This article mentions how during Hurricane Katrina, volunteers used Google Maps to identify homes in the area and created a community for those that needed assistance. This was very similar to Collins' (2011) article in that during the crisis in Haiti, volunteers used Google Maps as well to track and send a quick response to those in need.

Collins (2011)discusses how locals used their mobile phones to reach out to the world and in this article it spoke about how devices were used to spread information among the survivors, provide information to the curious onlookers and to those in need of assistance which shows how during a crisis the power of the people makes a difference. Stephenson & Bonabeau (2007) state that the government need to use the public as full partners in prevention and response management which was also shown in Collins' (2011) article as an area that military forces had to implement.

Sutton (2010) and this article both mention how people do not rely on central authorities because social media and their everyday devices seem to be more efficient in managing disasters. Both articles also spoke about the negatives in social media which is rumours and misinformation spreading through social media and how users can self-correct the information if they are invested to it with the example of Wikipedia in mind.

I found this article reliable because there was a range of references which showed all sides of the spectrum. There was also information about the authors' qualifications which made it more valid. This is a relevant article because it talks about the different issues that affect disaster management and uses Hurricane Katrina as a central example. The article is very useful for this project because the authors' discuss the pros and cons with using social media during disasters which I found very valuable.

References:

Collins, S. (May 19, 2011). Conflict and Disaster Management in a Hyper-connected World - Cooperative, Collaborative, Real Time. Acidlabs. Retrieved from http://www.acidlabs.org/2011/05/19/conflict-and-disaster-management-in-a-hyperconnected-world-cooperative-collaborative-real-time/ (Accessed 16/03/2012)

Stephenson, W.D. & Bonabeau, E. (2007). Expecting the Unexpected: The Need for a Networked Terrorism and Disaster Response Strategy. Homeland Security Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=3.1.3

Sutton, N. J. (2010). Twittering Tennessee: Distributed Networks and Collaboration Following a Technological Disaster. Proceedings of the 7th International ISCRAM Conference. Retrieved from http://www.jeannettesutton.com/uploads/Twittering_Tennessee_FINAL.pdf (Accessed 16/03/2012)

This article relates to "Connected Giving" by Torrey et al. (2007) because they both talk about the two different kinds of communication. In this article, the authors discuss how an "unofficial backchannel" such as Facebook and Twitter can turn into a more formalised system for disaster management and the sharing of information. Torrey et al. (2007) states how online communities are decentralized and how during a disaster they can move to a more centralized community due to the smooth coordination, accountability and consistency.

Both articles argue that people are turning to social media because it helps the disaster survivors, the curious onlookers and the volunteers to find information and to assist others. Torrey et al. (2007) aims to show how ordinary people were coordinating with each other, forming connections in order to help those during a crisis. This was shown in this article by them discussing how the American Red Cross coordinated and flew volunteers into a disaster region and these volunteers were found and managed online.

I found that this article was very reliable because they used a graph and an image as an example of their analysis. There was also a large and various range of references used to make their point in the article. At the end of the article, the authors mentioned briefly what qualifications they had which added to the reliability. This is a relevant article to the topic because it does analyse how social media has made a difference to crisis management which I found very useful as well. The graph and image implemented in the article was very valuable because it showed their results in a visual way.

References:

Hughes, A.L, Liu, S.B, Palen, L & Vieweg, S. (2009). Crisis in a Networked World: Features of Computer-Mediated Communication in the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech Event.
Social Science Computer Review 27: 467. Retrieved from http://ssc.sagepub.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/content/27/4/467.full.pdf+html (Accessed 01/04/2012)

Torrey, C., Burke, M., Lee, M., Dey, A., Fussell, S., & Kiesler, S. (2007). Connected Giving: Ordinary People Coordinating Disaster Relief on the Internet. Human - Computer Interaction Institute, 51. Retrieved from http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=hcii (Accessed 16/03/2012)

This article relates to my case because it is about disaster management and how social media is used by people in different ways. In the article by Smith-Stewart (2012), it states that people were using the Message Board to let their family know that they were safe. There is a link between the two articles because they discuss how social media is used to inform others, raise awareness and also to receive victim requests for assistance. The article also stated how the Army used Twitter to provide news and updates about a crisis and how the Red Cross used Facebook to issue alerts. In the article by Collins (2011), it mentions how the military need to familiarise themselves with social media in order to provide assistance to the volunteers and the victims.

I found this article very reliable because the author is an analyst in American National Government and it was also very recent which made the statistics and the information relevant to what is going on now. There was a large and diverse range of references listed throughout the article which showed that the author received a range of ideas from different sources. The article was relevant to the topic because it discussed how social media is changing the world in which we communicate and how disaster management is becoming easier through this new form of communication. I found it really useful and valuable because it was recent as well as spoke about different issues such as emergency warnings, situational awareness and request for assistance.

