Eathompson314's List: 3.6 DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP- HURRICANE SANDY

• Lessons Learned -Social Media and Hurricane Sandy: Virtual Social Media Working Group4INTRODUCTIONSocial media and collaborative technologies have become critical components of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. From the international response efforts inmajor tsunamis to hurricane response and recovery in major U.S. cities, many government officials now turn to social media technologies to share information and connect with citizens during all phases of a crisis. Implementing these new technologies, however, requires that responding agencies adopt new communication strategies and engagement methods.Recognizing the need to address these challenges, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) established the Virtual Social Media Working Group (VSMWG)in December 2010. The mission of the VSMWG isto provide guidance and best practices to the emergency preparedness and response community on the safe and sustainable use of social mediatechnologies before, during, and after emergencies.Drawn from a crosssection of subject matter experts from federal, tribal, territorial, state, and local responders from across the United States, VSMWG members are establishing and collecting best practices and solutions that can be leveraged by public safety officials and responders throughout the nation’s emergencyresponse community. Below is a list of agencies to which the VSMWG members belong.
• VSMWG Members’ Agencies as of January 2013American Red CrossCity of Baltimore [Maryland] PoliceBoynton Beach [Florida] PoliceCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Public Health PreparednessCity of Charlottesville [Virginia] Fire DepartmentClark [Washington] Regional Emergency Services AgencyFairfax [Virginia] County Public AffairsFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Office of External AffairsFort Bend County [Texas] Health and Human ServicesHumanity RoadNew York City [New York] Office of Emergency ManagementMilwaukee [Wisconsin] Police DepartmentMontgomery County [Maryland] Fire and RescuePhiladelphia [Pennsylvania] Office ofEmergency ManagementPhiladelphia [Pennsylvania] Department of Public HealthPortland [Oregon] National Incident Management Organization, U.S. Forest ServiceOregon Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)San Francisco [California] Department ofEmergency ManagementShow Low [Arizona] FireVirginia Commonwealth UniversityUniversity of Washington Office of Global Affairs
• The VSMWG developed this document with input from the public safety communitythrough monthly meetings, online engagement hosted on the DHS First Responder Communities of Practiceportal and through virtual discussions via other social media channels between November 2012 and April2013. This reportserves as a follow-up to all of the previously published VSMWG documents, including the Social Media Strategy, Next Steps:Social Media for Emergency Response, and Community Engagementand Social Media Best Practices.
• Lessons Learned -Social Media and Hurricane Sandy: Virtual Social Media Working Group6Sandy, however, markeda shift in the useof social media in disasters.More than ever before, government agencies turned to mobile and online technologies before, during,and after Sandy made landfall,to communicate with response partners and the publicin order to share information, maintain awareness of community actions and needs, and more. This document discusses major themes and gaps in the application of social media for various purposes throughout the preparedness, response to, and recovery from Sandy, including efforts by government agencies, nonprofitorganizations, technology companies, and adhoc or volunteer groups.
• Social Media Strategy1–provides a high-level introduction to social media, its benefits for public safety, and best practices from agencies already using social media.Next Steps: Social Media for Emergency Response2–serves as a follow-up to the Social Media Strategy document, presentschallenges and providesnext steps and best practices for public safety agencies developing and implementing social media; andCommunity Engagementand Social Media Best Practices3–shares best practices for public safety agencies and partner organizations on how to use social media to successfully engage community members and stakeholders.Developed in the fall of 2011 and publishedin January2012, Social Media Strategydiscusses a variety of tools(e.g., Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and their potential application for public safety. The following table shows the tools and their potential applications from the publication(in black) and juxtaposes them with the tools and their specificapplicationsas usedby various agencies (in red) for Sandyin 2012. Thetableillustrates a shiftin how public safety agenciesuse social media:tools that were not yet popular in 2011 were relied uponby government agencies during Sandythroughout the disaster’s lifecycle, often for several purposes, engaging multiple stakeholdersacross several channels.
• https://communities.firstresponder.gov/DHS_VSMWG_Social_Media_Strategy_Formatted_May_2013_FINAL.pdf2https://communities.firstresponder.gov/DHS_VSMWG_Next_Steps_Social_Media_Strategy_Formatted_May_2013_FINAL.pdf3https://communities.firstresponder.gov/DHS_VSMWG_Community_Engagement_Formatted_May_2013_FINAL.pdf
• Lessons Learned -Social Media and Hurricane Sandy: Virtual Social Media Working Group7Mostof the usesfor social media in public safetythat werediscussed in the VSMWG’s previous documents also applied for Sandy. These include:Facilitatingdirect agency engagement within a community;Maintainingsituational awareness about emergency events and partnership opportunities; Providingan additional method fordisseminatingemergency public information;Providinga method for evaluatingpublic information;Providinga means for the community toengagein problem solving;Providinga means to meet and manage public expectations;Engagingindividual connectivity and promote community resources;Buildingand promotingagency or organization credibility;Promotingand encouragingefficiency, credibility, and transparency;Encouragingmultidirectional sharing of essential information; andEncouragingbehavioral change.
