Kate Starbird, & Jeannie Stamberger. (2010). Tweak the tweet: Leveraging microblogging proliferation with a prescriptive syntax to support citizen reporting. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a low-tech solution for use by microbloggers that could enhance their ability to rapidly produce parsable, crisis-relevant information in mass emergencies. We build upon existing research on the use of social media during mass emergencies and disasters. Our proposed intervention aims to leverage the affordances of mobile microblogging and the drive to support citizen reporting within current behavioral Twitter-based microblogging practice. We introduce a prescriptive, tweet-based syntax that could increase the utility of information generated during emergencies by gently reshaping current behavioral practice. This offering is grounded in an understanding of current trends in norm evolution of Twitter use, an evolution that has progressed quickly but appears to be stabilizing around specific textual conventions.
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Kate Starbird, & Leysia Palen. (2010). Pass it on?: Retweeting in mass emergency. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: We examine microblogged information generated during two different co-occurring natural hazards events in Spring 2009. Due to its rapid and widespread adoption, microblogging in emergency response is a place for serious consideration and experimentation for future application. Because microblogging is comprised of a set of practices shaped by a number of forces, it is important to measure and describe the diffuse, multiparty information exchange behaviors to anticipate how emergency governance might best play a role. Here we direct consideration toward information propagation properties in the Twitterverse, describing features of information redistribution related to the retweet (RT ) convention. Our analysis shows that during an emergency, for tweets authored by local users and tweets that contain emergency-related search terms, retweets are more likely than non-retweets to be about the event. We note that users are more likely to retweet information originally distributed through Twitter accounts run by media, especially the local media, and traditional service organizations. Comparing local users to the broader audience, we also find that tweet-based information redistribution is different for those who are local to an emergency event.
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