Amanda Hughes, Keri Stephens, Steve Peterson, Hemant Purohit, Anastazja G. Harris, Yasas Senarath, et al. (2022). Human-AI Teaming for COVID-19 Response: A Practice & Research Collaboration Case Study. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 1048–1057). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: Practice and research collaborations in the disaster domain have the potential to improve emergency management practices while also advancing disaster science theory. However, they also pose challenges as practitioners and researchers each have their own culture, history, values, incentives, and processes that do not always facilitate collaboration. In this paper, we reflect on a 6-month practice and research collaboration, where researchers and practitioners worked together to craft a social media monitoring system for emergency managers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges we encountered in this project fall into two broad categories, job-related and timescale challenges. Using prior research on team science as a guide, we discuss several challenges we encountered in these two categories and show how our team sought to overcome them. We conclude with a set of best practices for improving practice and research collaborations.
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Amanda L. Hughes, Leysia Palen, Jeannette N. Sutton, Sophia B. Liu, & Sara Vieweg. (2008). Site-seeing in disaster: An examination of on-line social convergence. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 324–333). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: On-line websites and applications are increasingly playing a role in disaster response and recovery. Yet with the wide variety of on-line grassroots activities that occur in such situations, it can be difficult to make sense of them. In this paper, we describe on-line behavior as socially convergent activity, interpreting it within existing sociological understandings of behavior in disaster events. We discuss seven types of convergent behavior and give examples of on-line activities for each type. By seeing these activities as an essential part of the disaster social arena, we can begin to think about how to support socially convergent phenomena in new and creative ways.
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Apoorva Chauhan, & Amanda Lee Hughes. (2015). Facebook and Twitter Adoption by Hurricane Sandy-affected Police and Fire Departments. In L. Palen, M. Buscher, T. Comes, & A. Hughes (Eds.), ISCRAM 2015 Conference Proceedings ? 12th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Kristiansand, Norway: University of Agder (UiA).
Abstract: We report initial findings around the Facebook and Twitter adoption trends of 840 fire and police departments affected by Hurricane Sandy. The data show that adoption increased during the time period directly surrounding Hurricane Sandy. Despite this increase, the creation of new online accounts since that time has been declining and overall adoption rates seem to be stabilizing. Lastly, the data report Facebook to be significantly more popular than Twitter as a form of online communication for these fire and police departments.
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Apoorva Chauhan, & Amanda Lee Hughes. (2016). Online Mentioning Behavior during Hurricane Sandy: References, Recommendations, and Rebroadcasts. In A. Tapia, P. Antunes, V.A. Bañuls, K. Moore, & J. Porto (Eds.), ISCRAM 2016 Conference Proceedings ? 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Abstract: Large-scale crisis events require coordination between the many responding stakeholders to provide timely, relevant, and accurate information to the affected public. In this paper, we examine how social media can support these coordinated public information efforts. This research considers how emergency responders mentioned different organizations, institutions, and individuals by examining the social media communications of police and fire departments during Hurricane Sandy. We find that these departments use mentions to reference other sources of information, recommend credible information and sources, and rebroadcast information. These mentions offer insight into how emergency responders fit within a broader crisis information network and the types of entities that responders trust and recommend to provide information to the public.
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Apoorva Chauhan, & Amanda Lee Hughes. (2018). Social Media Resources Named after a Crisis Event. In Kees Boersma, & Brian Tomaszeski (Eds.), ISCRAM 2018 Conference Proceedings – 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 573–583). Rochester, NY (USA): Rochester Institute of Technology.
Abstract: Crisis Named Resources (CNRs) are the social media accounts and pages named after a crisis event. CNRs typically appear spontaneously after an event as places for information exchange. They are easy to find when searching for information about the event. Yet in most cases, it is unclear who manages these resources. Thus, it is important to understand what kinds of information they provide and what role they play in a response. This paper describes a study of Facebook and Twitter CNRs around the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire. We report on CNR lifecycles, and their relevance to the event. Based on the information provided by these resources, we categorize them into 8 categories: donations, fundraisers, prayers, reactions, reports, needs and offers, stories, and unrelated. We also report on the most popular CNR on both Facebook and Twitter. We conclude by discussing the role of CNRs and the need for future investigation.