• Since Katrina, various nonprofits and volunteergroupshave developed websitesthat conglomerateas many resources and as much information as practicable in one place.In Sandy, social media made it possible for many agencies, nonprofits, and volunteers to aggregate information and resources and publish them in oneplace. These central hubs of information often cited and/or linked to other related (or official) websites. In the absence of government-provided information (or a cohesive approach to providing information from multiple government agencies in one place), nonprofit and volunteer organizations stepped in to assist, developingand combining information resourcesandmaking them available for the public and for response stakeholders
• Centralizationand Aggregation of Information and Technology SupportResponse and recovery efforts to a major disasterinvolve many players, each with responsibility to their respective stakeholders, missions, constituents, etc.Without coordination across communications channels and platforms, information may become so dispersed that it is difficult to navigate through multiple resources.For example, in Hurricane Katrina, separate websites were used to shareinformation for evacuees, friends, and familiesand to publishlists of names; blogs were used for posting location,status, etc. So many websitessprang up that it became difficult to find the specific website for the information, resources, or reconnectionone needed
• This assistance—provided by the nonprofit and volunteer sectors, sometimes pre-established and/or organized, sometimesin an adhoc manner—helped alleviate some of the strain experienced by government agencies that were focused on responseoperations. In the future, relationship building and pre-organized processes for sharing of information responsibilities will be necessary to ensure information is verified, accurate, and comprehensive and available immediately or even prior to the onset of the disaster.For more information, see Technology, Policy, and Process Gaps Requiring Further Discussion (page 29).
• Government AgenciesDuring Sandy, manygovernment agencies aggregated and published information through a centralized portalas well. For example, theNew York City Mayor’s Office provided information via only one website (www.nyc.gov) duringboth response and recovery from the storm. The website offered informationon volunteer opportunities,where to find prepared food, and availability of resources including opengas stations, pharmacies, hotels, restaurants, etc. The city provided the information that was usedto populate these sites; additional information came fromindividuals reportingonoutages, resources available and/or open, and more through Twitter and other channels.4FEMA and Federal Sandy Website StandardizationOn October 31, 2012, the web manager for FEMA issued guidance to all U.S. government agency websites (per Emergency Support Function 15 of the National Response Framework).5In this guidance, FEMA requested four things:4For more information on New York City’s activities in Hurricane Sandy, See Case Study: New York City (pg. 31)5National Response Framework at Fema.gov; http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=7371
• Creation ofawww.[agency].gov/sandylanding page on their respective site.On thispage, agencies were requested to place information only FROM THEIR AGENCIES (to stay in their “lane” of communication) and to not cross-post information from other agencies.If one agency had information that would be appropriate to place on another agencies website, the agency web managers were asked to coordinate directly.A request to create aURL for both English and Spanish content (if appropriate) was also made.Once the www.[agency].gov/sandylanding page was created, the agencies were asked to notify the USA.gov web manager at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)that the page was active and provide under which general “lane” of information the page fell:oHealth and Safety;oHow to Get Help;oFind Friends and Family;oDonate/Volunteer; andoWhat the Government is Doing.Once the USA.gov/sandy page was created, all agencies were then encouraged to cross-link from their agency homepage and their www.[agency].gov/sandypage back to the www.USA.gov/sandypage and/or embed the USA.gov Hurricane Sandy widget on their agency websites.Once the www.[agency].gov/sandypages were created, FEMA also requested that all agencies notify the FEMA web manager of the page status and also include whether or not the following information was included on the page:oStatistics;oSituation reports;oBlog posts;oPress releases;oSafety/recovery tips; andoOther (details).This information was then shared with FEMA’s Strategic Communications Division within the Office of External Affairs.The goal of this effort was to drive visitors looking for Sandy information back to one authoritative source for information.FEMA, working with GSA, consolidated all U.S. government webcontent related to Sandy onto www.USA.gov/sandy, with specific relief and recovery information being consolidated onto www.FEMA.gov/sandy.A widget was then created that directed the public to the five identified lanes of communication (identified above) on USA.gov.From October 22 through December 31, 2012, the Hurricane Sandy page on USA.gov was viewed over 71,000 times, with the Hurricane Sandy widget being viewed over 2.8 million times.The Spanish version of the page was viewed over 3,600 times and the Spanish widget was viewed over 10,000 times.
