Irina Shklovski and the use of ICT in natural disasters: a lecture at the IT University of Copenhagen
richar...@telenor.com
There was a nice talk last week at the IT Univ. in Copenhagen by Irina Shklovski http://www.ics.uci.edu/~ishklovs/.
Irina talked about her work looking into the use of ICTs in natural disasters. Specifically she looked at the way that peer to peer communications were used in the aftermath of Katrina and in the wild fires in southern California. In general people were using different networking tools to gather very specific information on what was happening on their street or in their neighborhood.
This is an interesting application. The news coverage is perhaps more interested in ratings or spectacular footage so they show the same house burning in all their reports. The authorities have several different agendas. If we are kind, the perspective of the government is to insure public safety and the need to control different types of looting. Thus there are a lot of different expectations and a lot of different issues that can come into conflict.
ICTs tilt the balance towards the local individuals and their needs. They are able to put up a sites on the net and use mobile phones for exchanging information. This can give them a sense of relief or inform them as information is discovered.
It is interesting to think that it can also give rise to rumor and (for example in the case of arson with the LA fires) there is the potential for vigilantism. From the perspective of the authorities, the information gathering also gives rise to different types of headaches. For example, if an area is closed off because of imminent danger (like in the fires in Australia) but a person takes upon themselves the responsibility to report on the situation in the closed off area, they are putting themself in danger and eventually the people who would need to rescue them (and who might be better used to deal with the disaster). Thus there are some interesting questions to be asked.
There is also the issue of what is legitimate news and what is rumor mongering. Tamotsu Shibutani wrote about rumor in the case of different emergencies (the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 and the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing). He noted that rumor arose as a result of a dramatic situation and the breakdown of official or at least traditional forms of information diffusion. There was a type of vacuum that developed as people sought information. Thus different types of rumor arose as to e causes of the disaster or where different types of help were available.
It might be that some of the same issues arise, and perhaps accelerated, with the ICT based systems. Indeed it might be that easy access to what we might call unconfirmed information may support the development of rumor.
Thus, on the one hand the blogs and postings can serve a vital information function. At the same time, there are some interesting dimensions to the issue of ICT use in these situations.
Rich L.
The link to the Ning site is:
http://mobilesociety.ning.com/profiles/blogs/irina-shklovski-at-the-it