Presentation for Digital Sociology Mini conference 2016 Femke Mulder Free University Amserdam

1. Disasters
& Online
Empowerment
In the spring of 2015, Nepal was hit by two large earthquakes. Close to 9000 people died and over half a
million people became homeless…

2. Extreme events = disasters?
Only if you lack
the resources to
bounce back or
adapt….
Disasters are products
of the social order, not
just the results of
geophysical extremes
The co-development of societies with their environments lead to specific patterns of
vulnerability… some groups are less able to prepare for or cope with extreme events

3. Humanitarians aim to target those most in need “regardless of the race,
creed or nationality of the recipients and without adverse distinction of any
kind”
Disasters as opportunities for change
Established power structures (partially) collapse
Humanitarian actors
(re)negotiate their national and
local positions of power vis a vis
established power structures
Red Cross Code of Conduct, signed by 587 humanitarian organizations
Hundreds of humanitarian actors become
active – they are coordinated by the national
government, or the United Nations

4. Disasters as opportunities for change
In the liminal period after a
disaster social divisions
become less marked –
people experience a sense
of community…
Possibility to forge enduring ties and connections between different social
groups

5. Crises as Catalysts for Online Empowerment
Social media can facilitate
the development of
networks of cooperation and
communication between
formal responders,
responding communities and
groups requiring aid*,
potentially linking up
marginalized groups –
building their social capital
*these different groups overlap

6. Social media crisis data could help formal
responders target those most in need
- Marginalized communities are
sometimes absent from
official data sets
- Carrying out independent
assessments can take weeks

7. Accessing and sharing crisis data (online)
improves situational awareness
- Makes community self-help more effective
- Enables communities to broadcast their needs to the wider world
- Allows communities to coordinate their efforts with those of formal
responders

8. Sociotechnical difficulties prevent formal
responders from using social media data
• Data constitutes a ‘poor
organizational fit’
• Concerns about the
reliability of social media
data
• Responders fall back on
established data routines
due to time pressure

9. Crowdsourcing crisis data
• Organized through
community
platforms
• Mediators connect
formal responders
with online
volunteers
• Using ‘the crowd’
to triangulate
information
‘live’ crisis data sets developed by global digital volunteers and local affected
people
Screenshot “Mission 4636” run on the Ushahidi Platform

10. Marginalized communities face
barriers that prevent them from
contributing to – or accessing –
online crisis data
Multiple cyberspaces – barriers to access
• Access to ICT equipment and
working infrastructure
• Literacy and digital literacy
• Virtual divides: cyberspaces are
language and culture dependent
• Social capital: access to information
about the existence of online crisis
platforms
Barriers

11. Screenshot of QuakeMap:
most crisis reports came
from and were about
digitally literate
Kathmandu Valley; not the
worst hit regions
Crowdsourcing crisis data in the aftermath of the
2015 earthquakes in Nepal

12. Connecting offline communities to the web
• Code for Nepal combined a low-tech digital approach with
community focal points
• Mobile Citizens Helpdesks combined an ICT based approach with in-
person visits

13. But inequalities that are the legacy of the old social
order pose barriers to empowerment…
Disasters provide opportunities for new empowering social practices to
take hold that challenge the old status quo…
Social media may only further ‘empower the empowered’ if marginalized
groups can’t access or contribute to online crisis data

14. Thank you!
@Femke_Mulder_VU
f.mulder@vu.nl
http://disastergovernance.info