• FEMA Innovation Team6The FEMA Think Tankhas played an important role in developing new approaches to emergency response. Prior to Sandy, it was used as a means to discuss and generate solutions among community members to help boost the field of emergency management and related solutions. Through its online forumand monthly conference callsled by Deputy Administrator Richard Serino,7the FEMA Think Tank helpedidentify short-and long-term projects, connectingthe right people to work towards corrective action, and then producingrecommendations for emergency managers at all levels.
• Humanity RoadHumanity Road, anonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public with critical information before, during, andafter a catastrophic disaster,aggregated and published a centralized list of aid providers and social media resources following Sandy’s landfall. The Sandy Situation Report, published on Humanity Road’s website, provided information on national, regional, and state-level resources for people and animal owners, as well as volunteer opportunities for eastern seaboard states affectedby Sandy. Working with the FEMA Innovation Team and Crisis Clean Up (www.crisiscleanup.org), Humanity Road also provided referrals for complex cases to assist residents in New Jersey with finding aid and needed resources.
• Disaster Tech Lab8Disaster Tech Lab has been involved in the post-Sandy disaster responseeffort since October 29, 2012, working together initially withmembers of the CrisisCommons organizationfrom across the globe, responding to data gathering and mapping requests. One result, the “Hurricane Sandy Communications Map”(right)mapped locations of public Wi-Fi available in areas hit by Sandy as well as telephone outages.The map, powered by the Ushahidi platform, waspartially crowd-sourced with people on the ground reporting locations and details of services.
• http://disastertechlab.org/deployments/hurricane-sandy-response/
• Disaster Distress HelplineThe Disaster Distress Helpline(DDH), a program of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),is the first national hotline dedicated to providing year-rounddisaster crisis counseling. This toll-free, multilingual, crisis support service is available 24/7 via telephone (1-800-985-5990) and SMS (text “TalkWithUs”to 66746) to residents in the United Statesand its territories who are experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters. Prior to, during, and in the short-and long-term aftermath of Sandy’s impact, DDH staff reached out to partners in the projected path of the storm, including numerous VOAD chapters, American Red Cross chapters, State Disaster Mental Health Coordinators, to offer support to individuals and communities affectedby the storm.
• TheDDH saw an 87% increase in unique visitorsto its websiteand significant follower growth on the program’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.Calls to DDHincreased by 2000% and texts increased by 600% during the peak of the storm. Even as response has shifted to long-term recovery, mostof the DDH calls are still coming from New York and New Jersey.
• 311311 can be useful for diverting non-emergency issues away from 911 to save and best allocate resources during an emergencywhile maintaining responsiveness to the community. In Sandy, 311 systems helped to track and deploy resources to non-emergency issues like downed wires and trees. Implemented in 2008, Boston’s 311 system wasextended withthe City Worker mobile app, which “...routes service requests straight to Android-based mobile devices of the nearest work crew from the responsible department...thanks to the city’s end-to-end issue reporting, execution and tracking, which helped guide the city in the optimal deployment of resources”9InSandy, the mobile app helped officialsrespond to more than 700 tree emergencies and 300 downedwire reports. Officials also responded to issues reported by citizens through social media channelsandthe Citizen’s Connect mobile app.
• 211211 is a model for providingcommunity resources and information through the 2-1-1 phone system.The New Jersey 2-1-110system, launched in 2005, is operational throughout the state via landline, cell phone, and Internet. The state’s two 2-1-1 call centers are united through a Virtual Private Network, using broadband connections and a statewide host server for database integration.11In New Jersey, the 2-1-1 system is managed by the NJ 2-1-1 Partnership, which is a subsidiary of the United Way of Jersey.In addition to the phone lines, the New Jersey 2-1-1 website,http://www.nj211.org/, providesinformation on:Recovery resources;FEMA assistance and the application process;Food assistance;9Industry Perspective: Dual Tasking 311 Infrastructure. David Moody; GovTech.com http://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Industry-Perspective-Dual-Tasking-311-Infrastructure.html10New Jersey 211: http://www.nj211.org/energy/index.cfm11New Jersey 211: http://www.nj211.org/moreabout211.cfm
• Geeks Without BoundsGeeks Without Bounds (GWOB) deployed with the FEMA Innovation Team for Sandy response in November of 2012, helping to bridge the formaland informal response efforts. GWOB spentequal time in the field in the Rockaways, Staten Island, and Breezy Point as it spent operatingfrom co-working spaces and from FEMA's offices.GWOB workedwith OccupySandy to streamline itsexchanges with FEMA and other formal organizations.
• Occupy Sandy12Occupy Sandy, an adhoc and spontaneous volunteer effort, provided support to the communities affected by Sandy through the pre-existing network, relationships, and connections created in support of Occupy Wall Street in the fallof 2011. The nonhierarchical nature in which Occupy activists were accustomed to organizing was useful for triage and immediate support immediately following the hurricane’s landfall. Within the first 2weeks, Occupy Sandy represented a significant response effort, with an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 volunteers
