research-article

Providing Online Crisis Information: An Analysis of Official Sources during the 2014 Carlton Complex Wildfire

Authors:

Apoorva Chauhan,

Amanda L. HughesAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 3151 - 3162

https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025627

Published: 02 May 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Using the 2014 Carlton Complex Wildfire as a case study, we examine who contributes official information online during a crisis event, and the timeliness and relevance of the information provided. We identify and describe the communication behaviors of four types of official information sources (Event Based Resources, Local Responders, Local News Media, and Cooperating Agencies), and collect message data from each source's website, public Facebook page, and/or Twitter account. The data show that the Local News Media provided the highest quantity of relevant information and the timeliest information. Event Based Resources shared the highest percentage of relevant information, however, it was often unclear who managed these resources and the credibility of the information. Based on these findings, we offer suggestions for how providers of official crisis information might better manage their online communications and ways that the public can find more timely and relevant online crisis information from official sources.

Supplementary Material

suppl.mov (pn1834p.mp4)

Supplemental video

Download
774.43 KB

References

[1]

Cynthia Andrews, Elodie Fichet, Yuwei Ding, Emma S. Spiro, and Kate Starbird. 2016. Keeping Up with the Tweet-dashians: The Impact of "Official" Accounts on Online Rumoring. In Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW '16), 452--465.

Digital Library

[2]

Lucinda Austin, Brooke Fisher Liu, and Yan Jin. 2012. How Audiences Seek Out Crisis Information: Exploring the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Model. Journal of Applied Communication Research 40, 2: 188--207.

[3]

Rowena L. Briones, Beth Kuch, Brooke Fisher Liu, and Yan Yin. 2011. Keeping Up with the Digital Age: How the American Red Cross uses Social Media to Build Relationships. Public Relations Review 37, 1: 37--43.

[4]

Michael Crutcher and Matthew Zook. 2009. Placemarks and Waterlines: Racialized Cyberscapes in Post-Katrina Google Earth. Geoforum 40: 523--534.

[5]

Shideh Dashti, Leysia Palen, Mehdi P Heris, Kenneth M Anderson, Scott Anderson, and Jennings Anderson. 2014. Supporting Disaster Reconnaissance with Social Media Data: A Design-Oriented Case Study of the 2013 Colorado Floods. In Proceedings of the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 20014).

[6]

Sebastian Denef, Petra S. Bayerl, and Nico Kaptein. 2013. Social Media and the Police-Tweeting Practices of British Police Forces during the August 2011 Riots. In Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2013), 3471-- 3480.

[7]

Gazette-Tribune. 2014. State Federal Delegation Backs Inslee's Request for Major Disaster Declaration. Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune. Retrieved April 27, 2016 from http://www.gazette-tribune.com/news/statefederal-delegation-backs-inslees-request-for-majordisaster-declaration/68353/

[8]

Chris Hagar and Caroline Haythornthwaite. 2005. Crisis, Farming & Community. The Journal of Community Informatics 1, 3: 41--52.

[9]

Y. Linlin Huang, Kate Starbird, Mania Orand, Stephanie A. Stanek, and Heather T. Pedersen. 2015. Connected Through Crisis: Emotional Proximity and the Spread of Misinformation Online. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW '15), 969--980.

Digital Library

[10]

Amanda L. Hughes and Apoorva Chauhan. 2015. Online Media as a Means to Affect Public Trust in Emergency Responders. In Proceedings of the 2015 Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 2015).

[11]

Amanda L. Hughes and Leysia Palen. 2012. The Evolving Role of the Public Information Officer: An Examination of Social Media in Emergency Management. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 9, 1.

[12]

Amanda L. Hughes, Leysia Palen, Jeannette Sutton, Sophia B. Liu, and Sarah Vieweg. 2008. "Site-Seeing " in Disaster: An Examination of On-Line Social Convergence. In Proceedings of the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 2008).

[13]

Amanda L. Hughes, Lise Ann St. Denis, Leysia Palen, and Kenneth M. Anderson. 2014. Online Public Communications by Police & Fire Services during the 2012 Hurricane Sandy. In Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2014), 1505--1514.

