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D R M E L A N I E I R O N S
@ m e l a n i e i r o n s
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power
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20 860 858 34 836 611 2 826 273
79.7% 25-34, 35-44 4.3, 10.6 12.5 2 500% 0
301 431 622km 700 10 000 1 $100m
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emergent groups
Private citizens who
work together in
pursuit of collective
goals relevant to
actual or potential
disasters but whose
organization has
not yet become
institutionalized (Stallings & Quarantelli, 1985)
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We all remember the
saying from the Kevin
Costner baseball
movie, Field of
Dreams, ‘If you build
it, they will come’.
Well, if you have a
complex disaster run
right through it, they will
come as well. (Wachtendorf & Kendra, 2004, p. 5)
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sum of all its parts
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Bill & Burridge Dimity & Gab Cathy & Tering My VOST
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Admin
sources
information
Admin
handles
information
Admin posts
information
on TFWCH
Admin leaves
information
to crowd
• Newspapers
• Radio
• Private messages via
TFWCH
• TV news
• Phone calls
• Text messages
• Comments to posts on
TFWCH
• Recent posts by
others on TFWCH
• Websites
• Emails via Gmail
• Verify through other sources
• Respond to privately
• Do not verify or filter;
proceed
• Ignore
• Contact source; request
more information
• Contact source; request link
to first-hand source
• Re-word
• Copy/paste
• Summarise
• Translate
• Moderate comments where
necessary
• To share online
• To share in “real world”
• To respond to
• To be informed
• To act on
• To problem solve
• To ignore
1 2 3 4
TRUST JUDGEMENT + CRITICAL
THINKING COMMUNICATION
SKILLS TRUST
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2 443 678 1 302 675 5/900
139 private info shared
91 splinter groups formed
71 extreme generosity
69 fundraisers
53 what we don’t need
50 missing people
43 room for improvement!
Advice from others (3) Government
information (16) Requests for help with transport/ delivery (26)
Emergency website development (6)
Telecomm-unications/ power (6)
Gardens, fencing, environment (3)
Road closures, police alerts (2)
General information on donations (4)
Housing, accomodation (3)
Insurance (1) The fire (3) The Bushfire Inquiry (2) The Primary School (2) Volunteers needed/not
needed (2)
Platform for sharing information
Fundraisers, fundraising (6)
Rebuilding, recovery (5) Media/ awareness
raising (7) Requests for specific
information (24) Banks (1)
Ways to help, offers of help (6)
Requests for specific assistance (79)
Thank you events/awards (4)
Requests for specific items (61)
Financial assistance/ entitlements (12)
Missing/ stranded people (6)
Grants (1) Looting (1) Other simultaneous
disasters (2)
Convoys, meetings, events (4)
Physical health (9) Psychological health (10) Rental car issues (1) Broadcasting messages for businesses/ groups
(3)
Hubs and recovery/evac sites (2)
Pets, livestock, wildlife (2)
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Make information accessible
Network, build profile +
legitimacy
Provide accurate + high quality information
(apomediate)
Provide constant + fast source of
information Listen + provide
psychological first aid
Fit into the official response Maintain
engagement + motivation
Emphasise safety
Control donations Manage rumours Maintain positive tone of the page
Guide + facilitate the community: ‘give permission’
Be systematic + reliable
Story tell, give feedback +
‘progress reports’
Be human + honest
Not focus at all on herself
Be very available + bi-directional communication
Encourage critical thinking +
responsibiity
Have a bit of fun + spread hope!
Admin’s ‘Job Description'
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people in trouble turn to
what they think will be the
fastest way to get help,
and this often means
turning to social media (Blanchard et al., 2010)
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speed accuracy trade-off… can you have both?
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what we know
what we don’t know
what we are doing
what we need you to do
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simply want to have
someone to talk to (Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry, 2011, p.6)
psychological
first aid
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goals of
psychological
first aid
(Burke et al., 2013, p. 9)
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Make people feel safe and secure
Facilitate people’s social support
Give hope
Get people through the first period of
high intensity and uncertainty
Reduce the risk factors of mental
illness as a result of the event, such as
PTSD
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Everything...we would of had nothing if it
wasn't for tfwch and foodbank. I sent a
message, received a reply within a few
hours and had most supplies by that night.
