Functions of and communication behavior on twitter after the 2015 Nepal earthquake

This paper looked into how Twitter was used by users three days after the 2015 Nepal earthquake and which communication behavior were reflected in the microblogs. Grounded on the Uses and Gratifications Theory (U&GT) and the Situational Theory of Publics (STP), this risk and crisis communication study proceeded with a content analysis of 300 tweets per day mined from April 26 to 28, 2015. After data mining, inter-rating schemes which involved four trained raters sat down to analyze the data based on the research problems. Results showed that the top function of Twitter was the helping function followed by information, communication, and political functions, respectively. Although the predominance of these functions were uniquely different compared with findings in previous studies, results revealed that certain functions of Twitter persisted across various crises. In addition, most users exhibited problem-facing behavior while only a number of users showed constrained behavior. This implied that those who took to Twitter possessed high problem recognition of the crisis and point to how Twitter was used to spread information, making it a very useful social media tool during a crisis. Moreover, results supported Grunig (2013) who argued that, in times of crisis, people become active users of social media tools. Implications for risk and crisis communication plans based on the findings of the study are discussed

A Tale of Three Cities: Crime and Displacement after Hurricane Katrina

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, it greatly disrupted both the physical and social structures of that community. One consequence of the hurricane was the displacement of large numbers of New Orleans residents to other cities, including Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix. There has been media speculation that such a grand-scale population displacement led to increased crime in communities that were recipient of large numbers of displaced New Orleans residents. This study was a case study of three cities with somewhat different experiences with Katrina\u27s diaspora. Time series analysis was used to examine the pre- and post-Katrina trends in six Part I offenses (murder, robbery, aggravated assault, rape, burglary, and auto theft) to assess any impact of such large-scale population shifts on crime in host communities. Contrary to much popular speculation, only modest effects were found on crime. Social disorganization theory was used to frame both the analysis and the interpretation of these result

Developing a Framework for Stigmergic Human Collaboration with Technology Tools: Cases in Emergency Response

Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), particularly social media and geographic information systems (GIS), have become a transformational force in emergency response. Social media enables ad hoc collaboration, providing timely, useful information dissemination and sharing, and helping to overcome limitations of time and place. Geographic information systems increase the level of situation awareness, serving geospatial data using interactive maps, animations, and computer generated imagery derived from sophisticated global remote sensing systems. Digital workspaces bring these technologies together and contribute to meeting ad hoc and formal emergency response challenges through their affordances of situation awareness and mass collaboration. Distributed ICTs that enable ad hoc emergency response via digital workspaces have arguably made traditional top-down system deployments less relevant in certain situations, including emergency response (Merrill, 2009; Heylighen, 2007a, b). Heylighen (2014, 2007a, b) theorizes that human cognitive stigmergy explains some self-organizing characteristics of ad hoc systems. Elliott (2007) identifies cognitive stigmergy as a factor in mass collaborations supported by digital workspaces. Stigmergy, a term from biology, refers to the phenomenon of self-organizing systems with agents that coordinate via perceived changes in the environment rather than direct communication. In the present research, ad hoc emergency response is examined through the lens of human cognitive stigmergy. The basic assertion is that ICTs and stigmergy together make possible highly effective ad hoc collaborations in circumstances where more typical collaborative methods break down. The research is organized into three essays: an in-depth analysis of the development and deployment of the Ushahidi emergency response software platform, a comparison of the emergency response ICTs used for emergency response during Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, and a process model developed from the case studies and relevant academic literature is described

The Dialogue, Summer 2007

CONTENTS: Ask the Field Profile of the Center for Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness Program Design Elements of Successful Crisis Counseling and Outreach Programs Following a Disaster A Model for Entry into Schools: A Practice Module Which Demonstrated Success Remote Management of Crisis Counseling Program Teams in Colorado Learning from the Past: Historical Disasters—Perspectives for the Field Recommended Reading Conference Highlights Upcoming Meeting

When Two Health Emergencies Collide: Planning for the Crisis Health Needs of Opioid Abusers and the Psychological Consequences of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new barriers for people suffering from mental illness and substance use disorders. From its expected major impact on mental health, social distance measures imposed worldwide are themselves risk factors for increased mental health problems, including opioid abuse. Since drug treatment for opioid use disorders is highly regulated by health authorities, people with opioid use disorders could experience difficulty accessing treatment, which should be considered an essential treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The accelerated transition away from in person appointments and group therapy because of social distancing calls for health systems and community collaborations and adjustments to clinical practice. This includes emphasizing mental health training for healthcare providers and frequent communication between providers and patients, increasing the flexibility of take home medications and access to overdose reversing medications, and leveraging technology through the use of telehealth and virtual support groups to optimize safety of medication treatment and increased support during this time. This paper explores mental health and substance use in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges to accessing mental health and substance use services, and gives recommendations towards planning for the health needs of opioid abusers during future times of crises

Utilizing Extension as a Resource in Disaster Response: Florida Extension’s Communication Efforts During the 2017 Hurricane Season

