Social media is used in a variety of domains, including emergency management. However, the question of which technologies are most appropriate for a given emergency remains open. We present a framework of dimensions of emergencies that can assist in selecting appropriate social media for an emergency situation. Social media is not a panacea but can be used effectively given the proper functions available from the particular services provided by each of the Web 2.0 technologies available. The main objective of this paper is to identify the best practices for social media to leverage its ability given the complexities that coincide with events. This is a conceptual paper based on the results of preliminary studies involving group interactions with emergency professionals with various backgrounds. In addition, emergency management students who are professionals in the field followed by another interview soliciting information from information systems scientist were surveyed. We found that each situation called forth various dimensions where only sub phases of the stated dimension may be used given the task type derived from the event characteristics. This lays a foundation upon which a more formal approach can be taken to help tame the social media mania into a manageable set of ‘best practices’ from which emergencies can be managed more effectively given Web 2.0 technologies and social collaborative online tools.
Disasters 2.0: Real Time Collaboration: Documentation and MappingConnie White
Objective 1: Cover the available technologies that are free that help EM create real-time documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms that are available online (Google Suite) for many to use collaboratively and simultaneously and offline in a traditional singleton sense (OpenWord)
Objective 2: Demonstrate the free available mapping tools that are user friendly and very powerful for response efforts -- these are web based collaborative mapping tools that can be used in advance or in an ad hoc fashion - including the GeoLocation devices that can be leveraged. (WikiMapia, Open Street Maps, etc.)
Web 2.0 Technology Building Situational Awareness: Free and Open Source Too...Connie White
covers ways to use web apps, smart phones and free disaster management software like Sahana Eden, which offer agencies free and open source tools to customize and build situational awareness for their own agency or organizational needs.
Diverse Social Media Networks in Public Safety PowerPoint for CCHE 590Nicholas Tancredi
PowerPoint on how social media is used in various Public Safety agencies, including the fact of how it can bridge the communication gap that has been occurring lately.
Social Media, Crisis Communication and Emergency Management: Leveraging Web 2...Connie White
Detailing guidelines and safe practices for using social media across a range of emergency management applications‚ Social Media, Crisis Communication, and Emergency Management: Leveraging Web 2.0 Technologies supplies cutting-edge methods to help you inform the public‚ reduce information overload‚ and ultimately‚ save more lives.
Introduces collaborative mapping tools that can be customized to your needs
Explores free and open-source disaster management systems‚ such as Sahana and Ushahidi
Covers freely available social media technologies—including Facebook‚ Twitter‚ and YouTube
The Design of an Online Social Network Site for Emergency Management: A One-S...guest636475b
Web 2.0 is 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, wikis, SNSs, etc. 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 developing 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.
Disasters 2.0: Real Time Collaboration: Documentation and MappingConnie White
Objective 1: Cover the available technologies that are free that help EM create real-time documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms that are available online (Google Suite) for many to use collaboratively and simultaneously and offline in a traditional singleton sense (OpenWord)
Objective 2: Demonstrate the free available mapping tools that are user friendly and very powerful for response efforts -- these are web based collaborative mapping tools that can be used in advance or in an ad hoc fashion - including the GeoLocation devices that can be leveraged. (WikiMapia, Open Street Maps, etc.)
Web 2.0 Technology Building Situational Awareness: Free and Open Source Too...Connie White
covers ways to use web apps, smart phones and free disaster management software like Sahana Eden, which offer agencies free and open source tools to customize and build situational awareness for their own agency or organizational needs.
Diverse Social Media Networks in Public Safety PowerPoint for CCHE 590Nicholas Tancredi
PowerPoint on how social media is used in various Public Safety agencies, including the fact of how it can bridge the communication gap that has been occurring lately.
Social Media, Crisis Communication and Emergency Management: Leveraging Web 2...Connie White
Detailing guidelines and safe practices for using social media across a range of emergency management applications‚ Social Media, Crisis Communication, and Emergency Management: Leveraging Web 2.0 Technologies supplies cutting-edge methods to help you inform the public‚ reduce information overload‚ and ultimately‚ save more lives.
Introduces collaborative mapping tools that can be customized to your needs
Explores free and open-source disaster management systems‚ such as Sahana and Ushahidi
Covers freely available social media technologies—including Facebook‚ Twitter‚ and YouTube
The Design of an Online Social Network Site for Emergency Management: A One-S...guest636475b
Web 2.0 is 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, wikis, SNSs, etc. 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 developing 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.
A Holistic Approach to Evaluating Social Media's Successful Implementation in...Connie White
As emergency management agencies and organizations implement social media and web technology to support crisis information and communication efforts, many question if present strategies are beneficial. This is especially true if social media is being implemented for the first time or has not been experienced in a live disaster. Studies have been conducted providing information on a variety of interactions between Social Media and Emergency Management (SMEM). However, few have taken a formal scientific approach as a means of measurement providing a 'Comprehensive Performance Metric.' Performance metrics need to have consistency while providing room for implementing unique measurement criteria for individualized efforts. We offer a research design using field studies of real world cases, evaluating rural and metropolitan areas. The result produces a set of 'Best Practices' through implementation. By offering a means of measuring success, SMEM can continue to evolve by using a methodologically sound approach using social media.
Emergency Management in the age of social convergencePatrice Cloutier
Conference on social media use in emergency management given at the Social Media in Government Conference on Oct. 3, 2011 for the Conference Board of Canada.
Memo for the Danish Emergency Management Agency by student Anna Boye Koldaas, Master of Science (MSc)-student in Security Risk Management at Copenhagen University.
Paper: A review of the value of social media in countrywide disaster risk red...Neil Dufty
This input paper was developed for the HFA Thematic Review and as an input to the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 (GAR15). It examines the current and potential value of social media in raising risk awareness and forming communities of practice before a disaster happens.