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Andrea Bellucci, Alessio Malizia, Paloma Díaz, & Ignacio Aedo. (2010). Framing the design space for novel crisis-related mashups: The eStoryS example. 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: Web 2.0 can be viewed as a platform where users can develop their own web applications. It is also characterized by a vast amount of user-generated contents presenting spatial and temporal components, by means of associated metadata. These metadata has been successfully exploited to generate map-based mashups (web applications gathering data from different sources) facing different kind of crisis situations, ranging from natural disasters (earthquakes, wildfires, floods...) to human-made disasters (terrorist attacks, school shootings, conflicts...). The social and collaborative dimensions of the Web 2.0 can be also exploited for managing crisis-related information. We present here a survey of current crisis-related mashups we employed to extract design dimensions and provide a conceptual framework that can be used: A) to understand current systems and; b) to design next generation of crisis-related mashups. We propose the eStoryS system as an example of application developed following the design principles presented in this paper. On the basis of our analysis, we believe that the design dimensions posited here provide useful insights for the design of novel web mashups in the emergency management domain.
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Jesse Blum, Genovefa Kefalidou, Robert Houghton, Martin Flintham, Unna Arunachalam, & Murray Goulden. (2014). Majority report: Citizen empowerment through collaborative sensemaking. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 767–771). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: In the past crisis sensemaking activities have primarily been controlled by professional emergency responders and the media. Social media, however, has the potential to see a shift towards more grassroots and ad hoc citizen engagement. This paper sets out our vision and our progress in implementation of a new online platform called 'Majority Report', which aims to empower citizen sensemaking activities around crisis events. The concept is to facilitate citizen volunteers to draw together a range of digital media (photographs, Tweets, videos, etc.) to present stories of crisis events, and thus demarcate arguments about different understandings in terms of the temporal ordering of event narrative components and their relations to each other. Through collaborative usages of the platform, accounts may be improved by others, and variants may be presented and compared to challenge existing assumptions and beliefs.
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Soudip Roy Chowdhury, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Rizwan Asghar, Amer-Yahia, S., & Carlos Castillo. (2013). Tweet4act: Using incident-specific profiles for classifying crisis-related messages. In J. Geldermann and T. Müller S. Fortier F. F. T. Comes (Ed.), ISCRAM 2013 Conference Proceedings – 10th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 834–839). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: We present Tweet4act, a system to detect and classify crisis-related messages communicated over a microblogging platform. Our system relies on extracting content features from each message. These features and the use of an incident-specific dictionary allow us to determine the period type of an incident that each message belongs to. The period types are: Pre-incident (messages talking about prevention, mitigation, and preparedness), during-incident (messages sent while the incident is taking place), and post-incident (messages related to the response, recovery, and reconstruction). We show that our detection method can effectively identify incident-related messages with high precision and recall, and that our incident-period classification method outperforms standard machine learning classification methods.
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Cody Buntain, Richard Mccreadie, & Ian Soboroff. (2021). Incident Streams 2020: TRECIS in the Time of COVID-19. In Anouck Adrot, Rob Grace, Kathleen Moore, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2021 Conference Proceedings – 18th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 621–639). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Between 2018 and 2019, the Incident Streams track (TREC-IS) has developed standard approaches for classifying the types and criticality of information shared in online social spaces during crises, but the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 has shifted the landscape of online crises substantially. While prior editions of TREC-IS have lacked data on large-scale public-health emergencies as these events are exceedingly rare, COVID-19 has introduced an over-abundance of potential data, and significant open questions remain about how existing approaches to crisis informatics and datasets built on other emergencies adapt to this new context. This paper describes how the 2020 edition of TREC-IS has addressed these dual issues by introducing a new COVID-19-specific task for evaluating generalization of existing COVID-19 annotation and system performance to this new context, applied to 11 regions across the globe. TREC-IS has also continued expanding its set of target crises, adding 29 new events and expanding the collection of event types to include explosions, fires, and general storms, making for a total of 9 event types in addition to the new COVID-19 events. Across these events, TREC-IS has made available 478,110 COVID-related messages and 282,444 crisis-related messages for participant systems to analyze, of which 14,835 COVID-related and 19,784 crisis-related messages have been manually annotated. Analyses of these new datasets and participant systems demonstrate first that both the distributions of information type and priority of information vary between general crises and COVID-19-related discussion. Secondly, despite these differences, results suggest leveraging general crisis data in the COVID-19 context improves performance over baselines. Using these results, we provide guidance on which information types appear most consistent between general crises and COVID-19.
