An online social network for emergency management

AMCIS 2009 Proceedings, 2009

Web 2.0 is rapidly creating new opportunities for communication and collaboration. Part of this explosion is the increase in popularity and use of Social Network Sites (SNSs) for general and domain-specific use. In the emergency domain there are a number of websites including wikis and SNSs. but they stand as silos in the field, unable to allow for cross-site collaboration. In this paper we describe ongoing design science research to develop and refine guiding principles for the design of an SNS that will bring together emergency domain professionals in a "one-stop-shop." We surveyed emergency professionals who study crisis information systems, to ascertain potential functionalities of such an SNS. Preliminary results suggest that there is a need for the envisioned SNS. Future research will continue to explore possible solutions to issues addressed in this paper.

2010

As defined by Wikipedia.org: A distributed problem-solving and production model. Problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for solutions. Users, also known as the crowd, typically form into online communities, and the crowd submits solutions. vi One of the ways to help build advocacy for the use of social media is to identify champions. Agencies need a strategy and the right person to engage the right stakeholders to develop a model that can be used as an example to build tools that engage regions. A key component of this strategy will be the ability to analyze the tremendous amount of information coming out of social media. Social media is a new frontier for emergency management. This workshop was a step in learning where and how to take advantage of such tools to safeguard communities and help them recover from crises.

Open Geosciences, 2019

Social networking sites (SNS) became an indispensable part of people’s everyday life, but also a powerful tool of communication during urgent situations, such as during natural disasters. This is evidenced by a large number of research papers showing the use of SNS in difficult circumstances. Some of the ways of using are the dissemination of information about missing persons, warning on further possible consequences, safety checks during natural disasters, communication about places where the population can find help or a safe refuge. At the same time, SNS could increase awareness among the population about natural hazards. Unfortunately, most parts of the world have at least once been hit by a major natural disaster. People who manage such events have a big task in front of them, as they need to exploit the potential of SNS, but also to reduce the negative side, such as spreading inaccurate information in difficult moments. The paper presents ways of using SNS, and the positive an...

Large-scale crises challenge the ability of public safety and security organisations to respond efficient and effectively. Meanwhile, citizens' adoption of mobile technology and rich social media services is dramatically changing the way crisis responses develop. Empowered by new communication media (smartphones, text messaging, internet-based applications and social media), citizens are the in situ first sensors. However, this entire social media arena is unchartered territory to most public safety and security organisations.

Encyclopedia

This review proposes a concise literature review aimed at identifying the current body of knowledge on the adoption of Social Networks in crisis management. The major input is a structured research question based on the initial reading about the topic. Before the recent pandemic, most literature focused on local crises, with relatively few exceptions. Additionally, self-organising systems are spontaneously established between people who are affected by a crisis. The fundamental assumption underlying this study is the huge potential of Social Networks in the field of crisis management. That is supported, directly or indirectly, by a number of previous studies, which emphasise how effective adoption leads to better decision-making for crisis managers and local communities. Among the identified challenges is the need to integrate official communication by emergency agencies with citizen-generated content in a contest for credibility and trustworthiness. In certain cases, it has been re...

E-based systems and computer networks are becoming standard practice across all sectors, including health, engineering, business, education, security, and citizen interaction with local and national government. They facilitate rapid and easy dissemination of information and data to assist service providers and end-users, offering existing and newly engineered services, products, and communication channels. Recent years have witnessed rising interest in these computerized systems and procedures, which exploit different forms of electronic media in order to offer effective and sophisticated solutions to a wide range of real-world applications.

Social media tools are integrated in most parts of our daily lives, as citizens, netizens, researchers or emergency responders. Lessons learnt from disasters and emergencies that occurred globally in the last few years have shown that social media tools may serve as an integral and significant component of crisis response. Communication is one of the fundamental tools of emergency management. It becomes crucial when there are dozens of agencies and organizations responding to a disaster. Regardless of the type of emergency, whether a terrorist attack, a hurricane or an earthquake, communication lines may be overloaded and cellular networks overwhelmed as too many people attempt to use them to access information. Social scientists have presented that post-disaster active public participation was largely altruistic, including activities such as search and rescue, first aid treatment, victim evacuation, and online help. Social media provides opportunities for engaging citizens in the emergency management by both disseminating information to the public and accessing information from them. During emergency events, individuals are exposed to large quantities of information without being aware of their validity or risk of misinformation, but users are usually swift to correct them, thus making the social media “self-regulating”.

Disasters, 2010

Studies of coordination in human networks have typically presented models that require stable working relationships. These models cannot be applied to emergency response management, which demands distributed coordination in volatile situations. This paper argues that changes to interconnectedness of nodes in a network may have implications for the potential to coordinate. A social network-based coordination model is proposed to explore an organizational actor's state of readiness in extreme conditions. To test this hypothesis, the study investigates survey data from state law enforcement, state emergency services and local law enforcement, presenting agency-based (macro) and cross-agency (micro) analysis on 224 completed questionnaires. The main findings are: (i) there is a positive correlation between network connectedness and the potential to coordinate; (ii) the concept of tiers within an emergency response network may exist and be characterized by the sub-network with which an organization associates; (iii) a range or threshold characterizes how interconnected an organization at a given tier should be.

Chapter 11 of "CRITICAL ISSUES IN DISASTER SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT: A Dialogue Between Researchers and Practitioners" reports on the challenges and opportunities made possible by social media in the field of emergency management. First, we consider the emergency practitioner and the challenges they face when using social media: difficulties in verifying social media data, liability risks, information overload, and a lack of resources to manage social media communications and data. To address these challenges, we propose the use of performance measures, standards, best practices, digital volunteers, training, and exercises. Attention then turns to the research around social media in times of crisis. This research investigates public activity (citizen reporting, community-oriented computing, and collective intelligence and distributed problem solving) and demonstrates how social media have shaped—and continue to shape—perceptions around how members of the public can participate in an emergency. We then look at research that studies emergency management organizations as they seek to understand how social media might be used in their practice. We conclude with descriptions of future research directions and next-generation tools for monitoring and extracting information from social media. Finally, we discuss the differences between practice and research perspectives and discuss how these differences can make it difficult to reach consensus regarding social media’s role in emergency response. We advocate that as practice and research work together expanding the research agenda, understanding roles, building relationships, considering organizational fit, and developing best practices, they will advance knowledge about the potential and realities of social media and move toward envisioning how social media may be used as a resource in emergency management.

Objective: In this study, the effectiveness and usage of social networking services used by The Emergency Medical & Rescue Staff are discussed in the case of the Van earthquake. Material and Methods: Emergency Medical & Rescue Staff working for the Ministry of Health in Republic of Turkey, who served in Van Earthquake Rescue Organization, has been determined as a universe. The questionnaires were prepared, sent, and applied via e-mail to the Emergency Medical & Rescue Staff, communicated by means of e-mail groups related to prehospital emergency care. Results: In total, 66.5% of participants stated that they had made use of social networking services to get information about the disaster area before going there when they were assigned for duty for the case of the Van earthquake. Participants used social networking services mostly to communicate with their colleagues working at the place of the incident to get information about climate conditions, socio-cultural organisms, and magnitude of the damage in the earthquake area. Also, 69.4% of participants stated that they shared information over the social networking systems related to the disaster area after their duties ended there. The experiences they gained in the disaster area and the risks they faced were the most frequently shared information. Conclusion: Social networking services have been used by The Emergency Medical & Rescue Staff widely and effectively in disaster communications. (JAEM 2014; 13: 58-61)