T_freeman's List: 3.6 Digital Citizenship

• CrisisCommons organized the Sandy CrisisCamp — a series of hackathons at MIT and around the world that brought together volunteers who could contribute to Sandy relief with communication technologies.
• Another interesting innovation was the Sandy Coworking crowdmap. A #NYResponds initiative, the map lists spaces where people can work, recharge and reconnect. At the heart of #NYResponds is a message to encourage the tech community to get out and take direct action in the recovery process by providing tech skills and resources.
• journalist Debbie Galant put independent journalism to work. She used ScribbleLive -- which curates and aggregates from social networks -- to keep citizens informed of what was happening. Using ScribbleLive as a platform, Debbie created #NYSandyevent which was powered by NJ News commons to pull multiple news sources across the state on the hurricane.
• We saw the role of the internet through tools such as the Occupy Sandy website, that became a focal point for people to get day-to-day supplies and updates about the storm.
• Back in Boston, the MIT Center for Civic Media and HousingisaHumanRight.org joined hands and created StoryLine -- a collaborative documentary for sharing experiences of Hurricane Sandy and relief efforts.
• The folks over at Source also have an impressive collection of apps and tools from newsrooms in the US and UK with web apps, maps and data from the storm. Some of the striking tools were an imbeddable evacuation zone map and a New York/New Jersey transit tracking tool.
• it’s worth noting that technology is transforming the way we react and respond towards natural disaster.
• Take an example of Instagram. The tool’s CEO was quoted as saying there were “...10 pictures per second being posted with the hashtag #sandy...” It’s no wonder the 80 million user mobile app was a go-to tool during Sandy. For some, this may have been the first and only way they learnt about the disaster.

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• A day before Hurricane Sandy touched down, netizens began to congregate via etherpads, Google Docs and IRC, assuming the name “HurricaneHackers.
• About 30 participants worked together throughout the day to figure out how a remote set of volunteers could support Sandy relief with communication technologies.
• We rallied around a few of the official requests that CrisisCommons had documented, which resulted in two projects
• InnCrisis - Based on a request to determine hotel room availability as well as conversations in IRC with other SandyCrisis netizens, this team brainstormed how people with hotel loyalty points could donate their points to those who needed medium-term housing.
• "we decided that the goals below were too ambitious to handle with the solutions and workflows we were designing towards, and so InnCrisis is presently paused.”
• Needs assessments - Synthesizing several requests, this team forked into two projects: rapid needs assessment for first responders such as the Red Cross and long-term needs assessment for parties such as FEMA and shelters.
• By the end of the hackathon, they presented a tool that, “given a list of phone numbers and locations, [it will] feed into an application to call [survivors] automatically to determine if they have phone service, if they have power, etc”
• It turns out that immediate needs are often already addressed by local dispatchers and ad-hoc organizers. In a city four hours away from New York, a hackathon can’t address primary needs like food and shelter,
• HurricaneHackers found early resonance with media outlets (boing boing, cnet, techpresident), which brought a lot of attention and people.
• journalists and their audiences may not be aware that we were developing demos, not ready-to-use platforms to take the place of on-the-ground organizations (Red Cross, FEMA, etc). Rather, HurricaneHackers was an outlet for netizenship.
• #SandyAid Followup project, that tried to track follow up to aid requests using the #SandyAid hashtag. It was far from complete, and with all of its developers maxed out just building the platform, it was not ready for media coverage.
• it did not fall in line with social media advice during a disaster: “do not even attempt to set up a disaster recovery site unless you are fully prepared to devote yourself 24/7 to the effort.”
• We need tools that allow multiple users to edit simultaneously (sorry wikis, welcome etherpads and gdocs), free admission (sorry skype, welcome irc), and users who are familiar with those interfaces. Then we need to manage the order of in which communication is distributed through those tools.
• In the rush of the crisis, people also tend to jump into projects without enough reflection.
• We should pay more real attention to the communities we are going to work with; not invent solutions to problems nobody has raised; and account for the time and people who will feed and use the project.
• We dedicated the first part of the hackathon to understanding which Hurricane Sandy projects already existed. We then tried to tackle the Crisis Commons requests but had a hard time getting hold of the official requesters, which resulted in difficulty going deeper and staying focused on the best solutions to the problems.