Future of the Internet Predictions March 2014 PIP ReportVasily Ryzhonkov
This report is the latest research report in a sustained effort throughout 2014 by the Pew Research Center to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He wrote a paper on March 12, 1989 proposing an “information management” system that became the conceptual and architectural structure for the Web. He eventually released the code for his system — for free — to the world on Christmas Day in 1990. It became a milestone in easing the way for ordinary people to access documents and interact over the Internet — a system that linked computers and that had been around for years.
The Web became a major layer of the Internet. Indeed, for many, it became synonymous with the Internet, even though that is not technically the case. Its birthday offers an occasion to revisit the ways it has made the Internet a part of Americans’ social lives.
Our first report tied to the anniversary looked at the present and the past of the Internet, marking its strikingly fast adoption and assessing its impact on American users’ lives. This report is part of an effort by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project in association with Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center to look at the future of the Internet, the Web, and other digital activities. This is the first of eight reports based on a canvassing of hundreds of experts about the future of such things as privacy, cybersecurity, the “Internet of things,” and net neutrality. In this case we asked experts to make their own predictions about the state of digital life by the year 2025. We will also explore some of the economic change driven by the spectacular progress that made digital tools faster and cheaper. And we will report on whether Americans feel the explosion of digital information coursing through their lives has helped them be better informed and make better decisions.
This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals.
Twitris in Action - a review of its many applications Amit Sheth
Twitris is a System for Collective Social Intelligence. It has been used in a large number of and many types (disaster coordination, banding, epidemiology, public health, election/polical, social movement) of applications - often in real-time. This presentation gives a bird-eye review of some of these applications with links to explore them further.
This is a presentation I prepared for a program at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. I pulled together social media best practices and tried to map them to the phases of the emergency management cycle. The presentation ends with a "To do" list for government agencies and recommendations on how to design a social media strategy that fits into each of the phases to create community and interaction when it is needed
Social Media and Emergency Management: Integrating SMDavid Merrick II
Guest lecture on social media, crisis communication, and disaster management given at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines in November 2011. Presented by David Merrick, Center for Disaster Risk Policy, Florida State University.
Social Media in Crisis Management: ISCRAM Summer School 2011Connie White
This is a lecture for PhD students at a summer school hosted by Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM www.iscram.org. This lecture covers social media and the information systems concepts that show how social media can support emergency management.
My slideshow examines the ethics of eating meat, and how it contributes to poor health in humans and animals, as well as the pollution of our environment. It also identifies the benefits of choosing a vegetarian diet.
A Holistic Approach to Evaluating Social Media's Successful Implementation in...Connie White
As emergency management agencies and organizations implement social media and web technology to support crisis information and communication efforts, many question if present strategies are beneficial. This is especially true if social media is being implemented for the first time or has not been experienced in a live disaster. Studies have been conducted providing information on a variety of interactions between Social Media and Emergency Management (SMEM). However, few have taken a formal scientific approach as a means of measurement providing a 'Comprehensive Performance Metric.' Performance metrics need to have consistency while providing room for implementing unique measurement criteria for individualized efforts. We offer a research design using field studies of real world cases, evaluating rural and metropolitan areas. The result produces a set of 'Best Practices' through implementation. By offering a means of measuring success, SMEM can continue to evolve by using a methodologically sound approach using social media.
Emergency Management in the age of social convergencePatrice Cloutier
Conference on social media use in emergency management given at the Social Media in Government Conference on Oct. 3, 2011 for the Conference Board of Canada.
Memo for the Danish Emergency Management Agency by student Anna Boye Koldaas, Master of Science (MSc)-student in Security Risk Management at Copenhagen University.
Paper: A review of the value of social media in countrywide disaster risk red...Neil Dufty
This input paper was developed for the HFA Thematic Review and as an input to the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 (GAR15). It examines the current and potential value of social media in raising risk awareness and forming communities of practice before a disaster happens.
Future of the Internet Predictions March 2014 PIP ReportVasily Ryzhonkov
This report is the latest research report in a sustained effort throughout 2014 by the Pew Research Center to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He wrote a paper on March 12, 1989 proposing an “information management” system that became the conceptual and architectural structure for the Web. He eventually released the code for his system — for free — to the world on Christmas Day in 1990. It became a milestone in easing the way for ordinary people to access documents and interact over the Internet — a system that linked computers and that had been around for years.
The Web became a major layer of the Internet. Indeed, for many, it became synonymous with the Internet, even though that is not technically the case. Its birthday offers an occasion to revisit the ways it has made the Internet a part of Americans’ social lives.
Our first report tied to the anniversary looked at the present and the past of the Internet, marking its strikingly fast adoption and assessing its impact on American users’ lives. This report is part of an effort by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project in association with Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center to look at the future of the Internet, the Web, and other digital activities. This is the first of eight reports based on a canvassing of hundreds of experts about the future of such things as privacy, cybersecurity, the “Internet of things,” and net neutrality. In this case we asked experts to make their own predictions about the state of digital life by the year 2025. We will also explore some of the economic change driven by the spectacular progress that made digital tools faster and cheaper. And we will report on whether Americans feel the explosion of digital information coursing through their lives has helped them be better informed and make better decisions.
This report is a collaborative effort based on the input and analysis of the following individuals.
Twitris in Action - a review of its many applications Amit Sheth
Twitris is a System for Collective Social Intelligence. It has been used in a large number of and many types (disaster coordination, banding, epidemiology, public health, election/polical, social movement) of applications - often in real-time. This presentation gives a bird-eye review of some of these applications with links to explore them further.
This is a presentation I prepared for a program at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. I pulled together social media best practices and tried to map them to the phases of the emergency management cycle. The presentation ends with a "To do" list for government agencies and recommendations on how to design a social media strategy that fits into each of the phases to create community and interaction when it is needed
Social Media and Emergency Management: Integrating SMDavid Merrick II
Guest lecture on social media, crisis communication, and disaster management given at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines in November 2011. Presented by David Merrick, Center for Disaster Risk Policy, Florida State University.
Social Media in Crisis Management: ISCRAM Summer School 2011Connie White
This is a lecture for PhD students at a summer school hosted by Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM www.iscram.org. This lecture covers social media and the information systems concepts that show how social media can support emergency management.