Digital Library

[14]

Muhammad Imran, Carlos Castillo, Fernando Diaz, and Sarah Vieweg. 2015. Processing Social Media Messages in Mass Emergency: A Survey. ACM Comput. Surv. 47, 4: 67:1--67:38.

[15]

Mark Latonero and Irina Shklovski. 2011. Emergency Management, Twitter, and Social Media Evangelism. International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management 3, 4: 1--16.

[16]

Michael K. Lindell and Ronald W. Perry. 1987. Warning Mechanisms in Emergency Response Systems. Iternational Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 5, 2: 137--153.

[17]

Michael K. Lindell and Ronald W. Perry. 2004. Communicating Environmental Risk in Multiethnic Communities. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

[18]

Michelle McNiel. 2014. Cost of Fighting Carlton Complex Hits $60 million; 322 Homes Destroyed. Retrieved May 27, 2016 from http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2014/aug/07/ca rlton-complex-now-cost-60-million-and-destroyednearly-500-structures/

[19]

Dennis S. Mileti and Colleen Fitzpatrick. 1992. The Causal Sequence of Risk Communication in the Parkfield Earthquake Prediction Experiment. Risk Analysis 12, 3: 393--400.

[20]

Dhiraj Murthy. 2013. New Media and Natural Disasters: Blogs and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Information, Communication & Society 16, 7: 1176-- 1192.

[21]

Leysia Palen and Sophia B. Liu. 2007. Citizen Communications in Crisis: Anticipating a Future of ICT-supported Public Participation. In Proceedings of the 2007 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2007), 727--736.

Digital Library

[22]

Leysia Palen and Sarah Vieweg. 2008. The Emergence of Online Widescale Interaction in Unexpected Events. In 2008 ACM Proceedings of Computer Supported Cooperative Work Conference, 117--126.

Digital Library

[23]

Leysia Palen, Sarah Vieweg, Sophia B. Liu, and Amanda L. Hughes. 2009. Crisis in a Networked World. Social Science Computing Review 27, 4: 467-- 480.

Digital Library

[24]

Laura E. Pechta, Dale C. Brandenburg, and Matthew W. Seeger. 2010. Understanding the Dynamics of Emergency Communication: Propositions for a FourChannel Model. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 7, 1.

[25]

Sung-Yueh Perng, Monika B�scher, Ragnhild Halvorsrud, Lisa Wood, Michael Stiso, Leonardo Ramirez, and Amro Al-Akkad. 2012. Peripheral Response: Microblogging During the 22/7/2011 Norway Attacks. In Proceedings of the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 2012).

[26]

Linda Plotnick, Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Jane A. Kushma, and Andrea H. Tapia. 2015. Red Tape: Attitudes and Issues Related to Use of Social Media by U.S. CountyLevel Emergency Managers. In Proceedings of the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 20015).

[27]

Tobias Preis, Helen Susannah Moat, Steven R. Bishop, Philip Treleaven, and H. Eugene Stanley. 2013. Quantifying the Digital Traces of Hurricane Sandy on Flickr. Scientific Reports 3.

[28]

Yan Qu, Philip Fei Wu, and Xiaoqing Wang. 2009. Online Community Response to Major Disaster: A Study of Tianya Forum in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. In Proceedings of the 2009 Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2009), 1--11.

[29]

Barbara Reynolds and Matthew W. Seeger. 2005. Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication as an Integrative Model. Journal of Health Communication 10, 1: 43--55.

[30]

Irina Shklovski, Moira Burke, Sara Kiesler, and Robert Kraut. 2010. Technology Adoption and Use in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. American Behavioral Scientist 53, 8: 1228--1246.

[31]

Irina Shklovski, Leysia Palen, and Jeannette Sutton. 2008. Finding Community through Information and Communication Technology in Disaster Response. In Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2008), 127--136.

Digital Library

[32]

John H. Sorensen and Barbara V. Sorensen. 2007. Community Processes: Warning and Evacuation. In Handbook of Disaster Research, Havidan Rodriguez, Enrico L. Quarantelli and Russell R. Dynes (eds.). Springer New York, New York, NY, 183--199.