Crisis communication plays a significant role for the different audiences for which it is designed. Hurricanes and other disasters have resulted in major economic damage and disruption of social norms for extended periods of time in communities across the globe. In such circumstances, the Cooperative Extension Service is often called to take an active role in preparation, response, and recovery. As part of the local emergency management team, local Extension offices are positioned to provide a research base, relevant information, and faculty. As such, citizens often look to Extension faculty members for emergency resources and expertise. However, standard communication methods can be significantly affected in disaster situations. Further, difficulty to fully anticipate such effects can limit Extension’s ability to communicate with targeted audiences and deliver important information. This descriptive study was conducted to examine Florida Extension offices’ and Extension faculty members’ communication efforts and effectiveness during the 2017 hurricane season. The primary methods used by respondents to communicate with subject matter clientele were email, face to face, and phone; the primary method used to communicate with the public was the internet/web. Respondents felt clientele and the public were only moderately aware of Extension’s efforts during the hurricane season. Future research is needed to investigate Extension faculty members’ choice of communication channels, as well as the ability of these channels to convey information to clientele and the public. Future research should also examine the communication channels and information sources used and preferred by clientele and the public during disasters. Such results should be compared to the findings of this study to inform future practice for communication in disasters

Courting Disaster: An Analysis of Federal Government Twitter Usage during Hurricane Sandy Resulting in a Suggested Model for Future Disaster Response

abstract: ABSTRACT This dissertation examined how seven federal agencies utilized Twitter during a major natural disaster, Hurricane Sandy. Data collected included tweets between October 26-31, 2012 via TweetTracker, as well as federal social media policy doctrines and elite interviews, to discern patterns in the guidance provided to federal public information officers (PIOs). While scholarly research cites successful local and state government efforts utilizing social media to improve response efforts in a two-way communications interaction, no substantive research addresses social media’s role in crisis response capabilities at the federal level. This study contributes to the literature in three ways: it focuses solely on the use of social media by federal agencies in a crisis setting; it illuminates policy directives that often hamper federal crisis communication response efforts; and it suggests a proposed model that channels the flow of social media content for PIOs. This is especially important to the safety of the nation moving forward, since crises have increased. Additionally, Twitter was adopted only recently as an official communications tool in 2013. Prior to 2013, social media was applied informally and inconsistently. The findings of this study reveal a reliance upon a one-way, passive communication approach in social media federal policy directives, as well as vague guidelines in existing crisis communications models. Both dimensions are counter to risk management and crisis communication research, which embrace two-way interactivity with audiences and specific messaging that bolsters community engagement, which are vital to the role of the PIO. The resulting model enables the PIO to provide relevant information to key internal agencies and external audiences in response to a future crisis.Dissertation/ThesisCrisis Tweet Text and DataDoctoral Dissertation Mass Communication 201

The Use of Social Media in Emergency Management by Public Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations: Lessons Learned From Areas Affected by Hurricanes Isaac, Sandy, and Harvey

Natural disasters are increasingly costly for the United States. The literature suggests emergency managers may improve disaster outcomes and enhance disaster resilience by supplementing their official public-communications methods with more bi-directional communication tactics using social media. This study aims to understand how social media is used within the “whole community” of emergency management in areas affected by recent hurricanes. The first research objective examines how social media is used by governmental and non-governmental organizations across the four phases of emergency management (preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation). The second objective is to identify challenges governmental and non-governmental groups have encountered and strategies they recommend addressing these problems. The third objective is to examine how social media was used by disaster responders specifically during the response phase of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We conducted a survey of 269 organizations in areas affected by Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy in 2012 to address research objectives one and two, and for the third objective, surveyed 64 organizations who contributed to the rescue and response efforts during Hurricane Harvey. The first survey found respondents representing government-related organizations use social media more during the response and the preparedness phases, while non-governmental groups report more social media activity during the recovery phase. This finding suggests that organizations performing primary and secondary roles in emergency management play complementary roles in risk and crisis communication with the public. The results also suggest that the emergency management community primarily uses social media to “push” information to the public through established communication networks and could benefit from additional efforts to “pull” information from their networks. Survey respondents report greatest concern about challenges external to their organizations, with the accuracy of information found on social media to be most concerning. The third research objective finds generally high levels of social media use among Hurricane Harvey responders, but also evidence of technical challenges including an inability to convert web-based communications to dispatchable missions due to limited functionality of their 911 systems. The results of the study provide insights regarding uses, challenges, and strategies to improve social media for the whole community of emergency management

Gulf Coast journalists and Hurricane Katrina: mounting challenges to the work routine

The purpose of this study was to explore through sourcing and framing the changes Gulf Coast journalists made in their news reporting as a result of directly experiencing Hurricane Katrina. Data for this study was obtained through the archives of The New Orleans Times-Picayune and through the Nexis/Lexis database. Many Gulf-Coast journalists lost their homes and were affected by the storm in various degrees with one case of a reported suicide attempt. The daily newspapers of the cities of New Orleans, La. and Biloxi, Miss., received Pulitzer Prizes for Public Service for ceaseless and tireless reporting of the disaster. This study attempted to measure any changes in media norms and routines observed through source-types and framing techniques by comparing one year before the storm with one year after the storm for both The Times-Picayune and The Biloxi Sun-Herald. This study found that Gulf Coast journalists increasingly framed the news after Hurricane Katrina using a human interest approach, with longer complex thematic stories. These journalists increasingly used ordinary people who were unaffiliated to organizations as sources a year after the storm. Interviews with these journalists revealed that these findings were consistent with a new found connection and identification with the public because of the common suffering these journalists experienced along with the readers as a result of the storm