My slideshow examines the ethics of eating meat, and how it contributes to poor health in humans and animals, as well as the pollution of our environment. It also identifies the benefits of choosing a vegetarian diet.
Here are the slides from my closing plenary at WebExpo in Prague, Czech Republic on 22 September 2012. A few rants, a few truths, a few goofy opinions, but backed up with a little experience, too.
Defining a problem and understanding it syntactically as well as semantically enhances the decision process because the written agenda and solutions are understood on a token level. Consensus in groups can be challenging in present web based environments given the dynamics of types of interactions and needs. Larger virtual communities are beginning to use wiki based decision support systems for time critical interactions where the quality of the information is high and a near real time feedback system is necessary. Understanding the meaning of the problem and group consensus can be improved exploiting a voting enhanced wiki structure implemented into select parts of the decision making process. A decision support model integrating a wiki structure and a social decision support system (voting) is presented. Findings from a pilot study describe differences of idea generation between groups. Other issues are identified requiring further research.
This presentation discusses the current condition of the music industry specifically of that in Canada. The presentation focuses on whether or not downloading music online has affected the music industry. The various methods of attaining music is looked at to examine its impact in Canada
Introduction to Intalio|Create, the most modern application to build applications rapidly for deployment in public clouds, private clouds and behind-the-firewall.
Crowdfunding - De 2 grootste misverstanden bij crowdfundingRonald Kleverlaan
Crowdfunding lezing Nyenrode over de meerwaarde van crowdfunding naast het ophalen van financiering en de twee grootste misverstanden binnen crowdfunding besproken.
Helping Crisis Responders Find the Informative Needle in the Tweet HaystackCOMRADES project
Leon Derczynski - University of Sheffield,
Kenny Meesters - TU Delft, Kalina Bontcheva - University of Sheffield, Diana Maynard- University of Sheffield
WiPe Paper – Social Media Studies
Proceedings of the 15th ISCRAM Conference – Rochester, NY, USA May 2018
Statement for the Record of Heather Blanchard, Co Founder of CrisisCommons before the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, United States Senate on May 19, 2011
Research paper impact evaluation for collaborative information supply chainKenny Meesters
Emerging technologies provide opportunities for the humanitarian responders’ community to enhance the
effectiveness of their response to crisissituations. A part of this development can be contributed to a new type of
information supply chains -driven by collaboration with digital, online communities- enabling organizations to
make better informed decisions. However, how exactly and to what extend this collaboration impacts the
decision making process is unknown. To improve these new information exchanges and the corresponding
systems, an evaluation method is needed to assess the performance of these processes and systems. This paper
builds on existing evaluation methods for information systems and design principles to propose such an impact
evaluation framework. The proposed framework has been applied in a case study to demonstrate its potential to
identify areas for further improvement in the (online) collaboration between information suppliers and users.
Law Enforcement & Social Media: Enhancing Response, Communication, and Public...Corey Olszewski
Class presentation for Technology in Emergency Management at UNT's Emergency Management degree program. This presentation details a strategy for law enforcement agencies to use social media to enhance response, and community relations.
This presentation is for education use only.
Brian Wrote There is a wide range of cybersecurity initiatives .docxhartrobert670
Brian Wrote :
There is a wide range of cybersecurity initiatives that exist on the international level through collaborative efforts between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and numerous organizational units (UMUC, 2012). According to UMUC (2012), some examples of these initiatives are:
· Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
· National Cyber Security Division
· National Communications System
· Office of Infrastructure Protection
· Office of Operations Coordination
· Privacy Office
· U.S. Secret Service
· U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
· Organization of American States Assistance
“The National Cyber Security Division works to secure cyberspace and America’s cyber assets in cooperation with public, private, and international entities” (UMUC, 2012). This is done using several strategic plans and directives, such as the Presidential Decision Directive 7, the Information Technology Sector Specific Plan, the National Strategy to Secure Cyber Space, National Infrastructure Preparedness Plan, and the National Response Plan (UMUC, 2012). A challenge that the National Cyber Security Division faces in providing an effective deterrent to cybersecurity threats are the constant evolving technologies. These include for both good and bad. Cyber attacks are constantly evolving and so are the technologies use to protect from them. In order for the National Cyber Security Division to effectively deter them not only do they have to stay up-to-date but also so do all of the strategic plans and directives that they use.
Another initiative is the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) that emerged in the 1980s. This initiative puts forth “efforts to counter international hijackings and financial crimes” (UMUC, 2012). It now also extends law enforcement abroad to help against terrorist activity, international crime, and drug-trafficking (UMUC, 2012). It does those with the partner of Department of State. A challenge that the FLETC faces in providing an effective deterrent to cybersecurity threats are their international limitations. All though they have partnered abroad with select foreign nations they still have restrictions and limitations as to what exactly they can do.
Justin Wrote:
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) are established between two or more nations and provide a formal means of exchanging evidence and information pertaining to criminal acts or cases that occur outside of a nation’s legal jurisdiction. The primary issue associated with MLATs and cybercrime is the inconsistency of host nation laws. Many nations feel that the idea of a global anti-crime initiative may contradict a nation’s fundamental principles (Finklea & Theohary, 2012, p.24). There is no standardized definition for cybercrime which means that one nation may view a virtual act as a crime and the other, with which the MLAT exists, may not. If the two nations agree on the legality of the act then the requesting nation may sub ...
Department of Homeland Security Report- Lessons Learned Using Social Media Du...Mark Rybchuk
What did local governments learn about using social media during a crisis and how did it help serve residents during an emergency? HootSuite Enterprise is referenced on page 33 as one of the key assets the City of New York used during this emergency.
Lessons learned from Social media intervention during hurricane SandyPrayukth K V
Social media and collaborative technologies have become critical components of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. From the international response efforts in major tsunamis to hurricane response and recovery in major U.S. cities, many government officials now turn to social media technologies to share information and connect with citizens during all phases of a crisis. Implementing these new technologies, however, requires that responding agencies adopt new communication strategies and engagement methods.