• A map developed by Hurricane Hackers NYC15offered National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aerial imagery of affected areas with an overlay of recovery locations. Hurricane Hackers also provided information in a centralized location,16connecting online resources and other organizations such as CrisisCommons, NYTechResponds, Recovers.organd others working on technology projects and resources. Additional information and resources available on the Occupy Sandy website, www.interoccupy.net, included:Clean-up information;Disaster assistance resources;A Disaster Recovery Center Locator;Education-related information and contacts;FEMA resources and contacts;Financial assistance and funding resources;Housing and shelters;Job opportunities;Legal assistance;Medical and mental health assistance;Mutual aid;Power and electricity resources;Immigrant resources;Safety information;Tenant and homeowner rights; andVolunteer projects.14http://civicrm.org/15Hurricane Hackers NYC was a hack-a-thon, or event in which scientists, designers, developers, and citizens gathered to develop tools and apps to assist in the recovery efforts. More information available at: http://mapbox.com/blog/hacking-hurricanes-with-noaa/16https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1SGcfQz13ce4FfB-QHKF3WLwxHoCRGBouuvZn-3aoX0k
• National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD)NVOAD, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization, serves as the forum where organizations share knowledge and resources throughout the disaster cycle—preparation, response, and recovery—to help disaster survivors and their communities.17NVOADmembership includes 108 organizations comprising faith-based, community-based, and other nongovernmental organizations throughout the nation, representing all 50 states, 4 territories, and the District of Columbia
• Mr. Reuter and a digital volunteer colleague,Marlita Reddy-Hjelmfelt,also established aVirtual Operations Support Team (VOST)18-style collaborative workbook in which to search for, identify, list,and track as many active VOAD-related social media accounts and websites as they could find. This workbookfocusedonorganizations that were helping in Sandy recovery efforts, especially those who were VOAD member organizationsposting updates on their Sandy relief activities.
• Titus and NJVOADAaron Titus from Mormon Helping Hands,a member of New Jersey VOAD,developed a private tasking system and map that was made available to organizations with ground teams responding to assess and resolve issues. The systemprovides organizations a method of coordination without command and control over a broad geographic footprint.Throughout recovery, more than 90 organizations surveying damage and identifying resource needs were able to resolve thousands of incidentsbyusing this system to capture 17National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: http://www.nvoad.org/about18Virtual Operations Support Groups: http://vosg.us
• isco Tactical OperationsCisco Tactical Operations (www.cisco.com/go/tacops) is an emergency technology team created by Cisco Systems to assist public safety, critical infrastructure, and continuity of government operations during disasters and other crisis situations.
• Government to PublicEven before Sandy made landfall, government agencies, response partners, and utility companies used Twitter, Facebook, and other websites extensively to relay information, evacuation orders, and updates. After the storm, people used Twitter to report issues, danger, and power outages, and many regarded it as a lifeline. Additionally,political leaders and response professionals used Twitter toconfirm information provided by the publicand to engage directly with the public.Examples of such influential users of Twitter included:Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency;(@MassEMA)Newark, New Jersey Mayor, Cory Booker (@corybooker);New York State Governor, Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo);New Jersey Governor, Chris Christy(@govchristie);Craig Fugate (FEMA) (@craigatfema);Delaware Government, Jack Markell(@GovernorMarkell);New York City Fire Department (@fdny);Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (@PANYNJ);City of New York Mayor’s Office (@nycmayorsoffice,@nycgov);New York City Office of Emergency Management (@NotifyNYC, @nycoem);Virginia Department of Emergency Management (@vdem);Fairfax County, Virginia (@fairfaxcounty);New Jersey Central Power and Light (@jcp_l);Public Service Electric and Gas Company (@pse&gdelivers);Dominion, Virginia Power(@domVApower);New York City Fire (@FDNY);New York City 311 (@311NYC)(call, click, or text)24;State of New Jersey Beach Quality Monitoring Program (@njbeachreport)U.S. Small Business Association(@sbagov); andU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(@hudnews).Additionally, Fairfax County,Virginia used itsblogto share information with the public during and after the storm.25Posts includedinformation on flooding, road closures, power outages, downed trees,and how to stay informed through itsCommunity Emergency Alert Network text/email.24http://www.nyc.gov/apps/311/about.htm
• Private Sector to PublicPrivate sectorstakeholders providedadditional assistance in support of the government response.For example,Twitter publisheda #Sandywebpagethat provided information onseveral resources, including important Tweets and a list of Twitter profiles to follow in each affected state as well as Federal agencies. Twitter also offered “promoted”crisis tweets to the American Red Cross, FEMA, New York CityMayor’s Office, and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency.Finally, Twitter’s government account (@gov) compiled a list of widely suggested emergency and local accounts to follow.Infrastructure providers such as water, power, and transportation organizationsshared information on the status and availability of their resources through various social media channels as well. Someexamples included:Amtrak (@Amtrak);Pepco (@PepcoConnect);Multiple Florida Power Companies’ Twitter accounts;Progress Energy (@ProgEnergyFL);First Energy Outage Map;Con Edison (@ConEdison);New York ConEd Power Outage Map;andNew York Long Island LIPA Power Outage Map.