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Cody Buntain, Richard Mccreadie, & Ian Soboroff. (2022). Incident Streams 2021 Off the Deep End: Deeper Annotations and Evaluations in Twitter. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 584–604). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: This paper summarizes the final year of the four-year Text REtrieval Conference Incident Streams track (TREC-IS), which has produced a large dataset comprising 136,263 annotated tweets, spanning 98 crisis events. Goals of this final year were twofold: 1) to add new categories for assessing messages, with a focus on characterizing the audience, author, and images associated with these messages, and 2) to enlarge the TREC-IS dataset with new events, with an emphasis of deeper pools for sampling. Beyond these two goals, TREC-IS has nearly doubled the number of annotated messages per event for the 26 crises introduced in 2021 and has released a new parallel dataset of 312,546 images associated with crisis content – with 7,297 tweets having annotations about their embedded images. Our analyses of this new crisis data yields new insights about the context of a tweet; e.g., messages intended for a local audience and those that contain images of weather forecasts and infographics have higher than average assessments of priority but are relatively rare. Tweets containing images, however, have higher perceived priorities than tweets without images. Moving to deeper pools, while tending to lower classification performance, also does not generally impact performance rankings or alter distributions of information-types. We end this paper with a discussion of these datasets, analyses, their implications, and how they contribute both new data and insights to the broader crisis informatics community.
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Dharma Dailey, & Kate Starbird. (2014). Visible skepticism: Community vetting after Hurricane Irene. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 777–781). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: Social media enable rapid, peer-to-peer information flow during crisis events, affordances that have both positive and negative consequences. The potential for spreading misinformation is a significant concern. Drawing on an empirical study of information-sharing practices in a crisis-affected community in the Catskill Mountains after Hurricane Irene, this paper describes how an ad hoc group of community members, led by a handful of journalists, employed specific work practices to mitigate misinformation. We illustrate how the group appropriated specific tools and performed visible skepticism, among other techniques, to help control the spread of false rumors. These findings suggest implications for the design of tools and the development of best practices for supporting community-led, crowd-powered response efforts during disasters.
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Daniel Auferbauer, Roman Ganhör, & Hilda Tellioglu. (2015). Moving Towards Crowd Tasking for Disaster Mitigation. In L. Palen, M. Buscher, T. Comes, & A. Hughes (Eds.), ISCRAM 2015 Conference Proceedings ? 12th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Kristiansand, Norway: University of Agder (UiA).
Abstract: Advancements in information and communication technology (ICT) offer new possibilities when dealing with crisis situations. In this paper we present the design for a crowd tasking tool (CTT) that is currently under development. We describe how the tool can assist disaster relief coordinators during a crisis by selectively distributing tasks to a crowd of volunteers. We also compare the CTT with an already existing ICT based solution for supporting volunteerism during crisis. The differences between these two tools are addressed and the implications for volunteerism are discussed. The paper concludes with an outlook on future work emphasizing a form of volunteer involvement that offers potential for gathering information that is more relevant and easier to digest for decision-making than information provided solely by self-organised volunteers through social media.