Classifying Crises-Information Relevancy with SemanticsCOMRADES project
Prashant Khare, Gregoire Burel, and Harith Alani
Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University, United Kingdom
fprashant.khare,g.burel,h.alanig@open.ac.uk
AN EXPERT SYSTEM AS AN AWARENESS TOOL TO PREVENT SOCIAL ENGINEERING ATTACKS I...IJCI JOURNAL
This article highlights the development of an awareness tool in the form of an expert system to prevent social engineering attacks in public organizations. Social engineering attacks have significant consequences for organizations, resulting in security breaches, loss of confidential information, and reputation damage. While protective measures such as awareness training and security policies have been implemented, there is still room for improvement. The tool under development will empower users to identify and avoid psychological manipulation techniques used by attackers, thereby strengthening information security and mitigating associated risks. It addresses key concepts in information security and includes interactive modules based on learning theories, as well as artificial intelligence capabilities to identify vulnerabilities. Once developed and validated, it is expected that this tool will significantly contribute to awareness and protection against social engineering attacks in public organizations, enhancing information security and reducing risks.
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Social Media, Crisis Communication, Emergency Mgmt & Drone Technology in Heal...Connie White
A presentation for Region 2 North Healthcare Coalition - 2017 Annual Conference on using Social Media, Crisis Communication, Emergency Mgmt & Drone Technology in Healthcare
Technological Advances Leveraging Use of Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV...Connie White
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones, historically have been used primarily by the military due to availability, costs, size, usability and other factors. Advances in technology in recent years have remedied this situation. The main objective of this paper is to identify complementary emerging technologies to provide a state-of-the-art combination that is easy for emergency managers to obtain and use. This will offer duplicate functions once found to be cost prohibitive for emergency managers. We identify ways that when combined together can be further integrated into the various aspects of emergency management, along with identifying considerations that can be made to fulfill emergency management requirements. Specific technologies were identified, obtained and used to design a small UAV with cameras providing a variety of capabilities, including thermal imaging. Future research including alternative light sources is discussed. Research ideas that were generated during the exploratory work are presented in this paper.
Emergency Management Information System Support Rectifying 1st Responder Role...Connie White
Role abandonment once was considered unlikely by research scientists; however emergency management officials have experienced catastrophic events that counter prior assumptions. Event types such as deluges and pandemics surface as scenarios supporting one set of examples. We explore a different angle, focusing on individual practitioners including: (1) fire, (2) police and (3) emergency medical services. Surveys were taken by the various practitioner group types. Results suggested that there may be role abandonment issues, differing from one practitioner type to another, each with unique reasons given the event type. Although communities and individual emergency officials may never encounter such situations, it’s imperative that this event type be taken into account during the design and implementation of disaster management systems. Systems developed should be designed to support and modify needs given the size and magnitude of the event, be it an routine emergency, a larger disaster or a 'once in a lifetime' catastrophic event. In this case, we focus on human resources. It is for this reason that we believe that algorithms be identified, developed and implemented so that such information be accessible to emergency officials, should this rare situation arise.
Disaster Management Systems: Building Capacity for Developing Countries and ...Connie White
Some societies are more disaster prone than others due to their geographic location and the benefits provided by it. Man has co-existed in this sort of high risk/high return relationship with mother nature throughout history. Poorer societies tend to pay a higher price both in lives taken and damage – left with many secondary and equally devastating disasters that are sure to come. We know that for every $1 USD put into preventative measures, we save ~$7 that would have gone into post-disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts. There are many international agencies working to support a variety of needs in these grief stricken areas to help them build capacity and to help these societies better prepare for and respond to the disasters they will face. These efforts are guided by the Millennium Project Goals outlined in 2000. A lot has changed since then with respect to technology, mobile devices and humanitarianism. The objective of this paper is exploit how current efforts are creating capacity on the individual, organizational and 'enabling environment' levels. This paper explores the notion that a more concerted effort can be made at building Information and Communication Disaster Management Capacity in developing countries who are most susceptible due to proximity and to a lack of funds. A 'proof of concept' is provided
These are the slides to support my talk for the Emergency Management Association of Georgia May 26, 2011 Savannah Situational Awareness workshop. The message is that people, technology, social media and emergency management can all build a better awareness together using a mobile platform.
#EMAG2011 Use Social Media Now for Emergency ManagementConnie White
This is the presentation given at the Emergency Management Association of Georgia Training Summit in Savannah, May 25, 2011. It covers the various types of social media communication structures, what the public thinks, expects from the Red Cross Study and then offers major reasons to implement social media now.
Cherokee County Tornado Drill testing Social MediaConnie White
This is a drill that was conducted as part of a graduate course on Information Technology for Emergency Management. The test sites of social networking sites have been removed from public access.
Italian Version: Disasters 2.0: Collaborazione in Tempo Reale: Documentazione...Connie White
This is a presentation demonstrating how some real time tools can be use to manage the needs of time critical situations expected and unexpected, for emergency management. The Google Suite is introduced along with some mapping software.