• Public to Government (ACTIVE)The public used social media to reportproblems andneeds, callfor help, and look for and provideinformation and support throughout the course of the storm. The information shared by the public both informed and engaged government agencies, providing enhanced situational awareness for response officials. This information was activelyrequested and/or shared via socialmedia channels, or passively collected by government officials scanning the networks for applicable information.As an example of active information sharing, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency launched a crowdmap to assess impacts being discussed insocial media, activated Humanity Road, and asked for the public to provide input.This initiative involved the use of trained volunteers to perform monitoringand active listening in social media networks to collect damage reports shared by the public and input this information to the crowdmap for specific geographies in Western Maryland and along the Eastern coast of Maryland.Public to Government (PASSIVE)Information gleaned through social media was received not only directly,but also through government agencies monitoring social media in order to catch important messagesandemerging threatsandidentify resource needs
• Lessons Learned -Social Media and Hurricane Sandy: Virtual Social Media Working Group22Rumor Control and Misinformation
• Throughout the course of the storm, misinformation and doctored photographs circulated onthe Internet, madeit difficult to find and verify accurate information.37For example, several photos of what were supposedly storm clouds over New York City made itvery difficult to identify other photos that were, in fact, accurate and depicting what was happening on the ground.Individuals from across the globe began trying to verify photos through various techniques, sharing their findings on blogs like www.istwitterwrong.tumbler.comand re-tweeting theoriginal photos or the point of origin of the real photo.
• Unfortunately, due to the viral nature of social media and the sensationalism that often accompanies a disaster, it became difficult to sift through various photos, verify those that were accurate,and push correct information back out to the Internet. Rumorswere also prevelant acrossvarious social media platforms. In many instances, these rumors were dispelledby various entitiesactively searching for rumors regarding their respective organizations. SeeFEMA’s Hurricane Sandy Rumor Control Website, below. Rumor examplesincludedthat the New York Stock Exchange was beneaththree feet of water and that Ocean City,Maryland,had burned down. Other Twitter users, various websites such as Buzzfeed.com and Snopes.com, as well asmany government agencies helped to call out such rumors as incorrect
• FEMA’s Hurricane Sandy Rumor Control Website: In an effort to consolidate and correct the circulating rumors regarding itsSandy response efforts, FEMAadded a page to its website, FEMA.gov.FEMA posted popular rumors alongside accurate information on www.FEMA.gov/hurricane-sandy-rumor-controlin an attempt to dispel inaccuracies and encourage reposting of accurate content. A green check 37Additional information and examples of photos and efforts to correct: http://istwitterwrong.tumblr.com/post/34563249044/is-that-really-a-picture-of-hurricane-sandy-descendin
• mark, placed next to a post, indicated that the information was correct, whereas ared “x” indicated that the information was incorrect. Accurate informationoften included links to external sources for additional information. Some of the rumors that were dispelled (or verified) on the site concerned:Bridge failures;Lack of critical resources, such as water;Location of shelters and other support;How to volunteer for recovery efforts;Payment for recovery efforts and hiring opportunities; andStatus of recovery efforts
• Lessons Learned -Social Media and Hurricane Sandy: Virtual Social Media Working Group25Maps and Crowd-Sourced InformationDisplaying data on maps can be an enormous help to emergency response professionals, providingsituational awareness with regard to weather, key resourcesandpersonnel, their location, and more. Social media provide a relatively new source of datathat—when displayedgeographically—can help to enhance real-timesituational awareness.In the fall of 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall on the Northeast coast. A few agencies, already using live data within a mapping environment, began including tweets from response agencies within the impact zone as an additional data layer.43The information collected from social media (or crowd-sourced data), however, imposed a specific concern; the informationwas not vetted or verified and therefore was not used for more than informational purposes.In Sandy, however, the degree to which the public turned to social media for communication—whether to plead for information,help,or offer it—was so great that the benefit of using this resource became too great to ignore. Several volunteer groups helped to develop and provide data for maps from social media channels. This information helped provide situational awareness both to the public and to response officials. The Google Crisis Map(above) is one such map, but there were many other mapping initiatives involving multiple partners, nonprofit organizations, and volunteers, visualizing a variety of data, including the information immediately below (these layers were included specifically in the Google Crisis Map):Damage Assessments;Traffic Conditions;Local Emergency Twitter feeds;FEMA Disaster Declared Areas;Crowd Assessments;Power Outage Information, Location, and Availability of Gas;Sandy-related YouTube Videos;Senior Services;Volunteers Needed;Donations Needed;Caregiver Support;Shelters and Recovery Centers;Weather Radar; andRoad Conditionsand Emergency Alerts.43http://www.thehomelandsecurityblog.com/2011/09/23/engaging-citizens-the-right-way-government-uses-twitter-during-hurricane-irene/