All people delivering supplies went out of
their way to help. [sic]
The page was the right page at the right time. We were devastated
hearing about the fires, and you provided a means for all of us to
really help. The first week was absolutely awesome. I cried lots
with the fantastic things people were able to do. Not something I'm
prone to do much of - I'm male!! Your page kept us all in touch with
real time needs and we really felt what we were doing was actually
making a difference. [sic]
When we were isolated on the [location], this page was the lifesaver of my emotional wellbeing. Just reading of the goodness of strangers and how every one was helping took my mind off the fear I felt of being so isolated. [sic]
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what media
were they using?
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45
6
11
3
41
2
27
4
16
5
85
19
9
35
25
6
11
1
47
68
25
7
89
14
4
24
1
21
6
24
1
72
20
6
24
9
10
6
7
16
1
30
11
3
12
5
23
0
91
42
4
69
17
1
37
8
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
Not At All Important/Irrelevant Important/Somewhat Important Extremely Important/Very Important
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what were
they doing?
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individual volunteers
Direct donation 340
Shared info online 338
Support/praise 307
Fundraiser donation 292
Financial donation 242
Transport/delivery 183
St Vincent de Paul’s 180
Contacted business 177
Evac./recovery site 119
Livestock feed 109
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bushfire-affected individuals
Sourcing unofficial information 100.0%
Sharing information online 90.9%
Getting fire related info 84.1%
Getting general support 83.7%
Sharing information in the “real world” 77.3%
Feeling connected 75.0%
Getting encouragement/support 67.5%
Getting official information 65.0%
Help from the Foodbank 55.9%
Evacuation hub information 55.8%
Mental health help 41.9%
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did the page
matter?
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42.46%
7.27%
50.30%
The page had animpact
Hard to say/notsure
The page did nothave an impact
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traditional
volunteering?
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8.4% registered
17.5% actively used
1.7%
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title style resilience
… that ‘ole buzzword
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A model of stress resistance and resilience over time (Norris et al., 2008, p. 130)
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robust
unlikely to fall apart
redundant
have got lots of backups/‘understudies’
rapid
can move it/get it fast
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Community resilience as a set of networked adaptive capacities (Norris et al., 2008, p. 236)
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economic development
all people can get stuff
social capital
people know + use people
information & communication
people know stuff + can share it
community competence
people can problem solve + work
together
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a motivated,
connected,
informed
community with
social media
NAIL both those
models
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Craig Fugate & Bob Jensen:
Plan for the worst, not what you can handle
Be survivor-centric, not government-centric
Time is the most important resource
“Go big, go early, go fast, go smart”
“Unless it’s illegal or gonna kill someone”
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title style things are changing
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rather than having the
response ‘done to them’;
members of the public should
be seen as active agents in an
emergency, operating as
information suppliers and
‘everyday analysts’ (Palen, 2012)
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in social media space
still a lot of fear
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These reasons include a failure to
see information attained over social
media as useful, fear of spreading
misinformation, not understanding the
benefits, or lack of resourcing to run
social media accounts
(Crawford, 2009; St. Denis et al., 2012; For-mukwai, 2010; Palen, Hiltz & Liu, 2007;
Palen & Liu, 2007; Westbrook et al., 2012)
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cheats, scammers, donations, money concerns,
disorganisation initially, communication confusion, conflicting
information, dislike or distrust of social media, basic
administration improvements, improvements with Facebook
structure. excessive donations, duplication, repetition,
insufficiency, feeling ignored, people not understanding the
system, confusion, verification and accuracy issues,
information overload, rumours, getting loans back,
advertising, taking advantage, safety, risks, duty of care,
heroism, negative people upsetting the mood, general
recovery issues, expectations, roles, questions about
operation in this space at all
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the pros still far outweigh
the cons
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It can be likened to professional
responders sitting in an
emergency operations control
centre, and not answering the
phone when it is ringing
(C. Milligan, personal communication September 7, 2014)
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Do you know someone who
brags that they don’t text,
tweet or care about social
media?
I like to diplomatically tell
these folks that their digital
zipper is down; and it is not
helping them look relevant
(Feeney, 2012, NP)
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never too late
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The best time to plant a tree was
20 years ago.
The second best time is now.
(Chinese proverb)
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thoughts
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GET A VOST (contact: Caroline Milligan, Crest Advisory)
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title style the ant’s nest
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title style “set it free”
(White Paper released after the Haitian earthquake by the US Department of State Humanitarian Information
Unit, 2010)
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title style be human before, during, after
how’s the empathy of your staff?
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not where it’s easiest for you to be
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title style “never waste a lunch”
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title style if you think you are on to something… you
are.
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thank you
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Tassie Fires – We Can Help
www.tassiefireswecanhelp.com
ABC Australian Story:
“Irons in the Fire”
Dr. Melanie Irons
www.melanieirons.com