Spanish Version: Disasters 2.0 Colaboración en Tiempo Real: Documentación y M...Connie White
Presentation demonstrating the use of free web based technologies for real time support using documents, forms and mapping. This supports emergency management agencies and others in the domain. This has been translated to Spanish.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
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See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor TurskyiFwdays
I have heard many times that architecture is not important for the front-end. Also, many times I have seen how developers implement features on the front-end just following the standard rules for a framework and think that this is enough to successfully launch the project, and then the project fails. How to prevent this and what approach to choose? I have launched dozens of complex projects and during the talk we will analyze which approaches have worked for me and which have not.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
A Framework to Identify Best Practices: Social Media and Web 2.0 Technologies in the Emergency Domain
1. A Framework to Identify Best Practices:
Social Media and Web 2.0 Technologies in the Emergency Domain
Connie White
Jacksonville State University
Institute of Emergency Preparedness
connie.m.white@gmail.com
Linda Plotnick
Jacksonville State University
Math and Computer Information Systems
linda.plotnick@gmail.com
Abstract
Social media is used in a variety of domains, including emergency management. However, the
question of which technologies are most appropriate for a given emergency remains open. We
present a framework of dimensions of emergencies that can assist in selecting appropriate social
media for an emergency situation. Social media is not a panacea but can be used effectively
given the proper functions available from the particular services provided by each of the Web 2.0
technologies available. The main objective of this paper is to identify the best practices for
social media to leverage its ability given the complexities that coincide with events. This is a
conceptual paper based on the results of preliminary studies involving group interactions with
emergency professionals with various backgrounds. In addition, emergency management
students who are professionals in the field followed by another interview soliciting information
from information systems scientist were surveyed. We found that each situation called forth
various dimensions where only sub phases of the stated dimension may be used given the task
type derived from the event characteristics. This lays a foundation upon which a more formal
approach can be taken to help tame the social media mania into a manageable set of ‘best
practices’ from which emergencies can be managed more effectively given Web 2.0 technologies
and social collaborative online tools.
Keywords: social, media, emergency, management, framework, best practices, cases, implement
Introduction
Social media has been used by the public for a number of years to link people together but more
recently, has also been identified as playing a role in aiding communications for emergency
management (White, Plotnick, Kushma, Hiltz and Turoff, 2009). Emergency management
stakeholders have begun to experiment and explore possible uses that can help support and
expedite the diverse needs of various stakeholders (Plotnick, White, Plummer, 2009). The
United States government has acknowledged the potential use of social media for
communications as a serious tool to use to help manage day to day operations (Collins, 2009).
Mid-year 2009, The Department of Homeland Security Office for Interoperability and
2. Compatibility, Office of Emergency Communications, FEMA National Preparedness Directorate
and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security hosted "The Ogma Workshop: Exploring the
Policy and Strategy Implications of Web 2.0 on the Practice of Homeland Security" (Federal
News Radio, 2009) which explored these issues. Although this use is catching on and its use
confirmed by the workshop participants, after conducting a broad but non-exhaustive literature
review, we found no studies conducted testing the effectiveness of attempts to reach various
goals sought by these departments. We found little guidance for such efforts in general, either.
There are only a handful of lessons learned where others can mimic particular uses of these Web
2.0 technologies and with confidence in their effectiveness. “The learning, in this case, is from
those on the front lines already using the technologies, says Essid” (Federal News Radio).
“Best practice” is a term used by emergency management professions and is defined as “a
technique method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is believed to be more effective at
delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. The idea is that
with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer
problems and unforeseen complications. Best practices can also be defined as the most efficient
(least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on
repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people”
(Wikipedia). We identify a set of dimensions that, together, identify the numerous unique states
that can exist given an all hazards approach to comprehensive emergency management. From
these dimensions, a framework is created that describes the situations which can then be used to
identify the appropriate social media to use for that situation.
The dimensions of an emergency situation identified that need to be considered when choosing
social media are: the size of the event; the phase of the emergency; the stakeholders and level(s)
of government involved; social convergence; time phases; and spatial zone (geographic area
impacted). Each of these dimensions needs to be considered both alone and in concert with the
other dimensions. For example, it is insufficient to merely identify the stakeholders involved
when selecting social media. The phase of the emergency, for example, will also influence what
media are feasible to use as infrastructure integrity may vary depending upon the current phase.
This work is important because it gives a foundation upon which social media can be
strategically identified for particular uses. The level of security of the data may be an important
factor or not, depending upon the situation. This type of information, when analyzed against the
needs provided in the dimensions identified, helps guide which technology best fits the present
state. But questions remain: what are they really good for, how do you reach your target market,
and how do researchers go about considering when these systems will prove effective or possibly
destructive? Workshop hosts stated that prior to the Ogma Workshop, “We came across a lot of
good examples of, say, YouTube for example, and the Division of Emergency Management in
Florida uses that to do staff situational reports. FEMA has established Twitter accounts to send
out updates. In Washington DC, they monitored Twitter and Facebook during the Inauguration
to see if there was situational information that they weren't obtaining through their more formal
sources” (Federal News Radio, 2009). There is such an explosion of growth in social media
usage that it’s premature to try to predict the future. While social media has been adopted for
uses that benefit society, other uses are possible as well. The dark side of social media is raising
its ugly head as terrorist groups are finding the same benefits as others in its use (Lamoreaux,
2009) and cyber attacks have proven numerous lately (Government Computer News, 2009).
3. We describe how the literature and workshop discussions inform the identification of dimensions
of an emergency that can guide social media selection. We discuss each dimension describing
issues that could be considered during various situations and corresponding task types based on
present research. A matrix is offered to help identify each dimension as it relates to the others.
We close with some research questions that require further investigation.
Background: Social Media
Social media is defined as “A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-
generated content” (searchengine.watch.com/define). Social media include social networking
sites, social bookmarking sites, social news sites (e.g., Digg), etc. We also consider that
technology is used presently in day-to-day activities and it’s this same technology that is the
primary basis for input/output of data and information. Social networking sites have been used
in a variety of domains including emergency management and have the potential to enrich and
expand capabilities for interaction in general, and collaboration in particular, by providing a
platform in which social networks can be built and expanded. We adopt a descriptive definition
of a social network as “links from people to other people, groups or information objects. Such
objects may be messages, photos, videos, wall postings, notifications, current activities, events,
widgets, etc. Such links may be created by intelligent agents or by the user” (White et al., 2009).
Motivation
White et al. (2009) and Plotnick et al. (2009) describe the results of surveying emergency
professionals to ascertain the functionality they felt is important and the concerns they had for
use of social networking sites (SNS) in the emergency domain. While results were mixed, the
chart below (Table 1. Plotnick et al., 2009) shows the ranking of applicability of a SNS in
emergency management.