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• the Occupy Sandy website, it quickly became the main stage for a lot of folks to suss out what was happening.
• it couldn’t be updated regularly/fast enough with the changing needs of each area.
• website had the wrong information about what was currently needed.
• One of the core organizers there said that cellphone reception was spotty, and landlines were down, so they didn’t have a quick way to relay back to volunteer hubs. This rendered the websites less useful than their potential for communicating logistics, but still provided some centralization of information.
• some localized efforts seemed to be able to pick up the ball and run with things, especially on Facebook, and to some degree, Twitter.
• Shaila Ittycheria, a resident in the area, offered to start checking on residents, and a mini-movement via a simple Google Doc was born.
• Recovers.org is a preparedness and recovery platform designed to give towns, organizations and others the capability to manage volunteers, collect donations and much more.
• many volunteers found the four sites set up for neighborhoods in New York useful, a
• Recovers community hub to be an excellent source of regular information
• need for these tools to be familiar to the managers/facilitators before a disaster, which wasn’t possible before Sandy.
• Over at CrisisCommons, a day of tech hacking produced a considerable number of projects, including a gas map, hotel availability, hospital status and more. HurricaneHackers also came up with an inspiring set of projects and ideas (i.e., lost office space in the power outage? Find a place to work from), and I’m told that both groups are working on long-term solutions.
• Google’s CrisisMap has been a source of information for many people inside and out of the region since before Sandy hit. From showing potential impact areas to power outages (useful for loved ones trying to check on victims’ status) and now maps showing available gas stations in the middle of a serious fuel crisis, Google’s resources have be immensely valuable to folks with Internet access.
• New York Tech Meetup also hopped into action, building a tech project hub called NY Tech Responds. It’s a matchmaking service at its core: organizations and small businesses can request help, volunteers can offer it, everyday folks can suggest projects.
• Being internet-based, these were of course useful for those with that kind of connectivity, but challenging for the hardest hit to access–many of the people we visited last weekend Far Rockaway, for example, were using crank flashlights and radios, so the Internet was a bit of a pipe dream for them
• On my visits to the Rockaways the first weekend after the storm, it became clear that our current communications infrastructure is like the air we don’t know we’re breathing. When it’s gone, so starts the massive struggle to replace it. With the aforementioned connectivity issues, we have to start thinking now about other air to breathe.
• My first set of thoughts went to mesh networks.
• A mesh network is different because it connects all the nodes to each other, allowing them to communicate with one another without depending on the hub.
• Cell towers and wifi hotspots are hubs, so when they go down, our devices have no way of talking to each other on their own. Mesh networks seek to solve that
• because the network was built on an open platform, they were quickly able to adapt it to storm-related needs–i.e., adding an SMS reporting service.
• mesh networks are more resilient than traditional connections to the Internet, because they don’t rely on one hub– if one section of the mesh goes down, the others can still support the connections.
• mesh networks do require power to the devices on the network, which can be a hindrance.
• FCC rules are making it nearly impossible to operate these networks legally.

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• One of the most active and effective communities involved in helping out in the aftermath of Sandy, was the tech community -- and for good reason.
• Techies thrive in uncertain environments; they're well versed in damage control after something goes wrong.
• Airbnb -- the home rental site -- was one of those leaders. It waived its normal fees for hosts -- those whose homes weren't physically affected and were willing to open their homes to those in need -- and guests -- those who were left without electricity, heat, running water, or even homes.
• the popular car service Uber initially took on $100,000 in costs the day after the hurricane hit -- convincing drivers to continue their service by paying them double but charging passengers the normal fee.
• Uber announced they would have to start charging at surge prices while there was still limited access to transportation. "For the uninitiated, surge pricing helps maximize the number of Uber cars on the system during times of extreme demand, maximizing the chance that there will be a car available when you need one," a post on Uber said.
• Zaarly, an online local marketplace, released a feature allowing users to donate food and services to those in need -- announcing that all proceeds would go to the American Red Cross.
• We decided to create a single page to list services available to aid in the recovery effort. From anywhere in the country, you can use Zaarly to send your friends and loved ones in New York City local services that will make their lives easier during this difficult time.
• GILT, the popular flash sales site, launched "Donate Today, Save Tomorrow" -- which "enables people from all over the world to make a donation to one of six established charity relief efforts. As a show of thanks, donors will receive a voucher that can be used for a discount or special offer at businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy and other businesses both local and national, that are supporting the relief efforts."
• Crowdtilt, a crowd-funding site, also waived any fees associated with raising money to help those affected by Sandy.
• The New York Tech Meetup (NYTM), which has a membership of more than 28,000 techies, also did their part by building a database of volunteers willing to donate their technical skills to small businesses, non-profits, schools and governmental organizations. One of the projects NYTM is working on is called NeedMapper -- a site that connects those affected by Sandy with volunteers who can help.
• SandyBaggers, a group founded by local tech entrepreneurs, organized hundreds of volunteers to provide relief to Sandy victims in some of the hardest hit areas

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• one of these volunteer organizations has optimized its efforts using software from a company called Palantir, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The software allows relief coordinators from Team Rubicon to track their volunteers using GPS, upload geo-tagged photos for reference, and determine which areas are most in need of assistance using demographic, census, and poverty data combined with damage reports.
• Palantir — aptly named after the seeing stones in Lord of the Rings — gained prominence in the past several years not for designing disaster-relief systems, but providing US intelligence with software to track ally troops and suspected terrorists.
• The company's software, which is used by the US Defense Department, CIA, FBI, Army, Marines, Air Force, NYPD, and LAPD, brings together disparate points of data that could take an ordinary person years to connect.
• Once Hurricane Sandy hit, Palantir's Jason Payne said Team Rubicon's efforts "became an alpha or beta run" to apply the system in a disaster-relief situation.

