Anbishop1989's List: 3.6 Digital Citizenship

• (CNN) -- Here's a look at what you need to know about Hurricane Sandy. As a hurricane and post-tropical cyclone, Sandy is responsible for 117 deaths in the U.S. and 69 more in Canada and the Caribbean.
• October 22-November 5, 2012 - Hurricane Sandy, as a hurricane and a post-tropical cyclone, kills at least 117 people in the United States and 69 more in Canada and the Caribbean. The death toll in the U.S includes 53 in New York state, 34 in New Jersey, 12 in Pennsylvania, six in West Virginia, four in Connecticut, one in Maryland, and seven elsewhere in the U.S.

• A Twitter user who posted a series of fake news updates, many of which were reported by international media outlets, has apologized for his actions after being outed by an Internet sleuth.

  Quite why Shashank Tripathi – tweeting under the name ComfortablySmug – felt the need to spread misinformation about a harrowing event (during the event) where people are losing their possessions, their homes, and in some cases their lives, is a question only he can answer, but at the time of writing the hedge fund analyst, who was up until today also campaign manager for Republican congressional candidate Christopher Wight, has issued only an apology for his actions.

• But there was one person in particular who managed to steal the #Sandy social spotlight this week, whom the world has come to know as @ComfortablySmug. The hedge fund analyst, whose real name is Shashank Tripathi, decided to use the viral news peg to spread misinformation about the storm, including posts that said the New York Stock Exchange floor was under three feet of water and that Con Edison was shutting all power off in Manhattan.

• Weather Channel YouTube Livestream
    As of yesterday, The Weather Channel has made its hurricane coverage available streaming live on YouTube. This could prove a useful resource as the storm continues on its track toward the Jersey Shore and New England. YouTube is promoting the feed at the top of its homepage—and it appears to be quite popular, with more than 55,000 people watching at almost noon.
• Google's Crisis Map
    Google's interactive map may be one of the best tools around for those in the direct path of this storm. Updated in real-time, this crisis map overlays evacuation routes with a weather radar, current and projected forecasts, emergency shelter locations, as well as information about flood surges. All the information is layered on the map so you can turn it on and off as you see fit.
• Hint.fm's Wind Map
    While this map is not directly associated with any government agency, Hint.fm's wind map is a gorgeous tool for watching surface winds in near-real time. Taking wind data from the National Digital Forecast Database, the results are updated each hour to show exact wind speeds and patterns. The result is a beautful, Van Gogh-esque moving portait of this powerful storm.
• New York Times Rooftop Webcam
    Situated 50 some stories above the New York Times newsroom, this high-definition camera updates every minute, providing snapshots of midtown Manhattan. Facing eastward, the camera will show Sandy as it bears down on Manhattan. It's also the perfect tool for New Yorkers without access to a window view to survey the deteriorating conditions.
• Instagram
    As has been the case throughout breaking news events in 2012, Instagram is an excellent near-real-time way to see on-the-ground pictures of Sandy. Sites like Statigram are helpful in searching the social photo sharing network. Popular hashtags are #sandy, #frankenstorm, and #Instacane. "This Is Now," a real-time streaming platform, displays photos as they're taken from all five boroughs of New York City. For breaking news junkies, these photo-sharing sites could be the quickest way to get access to the tens of thousands of pictures being generated by those in the path of the storm.
   
    Twitter
    This is a no-brainer, but needs to be included. Sites like the Huffington Post have put together handy "Who to Follow" lists for the Hurricane. Government and local crisis and disaster organizations will be tweeting out helpful storm information and meteorologists and citizens on the ground will be updating with dispatches from hard-hit areas. 

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• Hurricane Sandy marked a shift in the use of social media in disasters. More than ever before, government agencies turned to mobile and online technologies. Before, during and after Sandy made landfall, government agencies throughout the Northeast used social media to communicate with the public and response partners, share information, maintain awareness of community actions and needs, and more.

   
• Even before Hurricane Sandy, the city’s social media presence attracted 3 million followers across more than 300 city accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more. In addition to managing NYC.gov, the city maintains numerous channels, including Facebook pages, Flickr, Google+, Tumblr, Twitter (in both English and Spanish) and YouTube. Throughout response and recovery to the storm, these channels provided the city with the means to share information in various formats, enabling people to find and consume information as they preferred. 
• Throughout the storm, NYC Digital, a part of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, monitored social media for public reactions to the storm, sending reports to City Hall on a daily basis. Questions asked on Twitter were responded to directly, and the city’s Tumblr account and Facebook page published information from each press conference. The public could sign up to receive text alerts from the Mayor’s Office Twitter account, @nycmayorsoffice, which served as a great alternative digital resource to the city’s website, once people lost power and Internet access.
  
• FEMA also used social media heavily in addition to traditional means, sharing information and engaging the public across multiple channels both on and offline, including face to face, television, radio, print and digital (Web, social and mobile) for preparedness prior to landfall, and to provide actionable, practical, relevant and current information to those in the affected areas and others outside of the storm’s path. FEMA published a Sandy-specific page on FEMA.gov as a one-stop-shop for all Sandy-related information, and stood up Sandy-specific Facebook and Twitter profiles as well.

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