Which emergency management functions seem to hold the most promise for the use of online
social networks? Please put a 1 for the most important application to which such a system might
be used. A 2 for the next most important and continue until you don’t feel any remaining
potential application is suitable for this technology. The scale went from 1 – 10.
4. Rank Order Analysis
Average Rank
Damage assessment and disaster intelligence
3.57
Collaborative problem solving
4.67
Consultation for real-time decision making
5.42
Planning or exchange of planning material
5.92
Training or exchange of training material
5.00
Collaborative exercise design and development
4.46
5. Table 1. Ranking of Applicability of a SNS in Emergency Management
Clearly, not all functionality is appropriate for all emergencies, nor for all phases of an
emergency. For example, damage assessment and disaster intelligence is not done before the
occurrence of the emergency. Therefore, there is a need to provide a framework that describes
an emergency in such a way that the appropriate social media (and functionality) can be selected
at any given time, in any emergency. In this paper we propose such a framework.
Methodology
The Ogma Workshop was conducted to explore the policy and strategy implications of Web 2.0
technologies on the practice of Homeland Defense and Security. It was held on the campus of
the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California from June 30 through July 1, 2009. The
goal of the workshop was to "...develop best practices and lessons learned on where this stuff has
worked and how it worked" (Federal News Radio), and then to share that information with
others. There were 88 participants with a range of backgrounds covering diverse stakeholder
perspectives. Participants were divided into four groups in order to give more focus grouping
perspectives. The four groups were referred to as: 1) The Behavioral Scientists 2) The
Practitioners 3) Network Science/Media and 4) the Technology Sector.
Key Workshop Questions were:
• What do we know and see in practice now?
• What requires further study, analysis, and exploration?
• What are the requirements to achieve this?
• What partnerships need to be established?
• What collaborative bodies need to be formed?
• What investments (time, personnel, funding) are required?
• What other types of resources are needed to advance our adoption, understanding and
the utility of these new forms of communication?
In a round robin style of group interactions, each single group was paired up once with each
other group for cross-disciplinary break-out sessions. A moderator was assigned to each group
and had leading questions to help give participants focus. These questions evolved each session.
At the end of the workshop, each group was asked to answer sets of questions. It’s from these
interactions initially that the dimensions arose. However, the authors knew from emergency
literature, that other dimensions should to be considered as well.
Dimensions for Social Media Identified
During the Ogma workshop, observations were made by various groups. On a strategic level, a
consideration was to look at the aspects of using social media to a degree creating a semantic
differential scale where accepting and embracing were on one end of the spectrum, and rejection
and nonuse on the opposing.
6. There were other considerations made by groups: the size of the event (emergency, disaster, and
catastrophe), the phase of emergency management in which it would be used (mitigation,
recovery, response, preparedness), and then the stakeholders that would be involved (civilians,
nongovernmental organizations, volunteer groups, government, etc). After the workshop was
over, the authors extended the work by identifying additional considerations to further
understand the ability and capabilities of how social media can be leveraged for emergency
management.
Social media can be a powerful communication tool for emergency management if it’s used in a
strategic manner which is effective. For example, a department of emergency management can
create a Facebook account from which information can be distributed, but what type of
information is of interest to the user group? Who is the user group? Dimensions to consider
when using social media include the size of the event, the stakeholders that who are the users, the
levels of government, the phase of emergency management, social convergence, time phases and
spatial zones.
Perspectives of this situation are many and each group needs to be considered as to how social
media influences their particular interests. Different perspectives consider various aspects.
Practitioners, network and media, behavioralist and the developers of such technology are the
stakeholders identified. Each group’s perspective is different: while the practitioner wants to use
this technology, a behaviorist may evaluate how people are presently using it which gives insight
to developers on how to improve the technology or new uses to implement.
The discussions during the Ogma workshop led to identification of critical dimensions of an
emergency situation that needs to be considered when choosing social media. These dimensions
are discussed below:
To Use Social Media or Not to Use Social Media: That is the Question
One of the major outcomes of the Ogma workshop was considering the implementation of social
media along a scale of total acceptance to total restriction of use. The potential benefits were
analyzed along with the potential downfalls of implementation.
--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------
Reject All Use Some Accept Fully
Figure 1.0 To Use or Not To Use Social Media
Size of Event
Events basically occur on three levels, small, medium and large which are defined as
emergencies, disasters and catastrophes (Quarantelli, 2002). Each of these has their own
decision making problem types (Skertchly and Skertchly, 2001). For example, some
emergencies are routine, have been experienced before and are within the resource limitations of
local authorities. On the opposing end, catastrophic events are dynamic and volatile, have not
7. been experienced before and far exceed local, tribal and sometimes state or even national
resources (Turoff, Chumer, Van de Walle, and Yao, 2004).
Potential Uses
This shows how social media is used based on the decision making needs of the situation. In the
aftermath of a catastrophic event, individuals might be able to send Tweets of information aiding
in search and rescue efforts. Civilians could use their cell phones and take pictures of damaged
buildings or bridges, uploading this information so that authorities can assess damage more
quickly. Each of these sizes of disasters has its own problem types ranging in routine to wicked
and hence, has its own set of characteristics which would influence the way people use social
media to help emergency management effectively and efficiently.
Phases of Comprehensive Emergency Management
The Washington State Legislature defines comprehensive emergency management as “the
preparation for and the carrying out of all emergency functions, other than functions for which
the military forces are primarily responsible, to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover
from emergencies and disasters, and to aid victims suffering from injury or damage, resulting
from disasters caused by all hazards, whether natural, technological, or human caused, and to
provide support for search and rescue operations for persons and property in distress”
(http://apps.leg.wa.gov). This is the foundation for the definition of the phases of emergency
management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Each phase of emergency
management has its own sets of needs (Haddow, Bullock, and Coppola, 2007). Relationships
can be built beforehand between people (Plotnick, et al, 2009). This can help on a civilian
personal preparedness level where neighbors can connect and identify a set of guidelines to help
them as a community (White, et al, 2009). First responders can meet beforehand which is a
critical step in disaster and catastrophic response (Sutton, Palen, and Shklovski, 2008). Groups
can interact and exchange information for policy formations and modifications. These and other
such mitigation needs can be fulfilled.