References:

Collins, S. (May 19, 2011). Conflict and Disaster Management in a Hyper-connected World - Cooperative, Collaborative, Real Time. Acidlabs. Retrieved from http://www.acidlabs.org/2011/05/19/conflict-and-disaster-management-in-a-hyperconnected-world-cooperative-collaborative-real-time/ (Accessed 16/03/2012)

Lindsay, B. R. (2011). Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations. Congressional Research Service Reports. Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R41987.pdf (Accessed 01/04/2012)

Smith-Stewart, H. (March 2, 2012). Japan's social safety net: Facebook's Disaster Message Board. ZDNet. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/asia/japans-social-safety-net-facebooks-disaster-message-board/1220 (Accessed 16/03/2012)

Torrey, C., Burke, M., Lee, M., Dey, A., Fussell, S., & Kiesler, S. (2007). Connected Giving: Ordinary People Coordinating Disaster Relief on the Internet. Human - Computer Interaction Institute, 51. Retrieved from http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=hcii (Accessed 16/03/2012)

I found this article so important in that it spoke about the different communities and how they are connected. The term "Connected Giving" was defined as people who donate goods and are there as support for those impacted by the crisis. Like the article by Sutton (2010) there are challenges in this that are mentioned such as the establishment of authority in the group, developing trust in each other and most importantly sustaining the group over time. The online tools used, analysed and compared in the article are forums, blogs, personal websites and bulletin boards and how they coordinate different responses to the disaster.

There are two ways in which a community can be organized whether it's by a centralized community or a decentralized community. In this article a centralized community supports smooth coordination, accountability and consistency whereas a decentralized community supports quick action and local professionals. There was a comparison between small and large communities and their way or organizing. Small communities are viewed to have strong ties and develop a more trusting relationship whereas large communities have more resources and offer diverse information but also have weak ties and they serve to link people to new sources of information.

Small blog communities had a moderator to help face the challenges and without a moderator the sustainability would drop. The large forums however face issues of managing the information and developing trust but these challenges can be met over time which maintains the large forums. The authors aimed to not only analyse the different communities but to show how a connection needs to be made for people to donate and volunteer over time. (274 words)

Smith-Stewart, H. (March 2, 2012). Japan's social safety net: Facebook's Disaster Message Board. ZDNet. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/asia/japans-social-safety-net-facebooks-disaster-message-board/1220 (Accessed 16/03/2012)

This article is on a more personal level where social media is used more for letting family and friends know that they are out of harm's way and less about finding and sending volunteers to their aid. I thought this was very valuable because it was a way to not only confirm the safety of victims but also to update everyone on their current situations. People in this online community were active in coordinating meeting points with their family and friends. During the disaster that occurred in Japan, a Disaster Message Board was created to ensure that people had a place to go to when they needed to communicate immediately. Google's 'Person Finder' was also put into place during this crisis for those who were out of the situation to locate and get help for their loved ones.

The Message Board was created because during any crisis, mobile phones become overwhelmed because everyone wants to let their loved ones know that they are okay which can sometimes be hard to get through and so this system is the only reliable way for people to engage quicker. The Message Board had three million active users who were collaborating with each other and also with other companies to find services to help victims.

Even though this was more active during the Japan crisis, it is not limited to it and is for worldwide disasters to find and locate each other. The main point in this article was that social networks such as this Message Board, Facebook, Twitter and many more help society communicate in a more effective way. (266 words)

Sutton, N. J. (2010). Twittering Tennessee: Distributed Networks and Collaboration Following a Technological Disaster. Proceedings of the 7th International ISCRAM Conference. Retrieved from http://www.jeannettesutton.com/uploads/Twittering_Tennessee_FINAL.pdf (Accessed 16/03/2012)

This article not only spoke about the positives but mentioned a negative which was refreshing. It was quite similar to the article by Collin (2011) because it mentioned how connections come together to raise awareness, they have to document the disaster and then organize a quick response for the locals. Offline communities have the capacity to make change and are mostly centralized but can sometimes be limited geographically. The article discusses how online communities are decentralized and they bring about connectivity both physically and socially and this ties in with the idea of micro-volunteering and how people can come together through social media's such as Twitter.

It is a way to spread the word by the use of hash tags and it branches to a worldwide audience which also offers support through the mobilization of information. The article mentions how social media can take the turn for the worst because people can put the wrong information and spread rumours through social networks because of the informal organization. However, the article stated that "wisdom of the crowds" has the capacity to be powerful in that there is a lot of self correction, an example of this would be Wikipedia.

Individuals invested to the information, professionals or citizen editors might monitor online behaviours to make sure the truth is being told. Online communities use social media like Twitter in different ways and the first is becoming disaster prepared, having people ready to respond and finding activities in motion for recovery. (248 words)

Collins, S. (May 19, 2011). Conflict and Disaster Management in a Hyper-connected World - Cooperative, Collaborative, Real Time. Acidlabs. Retrieved from http://www.acidlabs.org/2011/05/19/conflict-and-disaster-management-in-a-hyperconnected-world-cooperative-collaborative-real-time/ (Accessed 16/03/2012)

This article is very interesting and it contains a video to complement the text. I chose it because it showed how a movement can begin and empower people to make a change. Locals were empowered because they could have their voices heard by texting in to a specific number letting people know what is going on. It was also mentioned that people in the military sector needed to become familiarized in technologies so that they can communicate with people involved in the volunteering process.

I also thought the dynamic of these movements was very important because it involved trust, having a strong relationship and are aimed to improving a worldwide knowledge as well as strengthening the capacity to respond quickly and efficiently. The people in need were using mobile phones in order to ask for help and the volunteers responded with what they need and where they are. One of the important tools that was created was crisis mapping and this was implemented in order for the volunteers to know where the crisis was anywhere in the world.

The volunteers faced the challenge of interpreting the messages that were in different languages and during the earthquake in Haiti they found a way to put the texts online and volunteers from all over the world could translate it to make sure that all the messages that were coming in found assistance. This is a form of micro-volunteering which has helped people in Haiti, Libya, Japan and many more. The process of using twitter to let people know what is happening, finding the location on Google Maps and tracking, inspired a quick response to the people in need. The main aim in the article how it is organized is to gather the information, filter it and act on it.(297 words)