  • Virtual Social Media Working Group andDHS First Responders Group June, 2013
    
    http://www.ghinternational.com/docs/DHS_VSMWG_Lessons_Learned_Social_Media_and_Hurricane_Sandy_Formatted_June_2013_FINAL.pdf

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• Seemingly every major news event worldwide is heightening participation in news. People are eager to share updates and photos of an unfolding news event, ask questions of media outlets, and share important information. But there are two important aspects to this type of participation: 1) people are most interested in sharing news about the community around them, specifically with others in their community and 2) the mechanism by which they choose to share information is dependent upon personal habits and access. In other words, people write about their immediate world using their “home” or go-to platform.
• Recently, Hurricane Sandy here in the United States demonstrated this, with Twitter and Instagram in particular serving as major platforms for people to participate in an unfolding, news-worthy event. And media outlets took notice, with extensive reports around the effort of citizen participation. Some lauded the efforts of individuals to share information on Twitter; while others noted the changing flavor of the tweets, which evolved from humorous pokes at media coverage to critical information exchange.
• one user’s account was famously unmasked for its false and potentially dangerous tweets. Instagram also received a lot of coverage, in part because of its popularity for those sharing photos of the storm, but also because it became a hub for major media outlets to find photos of storm-affected areas.
• Instagram even sparked a debate about whether the site, generally used for sharing fun photos between friends, was appropriate for sharing disaster-related photos. (Disclosure: I think it was perfectly appropriate.) And as access to some news sites failed due to power outages in New York City, people began gravitating to other news sites that fit their needs instead, such as Tumblr.
• The U.S. Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), a free, SMS-based emergency alert system, wa
• s deployed for the first time since it became operational six months ago, largely with successful results. In fact, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission asks people in emergencies to use SMS when possible, in part because SMS is generally reliable, even when networks aren’t fully operational, and in part because SMS is highly efficient and reduces congestion on cell networks
• In New York City, community relief operations created an SMS-based reporting platform, among other tech-related reporting tools. Here in Washington, D.C., the Washington Post requested reports of power outages via SMS
• One intriguing aspect of communication was that as the emergency unfolded, information sharing became increasingly specific to location, starting with general observations about the anticipated effects on the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, then on the New York City metropolitan area, then Lower Manhattan and Hoboken, N.J., as those areas took the brunt of the storm in that region. On Twitter, hash tags were first created for the storm, then broken out by city, e.g., #SandyDC or #SandyNYC. Over time, community members were working in a nonlinear, moderately coordinated way to share critical information, and this phenomenon is not unique to Hurricane Sandy or to the United States
• Around the world, we are seeing a growing assembly of what I’ll call participatory news communities, or groups of people who have the opportunity to participate and provide feedback to news. I’ve
• No two people seem to agree whether we should call this citizen reporting, participatory news, or even just recognize that social media IS the media of the future, and drop the whole “social” pretext.
• Regardless of how we choose to characterize this – let’s call it citizen reporting and social media as a shorthand for now — it has become an established part of newsroom strategy. First, take a look at the 40 finalists of the African News Innovation Challenge. I had the pleasure of meeting most of these finalists as a technical adviser at a recent conference. By my count, 15 of the 40 finalist projects — 38 percent — focus on community participation in news, in one form or another. Of these, several projects are actively trying to establish community dialogue about news. Others are looking to source news tips or basic citizen reporting. So, does 15 data points make a trend? I would argue it does, especially as the ANIC finalists are a select, distinguished group chosen from a larger pool of applicants.
• At another recent conference hosted by the International Center for Journalists, called Turn Up the Volume: Bringing Voice to Mobile Citizen Journalism, discussions focused on seeking ways to incorporate voice into news gathering and sharing processes using Interactive Voice Response (IVR). An IVR system is essentially an automated telephone response system that guides callers through a menu of options and allows them to perform certain tasks. Via this mechanism, it is easy to see the potential to include even more people in a participatory news community, including those with low literacy skills, or those who have difficulty texting due to high rates or language barriers on mobile key pads. Again, at that conference, a key point continually raised was how people could not only receive news, say by calling a number and hearing headlines read aloud, but also participate in news.
• Generally speaking, many communities worldwide are are largely in a social, participatory news culture. Sharing Facebook news posts, commenting on blogs, interacting with reporters via Twittter, and CNN’s robust iReport are but a few examples of the means for communities to influence and access news in compelling new ways. But any professional journalist will tell you it’s been a long slog to reach this point, largely because it’s reshaped the thinking of large media outlets. But in places where the concepts of professional journalism are only now taking root, and participation is built into the fabric of this effort, we may yet see new models for community participation. The most successful models, those that will drive the next round of innovation in journalism, will not only have a community focus, but will also follow the lowest barriers to participation — technology that feels like home.