Potential Uses
The Department of Emergency Management in the City of Plano, Texas uses social media with
their ‘Prepared In Plano’ initiative. PreparedInPlano’s usage of social media, preparedness is a
focus on helping to get survival information and other information that helps identify the needs
for the first 72 hours (www.PreparedInPlano.com). They use both Facebook and Twitter to
distribute information to fans and followers. This is important as an indicator, a recent study
indicated that less than half of all Americans have created a family emergency plan and only half
of all Americans have an emergency kit in their homes (Fugate, 2009). This is a strong
indication of the need to engage and educate the public as to their responsibilities and needs in
preparation for emergencies.
The obvious phase where social media could highly impact is in the response phase. Situational
awareness, identification of resources, geographic information sent through smart phones and
other mobile devices could expedite response and recovery efforts. However, crucial plans and
8. exercises can be viewed equally important and thus, the uses may be deemed more important for
one group versus another.
Stakeholders Involved
There are many stakeholders involved in emergency management. For example, governmental
organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alabama Department of
Emergency Management, and Community Emergency Response Team are beginning to use
social media (Collins, 2009). Different countries around the world have different styles of
leadership and organizations, but social media use can be tailored to fit the stakeholders involved
no matter their geographical origin. Civilians can use social networks to create profiles, meet
neighbors, create emergency plans and have them documented for other family members, friends
or authorities to use. Volunteer organizations already embrace social media (Plotnick, et al
2009). So much of this technology is free and given it fits the needs of the user, will more likely
be used. The Red Cross has local chapters as well as state chapters on Facebook and Twitter.
As of the writing of this article, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has 617,676 followers and
is following 76 others. It’s this chain of interest that creates a web of information flow between
players.
Potential Uses
Social media such as Twitter, when set up strategically, can be used for all kinds of information
to be sent between relationship types in the stakeholder environment. For example, 1-to-many or
many-to-many, group relationships can be supported by Twitter. These relationships can be
supported on various levels:
1. Can be used within a group where members can relate to one another either as
individuals or subgroups or any variation of the two.
2. Can be used within group types (subgroups of large organization, local to state)
3. Can be used group to group – groups on any level can interact with other groups
This allows a dynamic aspect to interactivity such that there are no predefined group types and
new groups can form, other existing groups can be modified to fit the need of the event.
Level of Government
Social media can be used differently given the level of government involved be it on the local,
tribal, state, national or even international level (Collins, 2009). National groups such as DHS
use social media like Twitter and Facebook, RSS feeds, blogs and videos on their website to help
distribute information from the heads of government (www.dhs.gov). President Barak Obama
has a site www.whitehouse.gov which offers all types of information which users can further
drill down on to answer strategic level questions. State level groups such the Alabama
Emergency Agency use websites to distribute information. The Alabama Department of
Homeland Security www.dhs.alabama.gov has a pilot for other interoperability needs with more
secure data for Virtual Alabama. Counties use social media such as Facebook to keep their
9. residents informed. City level officials are critical as they are on the local level. Information can
be distributed to anyone who wants to join the county’s group page or become a fan of the page
so that they receive the information (www.plano.gov).
Potential Uses
Emergency management in Plano, Texas has PreparedInPlano Facebook and Twitter feeds along
with a website (www.plano.gov). Facebook is used to send out messages on a daily basis
informing their citizens of information that people may or may not find of interest, but is
potentially relevant to their needs. Emergency officials post information about local training
events, poll citizens for feedback, and offer discussion forums amongst many other functions.
Internationally, social media can play a critical role (Herrmann, 2009). Many of the more
popular sites support many different languages. Also, given that the Internet is global, the
infrastructure already exists upon which people from all the world can collaborate online.
Facebook alone supported 63 languages as of the date of this writing, July 28, 2009,
(www.google.com).
Social Convergence
In designing social media to be used in an emergency, it is not sufficient to just take into account
that the public will be active users of the system. How they use the system is critical to
understand so that the needs of the various public activities can be met. Hughes et al. (2008),
after Fritz and Mathewson (1957), describe seven types of convergent behaviors that the public
may engage in on social networks when there is an emergency: helping, being anxious,
returning, supporting, mourning, exploiting, and being curious.
We summarize the behaviors and examples of uses of social media described by Hughes et al.
(2008) below. Helping behavior is that in which people join together to reach out to help others.
For example, Hughes et al. (2008) describe how in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings,
Facebook was used by the community to compile a list of fatalities. Being anxious is where
people use social media to virtually return to the disaster site in search of information to allay
their anxieties. Hughes et al. (2008) tell of how Virginia Tech students monitored their friends
IM and Facebook accounts for indicators that the friends were OK. Returning behavior in the
physical world is where people return to the site of a disaster to assess losses and salvage
property. This is done virtually using social media through such tools as Google maps’ images
to virtually observe the state of neighborhood and property. People come together in supporting
behavior when, for example, in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings tribute pages were
created on Facebook Similarly, mourning through social media has been seen as people gather
together virtually to mourn the victims. Exploiting behavior is unfortunately also a fact of life
(and not a dimension to be supported by social media). After a disaster merchants have sold
commemorative products. Finally, some people converge virtually on social media sites out of
curiosity. Yet, Hughes et al. (2008) note that they may then find themselves drawn to engage in
other behaviors such as helping.
Each of these behaviors may span phases of an emergency and have different social media needs.
For example, helping behavior may be seen in the planning stage of an emergency. People may
10. post on a social media site where resources may be found (e.g., plywood in anticipation of a
hurricane). But helping behavior can also be seen during and after the emergency as well. For
example, sites on which people can search for the missing and post their own well-being status
result in helping behaviors.
