In the Viewig article, he talks about how Facebook became one of the most important mediums of communication for the students affected by the Virginia Tech shootings. One situation that I was involved in was the day "Miracle on the Hudson" occurred. I was actually flying into the city, well near the city (Newark), that day and I remembered when we landed everyone was turning on their phones since it was safe, and I know at least 20 ringtones started going off with worried family members calling the passengers. When I turned my phone on, there were two voicemails, both from my Mom, on my phone. It's not like airwaves were just flooded with calls, but family members were very worried because there's no signal when your in the air, and even if there was, you're not allowed to have your cellphone on.
Viewig says that "When dealing with crisis and disaster situations, public officials, including emergency managers and others responsible for the control and flow of crisis information, are concerned that uninformed citizens will spread rumors and inaccurate information. Yet time and again, disaster researchers have found that citizen activity often helps ameliorate tragedy and is necessary to disaster response and recovery." My Mom, once I was finally able to talk with her, told me she had heard all kinds of things, from two planes going down to a few people being killed on the one that crashed in the Hudson. In the end, though, she said she just kept watching the television and different news channels that were getting up to date information since she wasn't able to reach me through the phone.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I feel like Viewig's point is accurate in specific situations. Also the seriousness of the situation has some impact on uninformed citizens and how the information they know flows through networking channels. Situations that are very serious and sensitive to causing mass hysteria are usually covered up/with held from the general public until public officials decide it is safe to tell people. I think the counter of that would be the Virgina Tech Shooting, where the public could not be sheltered from this news, and people involved needed to know many things (whether people were alright or to tell their status). This hunger for the truth give a more accurate account to uninformed citizens than the media.
ReplyDeleteI find these channels of communication for emergency situations to be edging upon useful and risky. For example, I know that it is of great advantage for activists to use mobile technologies and text messaging to communicate, but after the fact, there remains a risk that these records could be subpoenaed. This happens especially when the communication is supported by groups like Facebook or telecommunication companies like Verizon, etc. Fortunately, there are solutions being developed for minimizing the risks for activists by using more decentralized networks.
ReplyDelete