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  By Doug Gross, CNN   updated 6:44 PM EDT, Wed October 31, 2012 | Filed under: Social Media

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  This tweet was one of several false reports posted by Twitter user @ComfortablySmug as Sandy pummeled New York.
• (CNN) -- As Superstorm Sandy slammed into the East Coast on Monday night, one Twitter user in New York City posted a flurry of alarming reports about fallout from the storm -- from plans to shut down all power in Manhattan to floodwaters pouring into the New York Stock Exchange.
• some of them were reported as facts by news outlets.
• And, it turns out, many of them were outright lies.
• posted by a Wall Street analyst who doubled as campaign manager for a candidate for Congress
• The case reinforces how social media can spread misinformation at lightning speed
• The tone of many of the tweets, which included false accounts of destruction, seem intended to spread confusion and fear.

• "BREAKING: Con Edison has begun shutting down all power in Manhattan," read one tweet.

   

  "BREAKING: Governor Cuomo is trapped in Manhattan. Has been taken to a secure shelter," said another.
• The user also wrote that all major lines of the New York City subways had been flooded and would be closed for at least a week. And he contributed to the confusion surrounding reports, which proved to be false, that the New York Stock Exchange had flooded. Some news outlets, including CNN, briefly mentioned the NYSE flooding accounts after they were reported on the National Weather Service's website.
• retweeted more than 500 times each. But many Twitter users challenged the truth of his reports, and the Con Edison tweet drew a direct rebuttal from the company itself.
• Buzzfeed contributor Jack Stuef reported he was able to compare altered photos posted on the account to unedited versions of them elsewhere on the Internet.
• Stuef identified the account owner as Shashank Tripathi, a hedge fund analyst and campaign manager for a candidate for Congress.
• Less is known about Tripathi, whose account links to a fund raising site for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and who used Sandy to pepper his feed with nasty political jabs, including this fake retweet from President Obama's account: "RT @BarackObama: If you are trapped in New York City and are running out of food, remember to eat your dogs first before going outside -bo"
• At least one elected official has asked that criminal charges be considered in the case.
• New York City Councilman Peter Vallone says he has asked the Manhattan district attorney's office to look into the possibility that Tripathi's tweets were the digital equivalent of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater.
• "I hope the fact that I'm asking for criminal charges to be seriously considered will make him much less comfortable and much less smug."

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• Social media during Sandy led some websites and news organizations to publish false information, photos

• The story of Hurricane Sandy unfolded quickly on social media: a poignant photo of soldiers standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a picture of a giant wave slamming into the Statue of Liberty and a TV report that 3 feet of water flooded the New York Stock Exchange.

  None of it was true.
• Hurricane Sandy exposed a dangerous underbelly of social media: False information can go viral.
• She said even though rumors spread on the fire department's social media, it was just as easy to use the site to debunk rumors.
• "There is much misinformation being spread about #Sandy's impact on #NYC,"
• The photo of the soldiers at Arlington Cemetery was taken in September, not Monday. Others that showed ominous clouds over the New York City skyline were photoshopped, or were screen grabs from a movie, or were stock photos.
• A post that the 109-year-old building that is home to the stock exchange was flooded with water became the subject of debate Tuesday after CNN reported it.
• correspondent Chad Myers "referenced a National Weather Service report that turned out to be incorrect.
• The National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro said the news came from several local New York City media outlets who had posted it on Twitter, though he didn't know which specifically. "We conveyed information we would have deemed credible,"
• Debra Jasper, a co-founder of the social media consulting company Mindset Digital, says fact-checking is as quick on Twitter as the spreading of misinformation.
• "People can correct misinformation in real time, too," Jasper says.
• Her Mindset Digital partner, Betsy Hubbard, said the other phenomenon occurring more often after a big event is "newsjacking," when someone or a company try to use an event for their gain.
• American Apparel sent out an e-mail blast for a 20% off sale for people living in the affected states, with a tagline that read, "In case you're bored during the storm."

• Rahimi, who monitored the department's Twitter account all day Monday and through the night and early morning Tuesday, said more good came out of using social media despite the bad information that circulated. At one point, she said, a rumor spread that the Fire Department headquarters was evacuated. So she set the record straight, sending messages directly to people who had posted the erroneous information.

  For the record, the headquarters building wasn't evacuated.

  "I was here all night," she said.

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• Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom tells us via a spokeswoman: “There are now 10 pictures per second being posted with the hashtag #sandy — most are images of people prepping for the storm and images of scenes outdoors.”
• Just like the last three Presidential elections have been transformed by a new social media service — YouTube, Facebook and now Twitter — natural disasters and tragedies are emerging as a way for social media services to gain respect and legitimacy as world-changing agents as well.
• In theory, Instagram has Twitter’s immediacy, and a broader reach, since it pushes notices out via Twitter, Facebook, Instgram’s own network, and email.
• Add to that the storm’s target on urban, hipster, we’re-not-scared New Yorkers, and the time seems as good as any for the revolution to be Instagrammed.

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