When I was preparing for my group presentation this week, I began listing all of the major disasters that I can remember during my lifetime. Over 22 years, there have been too many to count, so many lives lost and changed beyond repair. Imagine having been a worried family member or friend 20 years ago during a tsunami or earthquake? Crowd sourcing wasn’t really a ‘thing’ back then. And without the Internet it is fair to say that information definitely wouldn’t be as easy to obtain or verify. As mentioned in the lecture and readings, verification is integral to disaster situations. As phone lines are often in meltdown (McCosker 2014) it can be near impossible to verify everything that comes through via social media. There have been great strides made though during the last few years, through the incorporation of smart phones and their applications. I am from rural NSW, and last summer there were fires within 100km of my hometown. Now we were never in danger, but the app was great for two reasons: Firstly we were able to make sure that external factors such as the weather conditions (especially winds) didn’t change, but also it allowed me so keep an eye on other towns and farms where we had friends and families. Until being faced with this type of situation, it is impossible to understand exactly how helpful this technology is for everyday people. This verification was very important for everybody in the area. But when it comes to verification, I still think it is very important that traditional media is kept up to date as well. Again through my own experiences, there are many people that still aren’t great with technology, especially in the country. It is often this older generation of country livers that are the ones in most danger, which means that social media wouldn’t be of any help to them. The amount of times I walk down the main street to hear an old man in a worn out singlet listening to the ABC midday news in a parked car has to be seen to be believed. So radio and news broadcasts are still very relevant, with the ABC making sure that both traditional and new media are used together (Posetti 2012). Finally, crowdsourcing is something that many people do, and not just when it comes to natural disasters. In this day and age, people don’t want to take a chance on something that they may not like or enjoy, like a restaurant or gaming console. By asking other people through an online platform, they are often able to obtain information about the multiple options they are choosing from. An example of where I have crowd sourced is through the online AFL Supercoach game. Via Facebook, there is a page that allows you to ask the experts (as they call themselves) questions, regarding which players should be traded in and out of teams. Naturally every man and his dog will have an opinion and ends up commenting on what you have to say. This is quite insightful as it can bring certain players and/or trends to my attention that I may not have realised. Whilst there is no verification as to whether they are actually talking sense or not, I am able to easily check this online to make sure. Well that is probably enough for this week, I think I have covered a few valid points when it comes to this topic. Until next week… McCosker, A 2014, ‘Week 8: Crowd sourcing in times of crisis’, MDA20009- Digital Communities, Learning materials on Blackboard, Swinburne University of Technology, 28 April, viewed 1 May 2014. Posetti, J. & Lo, P. (2012) 'The Twitterisation of ABCs Emergency & Disaster Communication'
