This document summarizes a student project about internet communication during crises. It discusses how internet tools like email, websites, YouTube videos, blogs, and online communities were used to communicate information and provide support following the Virginia Tech shooting crisis in 2007. It emphasizes the importance of organizations having crisis communication plans that utilize internet resources to quickly alert affected groups. The project evaluates Virginia Tech's response and lessons learned about using communication technologies during emergencies.

1. RHETORIC 3401: LIVING IN THE NETWORK This is what internet communications means to me. Amber Rose Final Project: SPRING 2007

2. Internet Communications Internet communications allow us to listen, think, feel, touch, see, and embrace others across distances and across times. Internet communications have become an engagement of social interactions in work, school, and our personal lives. In a perfect world internet communications simply allow us to stay connected. This was the social importance I praised with online communications until the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech University, in which internet communications began to take on a more important necessary means of communication during specific times in life. These specific times will be clarified throughout this project as a CRISIS. The means in which we communicate during a Crisis is through a Communication Crisis Plan. Amber Rose

3. Project Purpose To emphasize the importance that internet communication plays during a crisis The following project will not contain graphic material but does evolve out of a recent tragedy that will forever affect America Please review this project in order of the slides and review links accordingly

4. As defined on the largest participatory journalism wiki technology site: A crisis (plural: crises) is a turning point or decisive moment in events. Typically, it is the moment from which an illness may go on to death or recovery. More loosely, it is a term meaning 'a testing time' or 'emergency event‘

5. CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLANS Please review the following hyperlink now: http://www.unirel.vt.edu/about/crisis_plan.php Internet communications become essential steps while responding with procedures such as alerting administration, students, and general public through internal and external communications during a crisis. Found under points 4, 10, 11.

6. CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLANS “ A crisis communication plan should anticipate potential emergency situations and describe how the organization would communicate essential information to all groups of people who may be affected. All employers, whether small or large, should adopt such a plan and identify the members of a designated crisis communication team as well as a principal spokesperson to work with the news media.” Marti Childs and Jeff Marc http://www.refresher.com/!editpros19.html

7. Evaluating the Web Crisis Program Blog: Karine Joy, April 18, 2007 Karine uses her blog one day after the VA Tech events to describe thoughts of the university being in a mode of improvising. http://collegewebeditor.com/blog/index.php/archives/2007/04/18/virginia-tech-tragedy-evaluating-vt-web-crisis-communication-plan/ My thoughts: Crisis and Communication Plans 101 A time to improvise: No; A time to adapt Yes

8. Evaluating the Web Crisis Program Christopher Simpson, CEO of SimpsonScarborough, communication firm, stated the following in regards to VA Tech’s online communication efforts: “ So I think they failed using the Web, which is your most important and valuable communication tool, certainly for the first six to seven hours of this crisis.”

9. Evaluating the Web Crisis Program Anthony Wildom expresses his feelings of the communication efforts in a blog two days following the shootings. “ A Pro-Active Plan I learned in the Air Force that there had to be a plan for every contingency, no matter how seldom such a situation arose — and there had to be training in the plan so that people can respond immediately to the threat. No plan, and no training in activating the plan, results in people standing helpless waiting to be shot and killed. The targets are our students and our colleagyues, and the plans of the experts are not working. On Monday, April 16th, in just the latest school shooting, a suicidal-killer gunman murdered 32 people before he took his own life. Even after it was clear that a gunman was loose on campus, there was no plan to respond to this threat other than to call 911, and wait for the police — whose response was to race to the campus, surround the building in question, set up a security perimeter, and wait. Meanwhile, the suicidal-killer was free to wreck havoc among the unarmed, defenseless faculty, staff and students until he decided to kill himself. Clearly, this response was no better than no response at all.” Finish the blog reading? http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/18/techresponse I believe this quote captures the purpose for Crisis Communication Plans and the Results if not practiced and carried through. Amber Rose

10. Evaluating the Response Blog: Andy Guess, April 18, 2007 Monday, April 17 @ 7:15am first shooting in dorm First campus wide email did not occur until two hours after the dorm shooting “ But the real-time aspect of Mondays crisis, in which some students might still have been in danger weren’t informed of the ongoing situation, sets the situation apart from other mass killings.” Andy Guess http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/18/techresponse

