors. We present a case study consisting of emergency response organizations, government agencies, local government, non-government organizations, community groups and platform-based actors, and focus specifically on how social media is used in this context to support the information needs of vulnerable groups. We examine how tension between the presence of top-down, generic information and the need for contextualized and specific information is resolved, and the translation processes that occur between the range of actors. We also offer recommendations for future research to address the disproportionate impacts of disasters and crises on vulnerable groups

Characterization of the use of social media in natural disasters: A systematic review

© 2014 IEEE. Social media sites are playing a significant role in rapid propagation of information when disasters occur. This effective communication platform is a great useful tool for emergency (disaster) management agencies during all phases of disaster management life cycle: prevention (mitigation), preparedness, response, and recovery. This study has conducted a systematic review of social media use in disaster management literature to identify how social media sites have been used during these four critical phases of disaster management life cycle in order to recommend strategies for government officials. A systematic method has been used to search four major academic databases for this review. The search resulted in 40 articles and categorized the findings in six main themes: situational awareness, data collection methods, distributed sensor systems, news and rumors, sentiment analysis, and digital volunteerism

Crowd sourcing challenges assessment index for disaster management

Emergency agencies (EA) rely on inter-agency approaches to information management during disasters. EA have shown a significant interest in the use of cloud-based social media such as Twitter and Facebook for crowd-sourcing and distribution of disaster information. While the intentions are clear, the question of what are its major challenges are not. EA have a need to recognise the challenges in the use of social media under their local circumstances. This paper analysed the recent literature, 2010 Haiti earthquake and 2010-11 Queensland flood cases and developed a crowd sourcing challenges assessment index construct specific to EA areas of interest. We argue that, this assessment index, as a part of our large conceptual framework of context aware cloud adaptation (CACA), can be useful for the facilitation of citizens, NGOs and government agencies in a strategy for use of social media for crowd sourcing, in preventing, preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters. © (2012) by the AIS/ICIS Administrative Office All rights reserved