Week 12: Crowdsourcing in Times of Crisis
Welcome back to my blog, everyone! 👋
This blog is a component of my weekly reflection for MDA20009, in which I discuss issues pertaining to online communities, digital culture, and social media. Please feel free to peruse and comment on anything you find intriguing. 😊
I'll be talking about crowdsourcing during catastrophes this week, with an emphasis on how digital citizens use social media platforms to cooperate, exchange information, and offer relief.
What is Crowdsourcing? The technique of gathering data, concepts, or services from a large number of people—typically via online platforms—is known as crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing enables the public to provide real-time information that can aid emergency response efforts during times of crisis.
Social media's growth has made crowdsourcing quicker and easier to use, allowing regular people to actively participate in crisis communication.
Crowdsourcing During Crisis Situations Social media users frequently become "information contributors" during emergencies like pandemics, natural catastrophes, or accidents by posting updates, cautions, and messages of support.
Crowdsourcing in times of crisis includes, for instance:
Providing real-time updates during earthquakes or floods.
Reporting dangerous locations or missing people.
Coordinating humanitarian activities and donations.
Centralising emergency information with hashtags.
During emergencies, social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) frequently become essential communication tools (Palen & Anderson, 2016).
The Role of Hashtags in Crisis Communication When it comes to coordinating and disseminating information on crises, hashtags are crucial. They assist in organising posts so that users may quickly obtain real-time updates.
For instance:
Alerts are shared after disasters using emergency hashtags.
Rescue and relief activities are coordinated with the aid of community hashtags.
Safety information is rapidly disseminated using awareness hashtags.
This illustrates how, in times of crisis, digital citizens work together to share information and solve problems.
Benefits of Crowdsourcing in Crisis Situations Crowdsourcing offers a number of significant advantages:
Quick Information Exchange
People can keep informed in real time thanks to the rapid dissemination of information.
Community Assistance
Users can provide individuals impacted with resources, help, and emotional support.
Better Reaction to Emergencies
Crowdsourced data can help authorities and organisations more effectively identify impacted areas.
Enhanced Consciousness
A greater number of people learn about current crises and safety precautions.
According to research, crowdsourced information can support official emergency systems, particularly in situations where conventional routes of communication are compromised (Vieweg et al., 2010).
Challenges and Risks of Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing has advantages, but it also has drawbacks.
False information
During emergencies, unreliable or false information can spread swiftly.
Overload of Information
Accurate updates may be hard to find if there is too much content.
Privacy Issues
Absence of Confirmation
Not every piece of content produced by users is trustworthy or accurate.
These difficulties emphasise the value of responsible digital citizenship and critical thinking.
Digital Citizenship in Crisis Situations In order to guarantee that crowdsourced information is responsible and helpful, digital citizens are essential. This comprises:
Checking information before disseminating it.
Preventing misinformation from spreading.
Sharing information from trustworthy sources.
Preserving sensitive data and privacy.
Participating responsibly ensures that crowdsourcing makes a beneficial contribution during emergencies.
Conclusion In general, crowdsourcing during emergencies shows how digital communities can facilitate information sharing and emergency response. During calamities, social media enables people to make significant contributions, facilitating quicker and more cooperative communication.
However, issues like false information and privacy threats emphasise the necessity of practicing responsible digital citizenship. Through careful use of social media, people can successfully support impacted communities and enhance crisis communication.
References
Palen, L., & Anderson, K. M. (2016). SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH. Crisis informatics--New data for extraordinary times. Science (New York, N.Y.), 353(6296), 224–225. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aag2579
Vieweg, S., Hughes, A. L., Starbird, K., & Palen, L. (2010). Microblogging during two natural hazards events. Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI ’10, 1079–1088. https://doi.org/10.1145/1753326.1753486