1. 2007 Southern California Wildfires Research
Jeannette Sutton
CU Boulder, Natural Hazards Center
April 8, 2008

2. Traditional Communications Processes
Hazard monitored, detected,
Data collected and analyzed
Predictions created
Officials interpret information
Decision is made to communicate with stakeholders
Linear model…

3. Incident Command – Structured Flow of Communications

4. Communication Channels
Public  Agencies
Agencies  Agencies
Agencies  Public
Public  Public

5. “Twitter-quake”
Increased use of peer to peer communications technologies in recent disaster events
Includes microblogs such as Twitter
Photosharing sites such as Flickr
To what extent is this occurring, how, by whom?

6. Social Media
Borrowed from Robert Scoble, scoblizer.com

7. Wildfire Quick Response Research
connectivIT research lab at the University of Colorado under the leadership of Dr. Leysia Palen
Archiving of web based data
Twitter
Flickr
Facebook
Public forums
Field research (Oct 26-Nov 1)
Dr. Irina Shklovski, UCI postdoc
face to face interviews in multiple Southern California counties
Fires began Oct 22; evacuations occurred immediately in some areas. Irina was in the field on Oct 26 and a good part of the following week.
Difficulties with field research
Getting access to shelters (Red Cross) or disaster assistance service centers (FEMA).
2) Language barriers with non-English speakers
3) Distance from shelter to shelter (travel required from Irvine)
4) Evacuation orders were being lifted throughout the week – difficult to find interviewees

8. Wildfire Survey Research
Purpose - to understand how information technology (IT) users used IT during the Southern California wildfires
Focus – the general public; peer to peer communications; obtaining, generating and sharing information
The idea behind the survey is to understand how the general public obtains information about emergencies, whether traditional media outlets are sufficient and whether people who seek information beyond traditional outlets benefit from the kinds of information they find. We are also interested in whether the general public produces and shares information about the disasters, and if so, what kind of information is commonly shared and why. Is there benefit to sharing? Is there a perceived benefit?

9. Wildfire Survey Research - Methods
Subject recruitment
Personal and professional contacts
Social media sites
Flickr
Facebook
Myspace
Twitter
Public forums
- Non-representative snowball sample

10. Survey Research Qualifiers to participate in survey Over age 18
Residing in Southern California at the time of the wildfires
Additional questions asked of those who evacuated versus those who did not

11. Survey Questions
What IT are used on a daily basis for communication and information sharing and retrieval?
What IT were adopted during the wildfires and why?
What IT were useful for finding out what kind of information and why?

12. Survey Questions Were there synergistic technology use examples?
– did some technologies motivate other technology uses to a larger extent?
What kind of information was sought out and through what sources
Traditional media versus publicly generated content
What kind of content was generated online; by the public; how; and why?

13. Data Analysis
What role might new technologies play in future disaster response?
Emergent technologies
Innovative uses of existing technologies
What role is the public playing in the creation and dissemination of information in disaster?
Benefits of creating content?
Perceived benefits?

14. Data Analysis – Looking Forward…
Document improvised behaviors in disaster response
Describe qualities of Information Technology use
Establish the first data point on what will be some longer-term trend data.
Predict and design for the future

15. Contact Us Jeannette Sutton, University of Colorado,
Natural Hazards Center
Leysia Palen, University of Colorado at Boulder, connectivIT research lab
Irina Shklovski, postdoctoral researcher, UCI School of Information and Computer Science

16. Questions?