Assigned Blog #10

This week’s class began with a tutorial of the extreme events lab. The room’s set up was interesting, with all the screens to monitor current events. They brought down a big screen which they referred to as the “cave.” The 3D presentation was interesting, but I feel like the 3D technology was a little out of date. All though whoever was presenting said the 3D software was handed down probably because it was outdated. I’m still a little curious on how the 3D data is easier to understand than regular 2D. He showed us a 3D graph with data of time-lined events. The professor also said something about how they have an eight speaker sound system and will listen to music. They will use a certain tone or instrument alert them when an event or situation takes place.

This week in class we discussed using twitter in during a disaster or crisis. There were a lot of statics in the readings and in the student’s presentations. Most of the papers we read and student’s presentation debated whether or not social media networks should be used for disaster relief. For what I understood about the readings, I’m think social media networks should be used for situational updates and geo-location during disasters. I’m not so sure the humanitarian organization should be using social media networks as reliable information. I feel like it is too difficult for responders to confirm whether or not the information is true or not. I think social media networks can be within a community to warn each other about the disaster. They could simply share information about evacuation, locations or emergency centers, shelters, fire/hazard lines.

Another issue with using twitter in a disaster situation is that twitter only allows up to 140 characters. It would be difficult (for me at least) to be able cram enough useful information into 140 characters. The author of one of the articles referred to tweets like this a high-yield tweet. The article went on about looking for “high-yield” twitterers who were able to cram useful and understandable information on twitter in 140 characters.

I also think social media networks can be used in situations like the Virginia Tech shooting, Northern Illinois shooting, and California Wild-fires.  There was a study on social media, like facebook, during these disasters. Most of the people found out about the disasters or situations through social media way before official notification or communication came out through authorities. A watched a documentary that interviewed students who were on campus during the Virginia Tech shootings. Most of the students found out about a gunman on campus through facebook or text messages. They were able to safely run off campus escaping any injury. There was no official way for the authorities to warn the students about the gunman on campus. So, I definitely think social media does have its place in disasters, one way or another.