• Trevor Knoblich works as Project Manager for FrontlineSMS, a 2011 Knight News Challenge winner. He began his career as a federal policy reporter in Washington, DC, then spent 5 years working as a humanitarian specialist. He currently works on issues at the intersection of journalism, technology and developing countries. At FrontlineSMS, he is building tools to help journalists and media outlets around the world improve their ability to gather, track and share news.

   

  Photo by @nueves via Instagram on Loisaida Ave. in Manhattan.

   

  This post originally appeared on the FrontlineSMS blog.

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• There are a lot of things you can do to prepare for Hurricane Sandy. You can stock up on the essentials (food, water, etc.), flashlights and plenty of batteries.

   

   

   

  But you can also stock up on some digital necessities, including some apps for your smartphone or tablet. Below are some apps that will help you keep up to date on Sandy's whereabouts as well as some tech tips to keep in mind as the storm approaches your area.

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  Before we get into the apps we recommend you download, we do recommend that in the hours leading up to the storm you charge up all your phones and tablets. Additionally, it is wise to keep them plugged in as you'll want to make sure you have a full charge if you experience a power outage. If you have any portable charging accessories, like a Mophie case for an iPhone, make sure to charge those up as well.

• If you do experience a power outage, make sure to use your phone as sparingly as possible and save the battery for emergency phone calls and information. Turning down the screen brightness on the phone and closing any apps you run in the background will also let you conserve battery life.

   

   

• Weather Channel (Free; Apple App Store and Google Play Android)

   

   

   

  This is one of the best free options. The Weather Channel has full customizable weather maps, animated radar maps, detailed forecasts, alerts, and a notification bar with the current temperature and severe water alert indicators.

   

   

   

  In addition, you can visit the National Hurricane Center's website at www.nhc.noaa.gov through your phone or tablet's browser to track the storm.

   

   
• Apps for Disaster Information

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  FEMA (Free;
• FEMA's apps for different platforms provide weather information, but really shine when it comes to disaster preparedness information. The app contains a checklist for your emergency kit and a page on what to do during a hurricane, including tips like "take refuge in a small interior room, closet, or hallway on the lowest level."

• Hurricane American Red Cross (Free; Google Play Android, Apple App Store)

   

   

   

  The official Red Cross app has information on the storm, but also information about open shelters. The app also has an "I'm Safe" alert for Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail so you can tell your friends and family you are OK.