Time Phases
Time phases are smaller intervals of time that are sub phases of the existing four phases of
emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery. Killian provides a good
description:
1. “Warning – the period during which information is available about a probable danger, but
before the danger has become immediate, persona, and physically perceivable;
2. Impact – the period during which the destructive agent is actually at work;
3. Emergency – the post impact period during which rescue, first-aid, emergency medical
care, and other emergency tasks are performed;
4. Recovery – the period which begins roughly as the emergency crisis passes and during
which longer-term activities of reconstruction, rehabilitation, and recovery proceed”
(Killian, 2009).
The time phase of the emergency needs to be considered when implementing social media. This
is important, for example, immediately after the crisis is when the highest number of responders
may be entering the scene. This is also the phase in which the least amount of information is
available (Sutton, et al, 2008). Damage assessments could be reported more quickly and from a
greater number of people, the distribution of resources could be better managed to maximize
their scale of operations given the timely and diverse information. It’s these particular times of
need when information is most needed, but least available, that social media can be play a larger
role providing information a new path of communicating where few avenues existed previously.
This opens up new opportunities and potential threats which require further exploration.
Spatial Zones
Spatial Zones are the geographic areas defined where there exists a spectrum of total destruction
to normalcy. Zones are defined as such: First is the Impact Zone which is defined as the
devastated area. This area is further divided into two more zones, the Total and then Fringe
Impact Zones. These zones are more clearly divided given the particularly event type such as a
hurricane versus a pandemic. Second, a Filter Zone is defined as the fuzzy area “where the flows
of persons and goods in and out of the stricken area meet and where first-aid stations, traffic
control points and other functions tend to be located” (Killian, 2002). The areas merge as some
areas have partial damage and can be used for uses such as a parking lot for the electricity
company vehicles. This is very important to consider during the Preparation phase for
emergency managers. For example, county emergency managers in the states that line the Gulf
of Mexico must forecast and designate sites where the large groups of helpers (Social
Convergence Dimension) will be located during the response phase. These can be volunteer
11. organizations or energy companies. After a hurricane hits an area, the first thing that must
happen is that the roads must be cleared of debris so that electricity and water and other basic
utilities can be restored to the facilities that need it most. Trees must be cut off of lines before
power can be restored. Social media would help information get into the worst hit areas quicker
as those from the Filter Zone can come and go, recharging and then using text messaging for
efficiency purposes. It’s in the Filter Zone, in particular, where social media may provide a tool,
especially enhancing the citizen’s role of participation in information acquisition that these Web
2.0 technologies may offer solutions where none existed before (Palen and Liu, 2007).
The Matrix
We provide a matrix as an aid to see how these dimensions interact (see Table 2). Many
considerations can be derived by reading from the first row’s dimensions and how they relate to
the items in the first column. But it only takes one example to show that many of these
dimensions should be considered at once. Also, not all of the dimensions have to be taken into
account because they may not all pertain to the given situation. Also, only one phase of many in
a dimension may be of use. It’s these combinations of dimensions that need to be explored
further as they can create a template of usage that has a foundation of use, but it flexible enough
to fit the volatile nature of events.
Event Phase Stakeholders Levels of Social Time Spatial
Size of EM Government Convergence Phases Zones
Size of Event
Phase of EM
Stakeholders
Levels of
Government
Social
Convergence
Time Phases
Spatial Zones
Table 2. Matrix of Associations and Influences Between Dimensions
To drill down further and analyze one dimension against the others is one approach to find which
dimensions should be considered together for particular uses, Table 3.
12. Event Phase Stakeholders Levels of Social Time Spatial
Size of EM Government Convergence Phases Zones
Size of Event
Table 3. Drill Down on Matrix of Dimensions
For example, take the Size of event (emergency, disaster, and catastrophe) as it relates to the
Phases of Emergency Management (preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery). Next,
consider the Stakeholders involved in the various situations posed by the two prior dimensions.
To increase community resilience, consider the Preparedness phase, human networking and
maintaining relationships between local stakeholders and also those in neighboring districts can
be strengthened using sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn (Plotnick, et al, 2009). Private groups
pooling together, public groups, churches, firefighters, Red Cross, and civilians emergency
trained groups like CERT can create, maintain and strengthen relationships amongst members of
organizations and organizations with government officials, etc. (White, , 2009). Exercises can be
better coordinated as communications are increased due to the number of technologies and
avenues in which information can be exchanged. Social media and Web 2.0 technologies need
further exploration and lessons learned need to be documented with the dimensions identified so
that others can begin using these best practices identified in the field.
Conclusion
In this social media blitz, dimensions need to be studied further to better understand how they
interact with one another and in what way social media can be effectively utilized. Certain ‘best
practices’ for social media need to be developed where the ideas are tested for effectiveness.
Thus, design of social media must take into consideration the ways that the public will use it, not
just the fact that they use it. The more that the needs of the public are considered, the more they
can be active participants in preparation for, response to, and recovery from emergencies. The
public is an untapped source of help in mitigating the deleterious effects of emergency situations.
A concern is that due to the present lack of expectations of emergency management, will
officials be able to handle all of the information being uploaded to them? Who will monitor all
of this incoming information? There is going to have to be a role developed for a person or a
group of people will monitor, filter and redistribute information where social networks are
concerned.
Security issues need to be addressed as well: “The mechanisms for social networking were
never designed for security and filtering," said an unnamed source at U.S. Strategic Command
in the blog entry. "They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious
code to unsuspecting users. It’s just a fact of life" (Shachtman, 2009). Social media was
designed for social interactions. But, it has been appropriated by emergency personnel and can
be used effectively during all phases of an emergency as long as the special considerations,
such as security, of the emergency domain are addressed. Identifying the dimensions of an
emergency to consider is a first step in identifying the emergency domain’s needs for social
media characteristics and functionality. Much is yet to be understood but the potential is clearly
there for effective use of social media in emergencies.
13. References
Collins, H. Emergency Managers and First Responders Use Twitter and Facebook to Update Communities,
Emergency Management Magazine. July 27, 2009, http://www.emergencymgmt.com/safety/Emergency-Managers-
and-First.html.
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