Social media in disaster response : Queensland Police Service - public engagement during the 2011 floods

Social Media, particularly Microblogging services, are now being adopted as an additional tool for emergency service agencies to be able to interact with the community at all stages of a disaster. Unfortunately, no standard framework for Social Media adoption for disaster management exists and emergency service agencies are adopting Social Media in an ad-hoc fashion. This paper seeks to provide a general understanding of how Social Media is being used by emergency service agencies during disasters, to better understand how we might develop a standardised framework of adoption. In this study of the 2010/11 Queensland Flood event, Facebook broadcast messages from the Queensland Police Service to the general public, were analysed by genre. Findings show that these Microblogging activities were mostly about information distribution and warning broadcasts and that the strength of Social Media for two-way communication and collaboration with the general public, was under-utilised during this event.<br /

The Impact of Disaster Typology on Social Media Use by Emergency Services Agencies: The Case of the Boston Marathon Bombing

In disaster management, emergency services agencies such as police forces, are growingly using social media microblogging services as an additional channel to distribute information to the general public. How these emergency services agencies are using these social media channels is still insufficiently understood. This paper introduces Actor-Network-Theory as a means to understand the emergency services agency social media utilisation. Using the case of the Boston Marathon 2013 Bombing, we apply genre analysis in interpreting the Boston Police Department’s social media communication to understand whether the disaster typology or the used social media channel have an influence on the microblogging utilisation of the emergency services agency. The findings imply that both the used social media channel and the specific characteristics of a disaster have an influence on how a social media channel is used

Towards a Digital Platform to Support/Enhance Community-based Tourism in Developing Countries - Findings from Nepal

Real social impact is not possible without the engagement of the local communities. The paper describes the first phase of an engaged research project in which we develop a digital platform which is able to support and enhance Community-Based Tourism in Developing Countries. With the help of a local community in Nepal, we co-develop and understand the requirements which need to be included in a digital platform to support Community-Based Tourism in Developing Countries. The data is collected through three focus groups which explore “Categories of Local Tourism products/services”, “Education, Training, and Awareness Raising”, and “Design structures of a Digital Platform”. The participants of the focus groups were community leaders, local business owners, entrepreneurs, and tourism association representatives. The findings contribute to our understanding of supporting local entrepreneurism through digital platforms and help to make the world a better place with Information Systems

Sense-Giving Strategies of Media Organisations in Social Media Disaster Communication: Findings from Hurricane Harvey

Media organisations are essential communication stakeholders in social media disaster communication during extreme events. They perform gatekeeper and amplification roles which are crucial for collective sense-making processes. In that capacity, media organisations distribute information through social media, use it as a source of information, and share such information across different channels. Yet, little is known about the role of media organisations on social media as supposed sense-givers to effectively support the creation of mutual sense. This study investigates the communication strategies of media organisations in extreme events. To that matter, a Twitter dataset consisting of 9,414,463 postings was collected during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We employed social network analysis and content analysis methods to identify media communication approaches. Three different sense-giving strategies were identified: retweeting local in-house outlets; bound amplification of messages of individual associated journalists; and open message amplification

Leveraging Online Social Capital: How the German Red Cross Uses Social Networking Sites

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that focus on humanitarianism, such as the Red Cross, provide services that make the world a better place. To do so, they are highly dependent on a network that generates goodwill, volunteers, and donations. Social Networking Sites (SNS) are a vital channel for NGOs to pursue their organisational objectives. However, how NGOs utilise SNS to tap into resources for social action is insufficiently understood. In this paper, we investigate how the German Red Cross builds and fosters online social capital via SNS. We conducted semi-structured interviews with five SNS experts from regional units of the German Red Cross and analysed their corresponding Twitter and Facebook profiles. Our findings help identify crucial areas of social capital management via SNS for practitioners in the non-profit sector. Moreover, our research contributes to the conceptualisation of organisational online social capital by classifying SNS constituents with respect to structural, relational, and cognitive dimension

Familienpolitik und Geschlechterkultur : Frankreich zwischen Emanzipation und Traditionalisierung