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Daniel Auferbauer, Roman Ganhör, Hilda Tellioglu, & Jasmin Pielorz. (2016). Crowdtasking: Field Study on a Crowdsourcing Alternative. In A. Tapia, P. Antunes, V.A. Bañuls, K. Moore, & J. Porto (Eds.), ISCRAM 2016 Conference Proceedings ? 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Abstract: In this paper we elaborate on the concept of crowdtasking as a form of crowdsourcing. The paper describes the setup and boundaries of a first controlled live field test of a prototypical implementation of a possible crowdtasking workflow. The implemented workflow allows crisis managers rapid intelligence gathering due to direct and tailored task distribution. Practitioners of Crisis and Disaster Management and volunteer managers who were present during the field test made favourable comments on the approach and its implementation. The analysis of the records and the conducted interviews give new insights and ideas for further development.
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Shideh Dashti, Leysia Palen, Mehdi P. Heris, Kenneth M. Anderson, T. Jennings Anderson, & Scott Anderson. (2014). Supporting disaster reconnaissance with social media data: A design-oriented case study of the 2013 Colorado floods. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 632–641). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: Engineering reconnaissance following an extreme event is critical in identifying the causes of infrastructure failure and minimizing such consequences in similar future events. Typically, however, much of the data about infrastructure performance and the progression of geological phenomena are lost during the event or soon after as efforts move to the recovery phase. A better methodology for reliable and rapid collection of perishable hazards data will enhance scientific inquiry and accelerate the building of disaster-resilient cities. In this paper, we explore ways to support post-event reconnaissance through the strategic collection and reuse of social media data and other remote sources of information, in response to the September 2013 flooding in Colorado. We show how tweets, particularly with postings of visual data and references to location, may be used to directly support geotechnical experts by helping to digitally survey the affected region and to navigate optimal paths through the physical space in preparation for direct observation.
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Elodie Fichet, John Robinson, Dharma Dailey, & Kate Starbird. (2016). Eyes on the Ground: Emerging Practices in Periscope Use during Crisis Events. In A. Tapia, P. Antunes, V.A. Bañuls, K. Moore, & J. Porto (Eds.), ISCRAM 2016 Conference Proceedings ? 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Abstract: This empirical analysis examines the use of the live-streaming application Periscope in three crises that occurred in 2015. Qualitative analyses of tweets relating to the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia, Baltimore protests after Freddie Grey?s death, and Hurricane Joaquin flooding in South Carolina reveal that this recently deployed application is being used by both citizens and journalists for information sharing, crisis coverage and commentary. The accessibility and immediacy of live video directly from crisis situations, and the embedded chats which overlay on top of a video feed, extend the possibilities of real-time interaction between remote crowds and those on the ground in a crisis. These empirical findings suggest several potential challenges and opportunities for responders.
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Encarnación, T., & Wilks, C. R. (2023). Role of Expressed Emotions on the Retransmission of Help-Seeking Messages during Disasters. In Jaziar Radianti, Ioannis Dokas, Nicolas Lalone, & Deepak Khazanchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 340–352). Omaha, USA: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Abstract: Emergency managers rely on formal and informal communication channels to identify needs in post-disaster environments. Message retransmission is a critical factor to ensure that help-seekers are identified by disaster responders. This paper uses a novel annotated dataset of Twitter posts from four major disasters that impacted the United States in 2021, to quantify the effect that expressed emotions and support typology have on retransmission. Poisson regression models are estimated, and the results show that messages seeking instrumental support are more likely to be retransmitted. Expressions of anger, fear, and sadness increase overall retweets. Moreover, expressions of anger, anticipation, or sadness increase the likelihood of retransmission for messages that seek instrumental help.
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Fedor Vitiugin, & Carlos Castillo. (2019). Comparison of Social Media in English and Russian During Emergencies and Mass Convergence Events. In Z. Franco, J. J. González, & J. H. Canós (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management. Valencia, Spain: Iscram.
Abstract: Twitter is used for spreading information during crisis events. In this paper, we first retrieve event-related information
posted in English and Russian during six disasters and sports events that received wide media coverage in both
languages, using an adaptive information filtering method for automating the collection of about 100 000 messages.