   

   

• You can also follow key accounts on Twitter and Facebook to track the storm, including @RedCross, @FEMA, @twc_hurricane.

   

   

   

  Flashlight app

   

  (Free Apple App Store)

   

   

   

  Every emergency preparedness kit should have a flashlight — make sure the batteries are fresh and you know where to find them in your home. But for a quick backup solution, download this free Flashlight app to turn your phone’s camera flash into a solid beam of light.

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• By Emily Guskin and Paul Hitlin

   

   

  How did people use Twitter during Hurricane Sandy?

   

  For millions who lost power but could still access the internet on mobile devices, Twitter served as a critical lifeline throughout the disaster that struck on October 29. At least a few news operations, such as Huffington Post and the aggregator BuzzFeed saw their servers go down and turned to Twitter and other social media to deliver reports. 
• Twitter, people sent more than 20 million tweets about the storm from October 27 through November 1.
• New York, usage peaked on October 29 around 9 pm, according to Twitter’s internal data, the same time that a Con Edison substation exploded in Manhattan’s East Village, knocking out power to much of lower Manhattan.
• From the day the storm made landfall on October 29 through Wednesday the 31st, news, information, photos and video made up more than half of all the Twitter conversation, according to a study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, using Crimson Hexagon technology. Hurricane Sandy Conversation on Twitter Percent of assertions Date Range: October 29, 2012 – October 31, 2012 PEJ analysis using Crimson Hexagon technology The largest share of this news and information, fully 34% of the Twitter discourse about the storm, involved news organizations providing content, government sources offering information, people sharing their own eyewitness accounts and still more passing along information posted by others. Some of these were tales of courage and helping out neighbors during and after the storm, such as an Indian news organization’s first-hand account from a reporter on the ground in New York.
• But, as can happen in the open and fast-moving environment of social media, some accounts shared by many, including mainstream news organizations, turned out to be false. One of the most-discussed was the claim that the New York Stock Exchange floor had flooded with three feet of water and that the power company, Con Edison, was shutting off power to all of Manhattan. The original tweets, from @ComfortablySmug, were passed along by a number of news organizations, including CNN and New York Magazine. Others on Twitter quickly debunked the rumors. The aggregator BuzzFeed eventually identified @ComfortablySmug as Shashank Tripathi, a hedge fund manager and campaign manager for Republican congressional candidate, Christopher R. Wight.
• In another post about false Twitter accounts, BuzzFeed wrote: “In response to thousands of retweets of erroneous Weather Channel and CNN reports that the New York Stock Exchange had been flooded with ‘three feet’ of water, Twitter users, some reporters and many not, were relentless: Photos of the outside of the building, flood-free, were posted. Knowledgeable parties weighed in.”
• Tripathi resigned from his campaign position on Tuesday. In the days following the storm, news organizations and others continued to share news via Twitter.
• The second largest share of Twitter conversation about the hurricane over these three days, fully 25%, involved people sharing photos and videos, speaking to the degree to which visuals have become a more common element of this realm. These images included everything from pictures and video of the storm, post-storm destruction, falsified pictures about the disaster and self portraits of people during the storm.
• There was interplay, too, between news and eyewitness content with news organizations retweeting or sharing citizen images. WTOP, a news radio station in Washington, D.C., shared an image of a sculpture in Maryland, underwater, taken by a citizen.
• As with some of the text-based tweets, though, some images turned out to have been faked. Twitter users were quick to point out the false images that had been doctored or even from previous storms. One image, of a flooded McDonalds, was actually a work of art from years earlier.

• How much of the imagery on Twitter was fake was hard to know, and that in itself became a topic of discussion. An Atlantic article explaining which photos were real and which were fake, was often shared over social media.

   

  Beyond news and information, some turned to humor: 14% of the conversation about the storm involved jokes.
• “For most of Monday, people on Twitter were watching an endless loop of hurricane coverage on television and having some fun with it, which is the same thing that happens when the Grammys or the Super Bowl is on,” wrote David Carr for The New York Times, “But as the storm bore down, Twitter got busy and very, very serious.”
• Prayers and well wishes were also a large part of the conversation, 13% of the Sandy discussion. This also included people urging their followers to donate to organizations that provide aid to those affected by the hurricane. Many of these tweets came from people unaffected by the storm, who weighed in with their concern.
• Other popular topics of discussion on Twitter about Sandy included political comments (8%), many of which were critical of one of the two major presidential candidates. Still others (6%) were excited that the hurricane was coming, mainly voicing their pleasure that school would be canceled.
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