I live in Buffalo, which often times makes Ithaca seem like Miami. The Friday before Columbus Day (!) two years ago, we had a massive snowstorm. We got several inches of snow, but the real damage was done by the falling of tree branches. Since the trees still had their leaves and the snow was heavy, many branches fell onto roads, powerlines, cars, and buildings. Almost as soon as the storm started, much of the area was without power, so reliable information was hard to come by. Travel was also impossible in most areas.
The easiest way for everyone to communicate was via cell phone and text messaging. We sent messages back and forth compiling information on where we could drive, where generators could be purchased, and who had power in case we needed a place to spend the night. As discussed in the reading, "social capital" became important. People from different towns were treated as authorities on their area, providing friends, relatives, and radio stations with detailed reports of the conditions. Radio stations then relayed the information to listeners. The community would provide needed insight, and even something as simple as "the Home Depot in town-x has a few generators" helped many residents. Since many roads were blocked off and power was mostly gone, local news stations couldn't do very accurate reporting, and had to rely on citizen-journalists calling in reports. The stations acted as information brokers, assembling data from callers, putting it together, and attempting to distribute it.
Even in the two short years since the storm, new technology could help communication. Both of my parents are now avid texters, as are many of my friends' parents. This could make simple communications much easier. Also, the prevalence of iPhones and other mobile web browsers would help keep the community connected. Even if power was lost, residents could still check emails, news sites, and the latest developments. The biggest concerns during the storm were being cut off from news and cut off from friends and relatives. As technology continues to improve, these problems become much easier to solve. Any authoritative information that could be accessed by watching TV or listening to the radio could simply be found online.
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Anyone who's interested should check out the Wikipedia article of the storm, it's a pretty interesting read. Some key points:
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I remember that storm! My family has a summer place on Lake Ontario that got buried during that storm also. We also had to use cell phones and phone cameras to get information from our neighbors about the condition of our house. This is a really good point that since communication technology is becoming less reliant on local lines, it makes it easier to use during the aftermath of natural disasters.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very cool example of a crisis in which technology played a large part. Being from a younger generation that is in touch with newer technologies such as text messaging, it is interesting to think that sometimes it takes a crisis to cause late adopters to try a new technology. This situation and other crises often show the power of a communication technology and force users to adopt new things.
ReplyDeleteAnother example that parallels this but is much more unconventional is when China was oppressing Tibetan monks and had somehow shut down cell phone towers, they were transmitting messages via bluetooth on their cellphones using short distances similar to how I could pass a note to one person who would pass it on.
You know what the freaky part is? I can tell it's still Fall. Look at the trees. The leaves are still green!
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