We then compare the contents of these messages in terms of 17 informational and linguistic features using a
difference in differences approach. Our results suggest that posts in each language are focused on different types
of information. For instance, almost 50% of the popular people mentioned in these messages appear exclusively
in either the English messages or the Russian messages, but not both. Our results also suggest differences in the
adoption of platform mechanics during crises between Russian-speaking and English-speaking users. This has
important implications for data collection during crises, which is almost always focused on a single language.
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Grace, R., Montarnal, A., Petitdemange, E., Rutter, J., Rodriguez, G. R., & Potts, M. (2023). Collaborative Information Seeking during a 911 Call Surge: A Case Study. In Jaziar Radianti, Ioannis Dokas, Nicolas Lalone, & Deepak Khazanchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 649–662). Omaha, USA: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Abstract: This case study examines collaborative information seeking in a public-safety answering point during a 911 call surge that occurred when a man fired an assault rifle at police officers and evaded capture for nearly an hour in March 2020. Overwhelmed by questionable and imprecise reports from 911 callers, telecommunicators and on scene responders began working together to conduct broad and deep searches for the shooter. Whereas broad searches improved the scope of information gathering by identifying multiple, albeit questionable and imprecise, reports of the suspect’s location, deep searches improved the quality of information gathering by investigating 911 callers’ reports using drone, helicopter, and patrol units. These findings suggest requirements for collaborative information seeking in public-safety answering points, including capabilities to conduct broad and deep searches using next-generation 911 technologies, and command and control requirements for triaging these search tasks within inter-organizational emergency response systems.
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Herrera, L. C., & Gjøsæter, T. (2023). Leveraging Crisis Informatics Experts: A co-creating approach for validation of social media research insights. In Jaziar Radianti, Ioannis Dokas, Nicolas Lalone, & Deepak Khazanchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 439–448). Omaha, USA: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Abstract: Validation of findings is a challenge in practice-based research. While analysis is being conducted and findings are being constructed out of data collected in a defined period, practitioners continue with their activities. This issue is exacerbated in the field of crisis management, where high volatility and personnel turnover make the capacity to attend research demands scarce. Therefore, conducting classic member validation is logistically challenging for the researcher. The need for rigor and validity calls for alternative mechanisms to fulfill requirements for academic research. This article presents an approach for validation of results of a qualitative study with public organizations that use social media as a source of information in the context of crisis management. The unavailability of original interview-objects to validate our findings resulted in an alternative validation method that leveraged experts in crisis informatics. By presenting our approach, we contribute to encouraging rigor in qualitative research while maintaining the relationship between practice and academia.
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Thomas Heverin, & Lisl Zach. (2010). Microblogging for crisis communication: Examination of twitter use in response to a 2009 violent crisis in the Seattle-Tacoma, Washington area. 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: This research-in-progress paper reports on the use of microblogging as a communication and information sharing resource during a recent violent crisis. The goal of the larger research effort is to investigate the role that microblogging plays in crisis communication during violent events. The shooting of four police officers and the subsequent 48-hour search for the suspect that took place in the Seattle-Tacoma area of Washington in late November 2009 is used as a case study. A stream of over 6,000 publically available messages on Twitter, a popular microblogging site, was collected and individual messages were categorized as information, opinion, technology, emotion, and action-related. The coding and statistical analyses of the messages suggest that citizens use microblogging as one method to organize and disseminate crisis-related information. Additional research is in progress to analyze the types of information transmitted, the sources of the information, and the temporal trends of information shared.
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Amanda L. Hughes. (2014). Participatory design for the social media needs of emergency public information officers. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 727–736). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: This paper describes the design, execution, and results of a participatory design workshop with emergency public information officers (PIOs). During the workshop, PIOs and researchers explored ideas and designs for supporting the social media needs of PIO work. Results indicate that PIO perceptions of social media have changed as they have learned to incorporate activities of the public into their work, yet they still struggle with issues of trust and liability. Based on workshop design activities, the paper offers a set of design recommendations for supporting the social media needs of PIO work practice such as the ability to monitor, document, and report social media activity.
