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

Thank You

• Carol Dunn• carol@2resilience.com• @caroldn• Links can be found at www.2resilience.com