Disaster symbolism and social media

Research on the use of social media during disaster events has gained attention in recent years. Prior research paid attention to warnings, response activities and the dissemination of information through social media during times of crisis. This study focuses on the use of social media during crisis from different perspectives. In this paper, the implications of symbols that emerged in YouTube videos were examined. Social media can be a valuable medium immediately after disaster events for people in crisis and for others who are indirectly affected to seek spiritual and emotional support and to reconstruct their cultural value system and identity. This study also addresses that persistence and replay are crucial attributes in the design of social media tools for users to seek emotional support and to engage with others in larger space and time.

[1]  Lawrence Lessig,et al.  Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy , 2008 .

[2]  Irina Shklovski,et al.  Finding community through information and communication technology in disaster response , 2008, CSCW.

[3]  Starr Roxanne Hiltz,et al.  Online forums supporting grassroots participation in emergency preparedness and response , 2007, Commun. ACM.

[4]  L. Bernstein,et al.  Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II , 2001 .

[5]  Thomas Erickson.  Persistent conversation: discourse as document , 1999, Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences. 1999. HICSS-32. Abstracts and CD-ROM of Full Papers.

[6]  Michael Wesch,et al.  An anthropological introduction to YouTube , 2008 .

[7]  Susan M. Dray,et al.  Spiritual life and information technology , 2001, CACM.

[8]  Leysia Palen,et al.  Chatter on the red: what hazards threat reveals about the social life of microblogged information , 2010, CSCW '10.

[9]  L. Palen,et al.  Finding Community Through Information and Communication Technology During Disaster Events , 2008 .

[10]  Leysia Palen,et al.  Microblogging during two natural hazards events: what twitter may contribute to situational awareness , 2010, CHI.

[11]  A. Giddens.  Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis , 1979 .

[12]  Ban Al-Ani,et al.  Resilience through technology adoption: merging the old and the new in Iraq , 2009, CHI.

[13]  James H. Martin,et al.  A vision for technology-mediated support for public participation & assistance in mass emergencies & disasters , 2010 .

[14]  N. Hoffart.  Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory , 2000 .