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Amanda L. Hughes, & Leysia Palen. (2009). Twitter adoption and use in mass convergence and emergency events. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: This paper offers a descriptive account of Twitter (a micro-blogging service) across four high profile, mass convergence events-two emergency and two national security. We statistically examine how Twitter is being used surrounding these events, and compare and contrast how that behavior is different from more general Twitter use. Our findings suggest that Twitter messages sent during these types of events contain more displays of information broadcasting and brokerage, and we observe that general Twitter use seems to have evolved over time to offer more of an information-sharing purpose. We also provide preliminary evidence that Twitter users who join during and in apparent relation to a mass convergence or emergency event are more likely to become long-term adopters of the technology.
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Iva Seto, David Johnstone, & Jennifer Campbell-Meier. (2018). Experts' sensemaking during the 2003 SARS crisis. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 44–55). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: This paper depicts the real-time sensemaking of experts as they worked to combat the first emerging disease of the 21st century: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Newspaper data was analysed from the 2003 SARS crisis, with a Canadian perspective, to follow the process of solving the puzzle of this emerging disease. Retrospective sensemaking is a process that is triggered by the unexpected, which leads to actors gathering information (taking action) in order to consider possible interpretations for the unexpected event. Disease outbreaks serve as sensemaking triggers, and actors engage in retrospective sensemaking to find out the factors involved in how the outbreak happened. Prospective sensemaking (future-oriented) is employed when actors work together to plan how to combat the disease. The newspaper data demonstrate that retrospective and prospective sensemaking are tethered: to make plans to combat a disease, actors first require a collectively agreed upon understanding from which they can generate possibilities for a crisis response. This paper contributes to the field by providing concepts for long-duration crisis sensemaking, as the bulk of organisational research focuses on acute crises such as wildfires, or earthquakes.
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James A. Reep, & Andrea Tapia. (2020). Toward an Organizational Technology Adoption Process (OTAP) for Social Media Integration in a PSAP. In Amanda Hughes, Fiona McNeill, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2020 Conference Proceedings – 17th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 718–729). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Integration of social media in emergency response environments presents specific organizational challenges, such as lack of resources or information credibility. Additionally, there exists individual resistance to change in these environments that could potentially discourage adoption. To identify and understand these challenges, we conducted semi-structured group interviews with emergency call takers and dispatchers. We find that these PSAP operators desire participation and explanation of changes throughout the organizational change process. Participants also articulated they desired training regarding change even when not directly affected. Though change management procedures often call for these strategies, they are commonly overlooked, leaving individuals to imagine worse case scenarios that manifest as additional stress in an already stressful work environment. It is suggested that a formalized change management process which directly addresses the identified challenges within the organizational technology adoption process (OTAP) is needed in order to mitigate undue stress.
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Jennings Anderson, Marina Kogan, Melissa Bica, Leysia Palen, Kenneth Anderson, Rebecca Morss, et al. (2016). Far Far Away in Far Rockaway: Responses to Risks and Impacts during Hurricane Sandy through First-Person Social Media Narratives. In A. Tapia, P. Antunes, V.A. Bañuls, K. Moore, & J. Porto (Eds.), ISCRAM 2016 Conference Proceedings ? 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Abstract: When Hurricane Sandy swept over the US eastern seaboard in October 2012, it was the most tweeted about event at the time. However, some of the most affected areas were underrepresented in the social media conversation about Sandy. Here, we examine the hurricane-related experiences and behaviors shared on Twitter by residents of Far Rockaway, a New York City neighborhood that is geographically and socioeconomically vulnerable to disasters, which was significantly affected by the storm. By carefully filtering the vast Twitter data, we focus on 41 Far Rockaway residents who offer rich personal accounts of their experience with Sandy. Analyzing their first-person narratives, we see risk perception and protective decision-making behavior in their data. We also find themes of invisibility and neglect when residents expressed feeling abandoned by the media, the city government, and the overall relief efforts in the aftermath of Sandy.
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