Following Monday’s attack on the Boston Marathon, here are a few more posts that looked at the role that social media played in the aftermath.
This is the second presentation from the GeOnG2012 conference: In the hours after a rapid-onset emergency social media can help humanitarian agencies and emergency responders get a better idea of what the situation is like on the ground.
At least 12 people were killed and 38 injured in a shooting at a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday. A lot of the survivors shared their feelings on social media, particularly Twitter, and a lot of journalists used social media to gather information and get in touch with sources.
The Nielsen Journalism Lab has just published a report for those who need to be able to tell truth from fiction when looking at user generated content. “Truth in the age of Social Media” contains articles from practitioners at the BBC, CNN, AP and Storyful and talks about how some of the world’s most respected new organizations verify facts and photos.
The LSE has just released the first report in a three-year research project focusing on the gap between what people know about human suffering and how they react to it. “Who cares? Challenges and Opportunities in Reporting Distant Suffering” should be required reading for anyone who works in communications, media relations or advocacy in the aid sector.
Back from my vacation I had the opportunity to listen to a live webcast on “Social Media as a Tool for Humanitarian Protection” that was organized by Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR).
The BBC has now published elements process for verifying social media content, which makes for an excellent read. What emerges is a process that is more like that of a traditional intelligence agency, than what most people had in mind when joining journalism school.
A new “serious game” is trying to show what it’s like to be a journalist, an aid-worker or a survivor in a natural disaster. And it’s not doing a bad job!
