#crisismap

Crowdsourcing is generally common when it comes to large-scale disasters, like the one that was too close to home, The Queensland floods.  After this disaster, huge amounts of information flooded the media, a big media agency then attempted to make all the crowdsourced information and services play a big part of the disaster relief (crikey.com) 

When an emergency / disaster arises we (well most of us) instinctively want to help. With barriers like location, language and physical well-being we may not be able to do as much as we would hope to. This may have been the case years ago, but today we have the power of social media giving us the ability to interact with people around the world enabling us to participate in one way or another. Not only can we find out who is safe or In need of desperate help as the disaster unfolds, but we can take to social media to begin the process of disaster relief such as raising money. This is exactly what happened after the Queensland flood with the rise of hashtags on twitter such as #qldfloods and #thebigwet.

Below is an image of what the hashtags covered after the floods in 2011.

And a tweet from the 2013 floods.

A concern when it comes to crowdsourcing is the copious amounts of information provided by unofficial people, making it difficult to know which information is accurate or inaccurate. In the midst of a disaster, however, all crowdsourced information is still used/ considered.

To assist in the process of utilizing all this information, the concept of ‘crowdmapping’ emerged.

Crowdmapping, as discussed on kimoquaintance.com, is the term used for gathering all the information provided by people on social media and integrating this with geographic data. This information is provided in real-time and covers events like disasters or even political elections and violence. The mass media can be strict with the information that it makes available, this is why crowd mapping is a successful tool, providing information in real time. When reporting on disasters a crowd map is usually named a ‘crisis’ map.

The example below is the Libya crisis map

A quote forms the creators of ‘bushfireconnect’ a crowdsourced map for bushfires says ‘we need something where we can share information with the next village or community, and it has to be immediate’.” This in reference to losing contact with officials during the black Saturday bushfires (crikey.com)

With the highly evolving emergence of the innovation that is social media, it is important to utilise technology as a tool to not only live our lives, but also help to save lives. At times of great crisis, for example natural disasters, social media has been employed by individuals, organisations and governments, in order to spread awareness, and to aid individuals in danger.

Crisis mapping is an element of crowdsourcing that is also applied during times of crisis. By definition, Crisis mapping is the real-time gathering, display and analysis of data during a crisis, usually a natural disaster or social/political conflict. Thus, crisis mapping has the ability to provide individuals around the globe with information about where a disaster is happening, what is happening, and who is involved.

In 2010, the idea of ‘crisis mapping’ was utilised in a way that changed the definition in itself. Haiti’s capital was struck by a devastating earthquake – 100,000 feared dead. A live crisis map of Haiti was created, mapping live Tweets, as well as SMS’s which enabled the world to be informed on the details about the disaster.

According to Victoria University’s Dr Poblet, “extracting relevant information from tweets, Facebook updates, SMSs, satellite maps and online videos is revolutionising the way humanitarian organisations operate” through this idea of crowdsourcing and crisis mapping. Thus, social media has allowed open access to important and relevant information at times of crisis, as well as providing this critical information in real time, making it rapidly available all over the globe. Social media has produced the idea of connection. Through social media platforms, aid organisations are able to respond to requests for help from victims and able to receive live photos and videos of what is happening immediately. As described by Dr Poblet, this crowdsourced approach is “available faster than governments can provide it and is available whether or not aid agencies and media can gain access”.

Dr Poblet uses the term “digital neighbour” to describe the use of social media in such times of crisis. In an emergency, the first to respond would be neighbours, or others close by on the ground that can be of immediate aid. Now, with the idea of crowdsourcing through online forms, there is a second type of neighbouring respondent that can instantly be of assistance – the digital neighbour. Again, this describes the idea of the instantaneous nature of crowdsourcing during times of crisis, and the affordances that social media provides to individuals around the globe.  

In my opinion, social media creates this platform that is equally accessible to almost anyone, anywhere around the globe – thus offering this ability for individuals to utilise this media in order to crowdsource at times of a crisis. Without this advancing technology individuals would not have the knowledge that they have today to not only know about whether their friends and family are okay on the other side of the world, but also know if they themselves are in some form of danger; whether it be during potential bushfires or floods.