accessible emergency communications and social media carol dunn
TRANSCRIPT
Accessible Emergency Communications and Social
Media
Carol Dunn
Who am I?
Carol Dunn, CaroldnSeattle Area
Social Media is an opportunity
• Overcome communication barriers-if you try• Reach people ‘where they are’• Help set positive narrative• Help find out what is happening as it happens
But first
Biology in a Zero Sum World
Benjamin Asmusen
Increase your ‘we’
• Diversity in hiring
• Work together with groups in the community towards a shared goal.
Accessibility doesn’t just happen
• Add captions or transcript files to youtube videos
• Learn how to make accessible PDFs (or avoid PDFs)
• Resist the urge to add create a site that is primarily flash or silverlight
• Keep language short and clear• Build accessibility into your budget from the
beginning
Homework
• Think about what human factors contribute to harm in disasters:– Can’t get out of the way of a hazard in time
(proximity, mobility, awareness…)– Taken by surprise (awareness, immediacy,
language/literacy…)– Access to resources (awareness, economics,
marginalized..) • Awareness: attention redirected, working memory,
information in right format, new to area
Information providers: Does your ‘content’ help?
• Take the time to go through your public information thinking about how useful it is for individuals who navigate the world in different ways. – Sight, hearing, language comprehension, refocused
attention/memory, understanding of abstract, distrusting
– Online Screen Reader: http://tinyurl.com/WebAnywhereKY
Better yet:
• Go find people in your community who can tell you directly how well your information works for them.– Talk to them– Work with them
There are a lot of resources that can improve your outreach efforts
Useful websites: http://tinyurl.com/EnableKY
• Learning about your jurisdiction/target:– US Census, American Family Survey, MLA
Language Map– Google Earth– Parcel Maps, Public Records
Where to create content
• Visual: – Youtube, slideshare, pinterest, flickr, instagram,
Lockerz• Audio: youtube• Text based: blogger, wordpress, tumblr• Immediate: Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
How to Increase participation?
• Use social media to meet specific goals
• Reach out: share information about your internet goals offline: create cards with easy links to hand out when meeting people
• Gamification: example: Cheryl Bledsoe @Cherylble: 30 days 30 ways
Use More Cute Animals
Social Media in times of Crisis
Photo by bitboy
After a high stress trigger
• Most people will be experiencing:– Hyper-vigilance: intensely focused attention– Pattern seeking– Searching for a cause (tightening in group)– Inclined to take shortcuts– Willing to suspend disbelief: magical thinking– Compelled to act (maybe in a rash way)– Post event spike in feeling of vulnerability
How does this influence Communication?
Hyper-vigilance:
– Information Vacuum
• The higher the stakes, the more likely the official sources will grow very silent for the initial period to coordinate the message.
• The higher the stakes the more information the public needs to have
• The information vacuum will be filled, but not by whom you want.
Patterns Seeking
• Provide Context!– There is a good
chance some in the media and the general public are making jumps in logic that are wrong & don’t help
Changing/Tightening of ‘in group’/Inclined to take shortcuts
• Remember whom you need to communicate with-not just people who are easiest to reach.
• Post violence: Help protect whichever group is being singled out
Need to Act
• Help set a positive narrative: ask people to reach out and get information to others, to help their neighbors
• Provide guidance on what specifically is needed• Encourage fund raisers to say specifically how donations will
be used• Be ready in advance with a plan for a goods/volunteer flood
– Regional Catastrophic Disaster Coordination Plan –Volunteer & Donations Management Tool Kit http://tinyurl.com/donationtoolkit (pdf)
– Video: Volunteer Reception Center (FEMA) http://tinyurl.com/VolRC
A lot of useful tools related to
Situational Awareness
John Severin Cracked Magazine
Links at
• http://tinyurl.com/WebtoolsKY
Flickr mapped search
Youtube filters
bing social
Topsy
Tweets, Photos, Videos
GeoChirp
Tweetgrid.com
Social Media is an opportunity
• Overcome communication barriers-if you try• Reach people ‘where they are’• Help set positive narrative• Help find out what is happening as it happens
