Channel 4 News Team

When a Doctors Without Borders cargo plane full of medicine was blocked from landing at the congested Port-au-Prince airport, the group sent out a tweet about the blockage.Twitter users then began to bombard the U.S. Air Force's Twitter account with demands that the plane be let in.

We're working it right now. More to follow

Social media key in Haiti earthquake coverage Technology played a key role in early coverage of the earthquake in Haiti.

With telephone service toppled due to the earthquake, those on the ground turned to Skype to speak with the media, aid organizations, or to communicate with loved ones overseas. A Connecticut-based missionary organization that works in Haiti used Skype to communicate with their people there to get a sense of the devastation…. What’s not clear, however, is whether Haitians are using these technologies to communicate and help each other. From what I’ve seen so far, the use of tools like Twitter and Facebook are more helpful for delivering news about Haiti to the outside world instead of aiding those directly affected by the crisis–a recurring theme that we’ve already seen play out in places like Iran and India.

How Social Networks and Mobile Tech Helped in Haiti

Social Media Aid the Haiti Relief Effort

GTS Exhibits Geospatial Photo Technology Used in Haiti at the 2012 International Disaster Conference and Expo

In Haiti earthquake coverage, social media gives victim a voice

The traditional definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. With the rapid development of new technologies, the nature of literacy is undergoing a rapid metamorphosis

Currently, there are at least twenty-five million illiterate people in this country and this number is increasing rapidly

Why does Twitter verify accounts? Verification is currently used to establish authenticity of identities on Twitter. The verified badge helps users discover high-quality sources of information and trust that a legitimate source is authoring the account’s Tweets.

What is a verified account? Any account with a blue verified badge on their Twitter profile is a verified account. 

What kinds of accounts get verified? Twitter proactively verifies accounts on an ongoing basis to make it easier for users to find who they’re looking for. We concentrate on highly sought users in music, acting, fashion, government, politics, religion, journalism, media, advertising, business, and other key interest areas. We verify business partners from time to time and individuals at high risk of impersonation.

Educational technology is nudging literacy instruction beyond its oral and print-based tradition to embrace online and electronic texts as well as multimedia.

Computers are creating new opportunities for writing and collaborating.

The Internet is constructing global bridges for students to communicate, underscoring the need for rock-solid reading and writing skills. By changing the way that information is absorbed, processed, and used, technology is influencing how people read, write, listen, and communicate.

While the long-term effects of television viewing in the early years are often up for debate, pediatricians and researchers can agree that young children who watch television need supervision and guidelines for the amount of television to which they are exposed and the types of shows they can access. Young children are constantly in the process of developing their ability to understand information and make sense of what is real and what is pretend. Exposing children to developmentally inappropriate information and images on television can leave them feeling confused, frightened or upset. This is why choosing appropriate television shows for your children is a critical element of their development. The good news is, watching developmentally appropriate programming with your children can have many positive benefits (bonding between caregiver and child, the introduction of new vocabulary words, exploring new places together, etc.). Thankfully, there are lots of exceptional television shows for young children that are fun and engaging and that can help children build their early literacy skills along the way.

Educational Television and Literacy Copyright Microsoft Clipart Reading and pre-reading skills are significant predictors of academic achievement for students entering elementary skills. As a result, the literacy-related skills a child develops during the preschool age create the foundation for long term educational success. Considering the amount of media consumed by contemporary children, it is necessary to consider the effects of media on early literacy skills. Does media help or harm a child’s ability to learn to read? Should parents of preschool children be exposing their children to certain forms and content? The news articles below present attempts by educational television producers to assist in developing young children’s literacy skills. The research articles below consider the effects of both educational and entertainment media on preschool age children’s pre-reading and reading abilities.

Social Media Coverage of the Haiti Earthquake

Social Media Gets First Haiti Earthquake Pictures

Once again, social media has provided information on a huge breaking story before the news networks are able to provide full coverage. The Haiti earthquake has made news but if you’ve been looking for photos of the destruction, you needed to be hanging out on social media to find them. Within a few hours of the earthquake, photos were appearing on TwitPic, uploaded by those who were in Haiti during the earthquake.

Social media has proven time and again to be faster than the news and search engines, from Michael Jackson’s death to the Haiti earthquake and while it might not be quite as reliable as CNN, social networks are now what people are starting to look to for the latest in breaking news.

Social Media was the first to tell the story Despite being the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti’s Internet connected devices were key implements in telling the rest of the globe about the emerging crisis. Twitter Twitter was a key tool for distributing images and information from Haiti — just as it has been in a number of other crises across the globe. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that images sent via Twitpic and other Twitter-based photo services were hitting the Internet long before news agencies produced anything similar. And as Haitian officials were giving their reports on what happened, eyewitness accounts from Haitians in messages of 140 characters or less were already widespread. People were given further insight when the Los Angeles Times published a list of Twitter users believed to be tweeting from Haiti.

Larisa Epatko

Kate Starbird, a graduate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, studies the use of Twitter during crises.

But by the third day, they decided to go ahead and launch a Twitter initiative several months in the making, called "Tweak the Tweet". The objective is to repurpose tweets with a syntax, or language structure, in order to streamline the process of connecting people with specific needs in emergency situations with those who can provide it.

Interactive maps and SMS (Short Message Service) texts helped guide search-and-rescue teams and find people in need of critical supplies, as the Caribbean nation became a real-world laboratory for new communication tools.

“The Haitian experience strongly suggests that digital media and information technology can significantly improve relief efforts with the right on-the-ground coordination,” said Mayur Patel, Knight Foundation’s director of strategic assessment and assistant to the president. “Better integrating these tools into recovery efforts can help save lives in coming crises.”

Reports of trapped people and medical emergencies collected by text were plotted on an online map then used by relief workers.

International aid workers are scrambling to rebuild communications in Haiti following the devastating January 12 earthquake, while people outside the country are using high-tech means to raise money for relief.

The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) said Thursday it was immediately deploying 40 satellite terminals for basic communications, along with 60 other terminals with satellite broadband capability.

rganizations, are bringing in new equipment to reconnect citizens and aid workers with the rest of the world.

Haiti Earthquake Facts and Figures

IMpact of the 12 January earthquake 7.0 Magnitude Quake struck near Port au Prince 3,500,000 people were affected by the quake 220,000 people estimated to have died 300,000+ people were injured Over 188,383 houses were badly damaged and 105,000 were destroyed by the earthquake (293,383 in total), 1.5m people became homeless After the quake there were 19 million cubic metres of rubble and debris in Port au Prince – enough to fill a line of shipping containers stretching end to end from London to Beirut. 4,000 schools were damaged or destroyed 25% of civil servants in Port au Prince died 60% of Government and administrative buildings, 80% of schools in Port-au-Prince and 60% of schools in the South and West Departments were destroyed or damaged Over 600,000 people left their home area in Port-au-Prince and mostly stayed with host families At its peak, one and a half million people were living in camps including over 100,000 at critical risk from storms and flooding Unrelated to the earthquake but causing aid response challenges was the outbreak of cholera in October 2010. By July 2011 5,899 had died as a result of the outbreak, and 216,000 were infected

Twitter Helps in Haiti Quake Coverage, Aid

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Twitter has proven to be an important tool for fundraising and relief efforts to help the disaster’s victims.

According to Twitter.com, five of the most popular topics posted Thursday on the mini-blogging site were related to Haiti, where the death toll from a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck on Tuesday might have surpassed 100,000.