Im Zusammenhang mit einer fördernden Familien- und Sozialpolitik haben sich die Erwerbsbeteiligung von Frauen in Frankreich und damit das Geschlechterverhältnis maßgeblich verändert. Inwieweit sich im Kontext familienpolitischer Rahmenbedingungen und geschlechterkultureller Faktoren auch Veränderungen der geschlechtlichen Verteilung von Haus- und Familienarbeit und der Rolle von Männern ergeben haben, ist Ausgangsfrage des vorliegenden Beitrags. Sie soll behandelt werden, indem die Entwicklung der Familienpolitik mit einem besonderen Fokus auf Männlichkeit nachvollzogen wird, Daten zur familialen Arbeitsteilung betrachtet und geschlechterkulturelle Veränderungen im Hin blick auf das Männlichkeitsbild einbezogen werden. Die Analyse des Geschlechterregimes in Frankreich zeigt, dass sich auf der einen Seite soziale Dimensionen mit Genderdimensionen von Familienpolitik koppeln und insbesondere zu einer Arbeitsmarktverdrängung von sozial schlechter gestellten Frauen führen können, dass es auf der anderen Seite aber gerade auch das traditionellen Männlichkeitsbild ist, das das Geschlechterregime in Frankreich und die geschlechtliche Arbeitsteilung prägt.French Gender Relations – Family Policy in France between Emancipation and Traditio- nalization In France, women’s labour market participa- tion has increased and the gender relations have altered, supported by family and social policy. This paper focuses on modifications of the gendered division of unpaid work and of men’s attitudes and values within the context of policy frameworks and gender cultural di- mensions. Firstly, the development of family policy in France will be highlighted, with a focus on masculinity. Secondly, we analyse the gender regime of France by incorporating gender cultural dimensions of masculinity and by using data on the division of domestic work. Our results show on the one hand that social and gender dimensions of French fa- mily policy encourage socially disadvantaged women to withdraw from the labour market, and on the other hand the impact of tradi- tional masculinity on the gender regime in France and on the gendered division of work

Familienpolitik und Geschlechterkultur: Frankreich zwischen Emanzipation und Traditionalisierung

"Im Zusammenhang mit einer fördernden Fallen- und Sozialpolitik haben sich die Erwerbsbeteiligung von Frauen in Frankreich und damit das Geschlechterverhältnis maßgeblich verändert. Inwieweit sich im Kontext familienpolitischer Rahmenbedingungen und geschlechterkultureller Faktoren auch Veränderungen der geschlechtlichen Verteilung von Haus- und Familienarbeit und der Rolle von Männern ergeben haben, ist Ausgangslage des vorliegenden Beitrags. Sie soll behandelt werden, indem die Entwicklung der Familienpolitik mit einem besonderen Fokus auf Männlichkeit nachvollzogen wird, Daten zur familialen Arbeitsteilung betrachtet und geschlechterkulturelle Veränderungen im Hinblick auf das Männlichkeitsbild einbezogen werden. Die Analyse des Geschlechterregimes in Frankreich zeigt, dass sich auf der einen Seite soziale Dimensionen mit Genderdimensionen von Familienpolitik koppeln und Insbesondere zu einer Arbeitsmarktverdrängung von sozial schlechter gestellten Frauen führen können, dass es auf der anderen Seite aber gerade auch das traditionellen Männlichkeitsbild ist, das das Geschlechterregime in Frankreich und die geschlechtliche Arbeitsteilung prägt." (Autorenreferat)"In France, women's labour market participation has increased and the gender relations have altered, supported by family and social policy. This paper focuses on modifications of the gendered division of unpaid work and of men's attitudes and values within the context of policy frameworks and gender cultural dimensions. Firstly, the development of family policy in France will be highlighted, with a focus on masculinity. Secondly, we analyse the gender regime of France by incorporating gender cultural dimensions of masculinity and by using data on the division of domestic work. Our results show on the one hand that social and gender dimensions of French family policy encourage socially disadvantaged women to withdraw from the labour market, and on the other hand the impact of traditional masculinity on the gender regime in France and on the gendered division of work." (author's abstract

Design principles for conversational agents to support Emergency Management Agencies

Widespread mis- and disinformation during the COVID-19 social media “infodemic” challenge the effective response of Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs). Conversational Agents (CAs) have the potential to amplify and distribute trustworthy information from EMAs to the general public in times of uncertainty. However, the structure and responsibilities of such EMAs are different in comparison to traditional commercial organizations. Consequently, Information Systems (IS) design approaches for CAs are not directly transferable to this different type of organization. Based on semi-structured interviews with practitioners from EMAs in Germany and Australia, twelve meta-requirements and five design principles for CAs for EMAs were developed. In contrast to the traditional view of CA design, social cues should be minimized. The study provides a basis to design robust CAs for EMAs