11. Hear from the Leaders In fair representation and respect to the university official that served as leaders in this tragic event I have posted the following link directing you to the Director of Web Communications, Michael Dame’s blog posting: http://collegewebeditor.com/blog/index.php/archives/2007/04/19/virginia-tech-web-team-want-to-thank-you-all/

12. Hear from the Leaders Leaders including Dame are gathering to produce a webinar series to train other organizational leaders in ways to use online sources during times of crisis. The following is a list of workshops copied from their website that will be available to help leaders prepare for crises. The link is to the website is : http://www.higheredexperts.com/webinar/en/webinars/?tx_seminars_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=5 Crisis Communication 2.0 Week - Lessons Learned after the Virginia Tech Tragedy: June 26, 27 & 28, 2007 "Crisis Communications 2.0" Week is a 3-webinar series designed to help people working in universities, colleges and schools plan their communication response to emergencies, deal with crises in the age of tsocial media and benefit from the lessons learned after the Virginia Tech Tragedy -- directly from the source: VT director of Web Communications, Michael Dame. June 26, 1PM-2PM ET Crisis Communication 101: How to Prepare and Plan for Campus Emergencies Joe Hice, Associate Vice President Marketing and Public Relations at the University of Florida will share his experience planning, testing and implementing UF crisis communication plan set up to deal with the numerous hurricanes hitting Florida. June 27, 1PM-2PM ET Crisis Communication 2.0: How to Deal with Scares in the Age of Web 2.0 Andrew Careaga, Director of Communicationsat the University of Missouri-Rolla, will share his experience dealing with the blogosphere and other social media outlets after an international graduate student claiming to have a bomb and anthrax was subdued by campus police, arrested and charged with six felonies last February. June 28, 1PM-2PM ET From the Inside Out: Lessons Learned in Crisis Web Communications after the Virginia Tech Tragedy Michael Dame, Director of Web Communicationsat Virginia Tech, will provide an insider look and analysis of his institution's Web communications after the tragedy, helping every institution understand what happened and prepare for the unthinkable and the unplanned.

13. Internet Tools used for Communication following Events Streaming Video YouTube Used to gather individuals throughout the nation. Videos of emotion and courage representing the strength of those affected by the tragedy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cSuidxE8os YouTube Television networks are able to have videos posted online. This following video is between a shooting event and MSNBC posted just one day after the event. http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v =kvKS7SByH3w

14. Internet Tools used for Communication following Events Online Websites MSNBC The Associated Press and Reuters. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18264016/

15. Internet Tools used for Communication following Events Online Communities This online community was created as a forum to allow people to post grief, thoughts, feelings, support and to find comfort in regards to the VA Tech events http:// www.otrib.com/community/forums/?CategoryID =8

16. Internet Tools used for Communication following Events Blogging My favorite blog site as site previously in this project: http://collegewebeditor.com/blog/index.php/archives/2007/04/18/virginia-tech-tragedy-evaluating-vt-web-crisis-communication-plan/ I feel that this site was created as a non-biased tool to discuss the communication efforts and response of the VA crisis. I believe it stands out among other blogs because of the variety of participants. There were students, university officials, and communication efforts, that all were able to engage in good dialogue surrounding the topic. Amber Rose

17. Learning from the Project The opportunity to evaluate the use of internet tools while in response mode to crisis situations. For example preparing emergency template emails and utilizing mass emails immediately after a crisis begins. The importance of directors and administrators within organizations. It is these individuals that must be update on how to utilize these internet resources. There should be practice and preparation methods taken for emergency situations. Students, faculty, and the general public should be aware of crisis language and the resources that will be used to alert them. I these crisis events really show how the internet becomes a global communication forum for showing support to victims. The internet becomes a mean of providing information and a social community. I had the opportunity to communicate with others throughout the United States via Facebook and blogging in regards of the VA Tech crisis.

18. Learning from Rhet 3401 Web 2.0 Gender communication online Virtual Cross dressing Online Communities Participation in Facebook Wikipedia Daily use of Wikipedia Appreciate that it is a definition based on collaboration of users Viral Marketing Great addition to my marketing education File Sharing Articles challenging my view on the ethics of file sharing Podcasting & Vodcasting