[33]

Lise Ann St. Denis, Amanda L. Hughes, and Leysia Palen. 2012. Trial by Fire: The Deployment of Trusted Digital Volunteers in the 2011 Shadow Lake Fire. In Proceedings of the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 2012).

[34]

Seattle Times Staff. 2014. Crews Plan Controlled Burn Near Carlton Complex Wildfire. The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 19, 2016 from http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crews-plancontrolled-burn-near-carlton-complex-wildfire/

[35]

Robert A. Stallings. 2007. Methodological Issues. In Handbook of Disaster Research, Havid�n Rodr�guez, Enrico L. Quarantelli and Russell R. Dynes (eds.). Springer New York, New York, NY, 55--82.

[36]

Kate Starbird and Leysia Palen. 2011. "Voluntweeters:" Self-Organizing by Digital Volunteers in Times of Crisis. In Proceedings of the 2011 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2011), 1071--1080.

Digital Library

[37]

Kate Starbird, Leysia Palen, Amanda L. Hughes, and Sarah Vieweg. 2010. Chatter on the Red: What Hazards Threat Reveals about the Social Life of Microblogged Information. In Proceedings of the ACM 2010 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2010), 241--250.

Digital Library

[38]

Geoffrey Stockdale and Rahul Sood. 1989. Emergency Public Information: A Quick Response Study of Coalinga. Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder.

[39]

Jeannette N. Sutton. 2009. Social Media Monitoring and the Democratic National Convention: New Tasks and Emergent Processes. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 6, 1.

[40]

Jeannette N. Sutton, Leysia Palen, and Irina Shklovski. 2008. Backchannels on the Front Lines: Emergent Use of Social Media in the 2007 Southern California Fires. In Proceedings of the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 2008).

[41]

Jeannette N. Sutton, Emma Spiro, Carter Butts, Sean Fitzhugh, Britta Johnson, and Matt Greczek. 2013. Tweeting the Spill: Online Informal Communications, Social Networks, and Conversational Microstructures during the Deepwater Horizon Oilspill. International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management 5, 1: 58--76.

[42]

Jeannette N. Sutton, Emma Spiro, Sean Fitzhugh, Britta Johnson, Ben Gibson, and Carter T. Butts. 2014. Online Message Amplification in the Boston Bombing Response. In Proceedings of the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 20014).

[43]

Jeannette N. Sutton, Emma S. Spiro, Sean Fitzhugh, Britta Johnson, Ben Gibson, and Carter T. Butts. 2014. Terse Message Amplification in the Boston Bombing Response. In Proceedings of the Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 2014).

[44]

Kathleen J. Tierney, Michael K. Lindell, and Ronald W. Perry. 2001. Facing the Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness and Response in the United States. John Henry Press, Washington D.C.

[45]

United Nations Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). 2010. Early Warning Practices can Save Many Lives: Good Practices and Lessons Learned. Bonn, Germany. Retrieved from http://www.unisdr.org/files/15254_EWSBBLLfinalwe b.pdf

[46]

US Forest Service. 2014. Carlton Complex Fire Perimeter Map August 20, 2014. Retrieved from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/map/3967/1/39520/

[47]

US Forest Service. 2014. Carlton Complex Wildfire: Incident Overview. Retrieved from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/3967/

[48]

US Forest Service. 2014. Carlton Complex Wildfire: Fire Update 8--24--14. Retrieved from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/3967/24094/

[49]

Ricardo J. Wray, Jennifer Rivers, Amanda Whitworth, and Keri Jupka. 2006. Public Perceptions About Trust in Emergency Risk Communication: Qualitative Research Findings. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 24, 1: 45--75.

[50]

InciWeb: 8/1/14 Evacuation Update 8pm. Retrieved August 18, 2016 from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/3967/22887/

[51]

InciWeb: 8/3/14 Carlton Complex 9am Update. Retrieved August 18, 2016 from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/3967/22956/

Cited By

Joe MCocci AIhekweazu CAdetona OAdetona AMaslak TNaeher L(2024)Limited availability of health risk communication related to community smoke exposure from prescribed burns in the United States: a reviewInternational Journal of Wildland Fire10.1071/WF2315833:9Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23158
Lawson CAdhikari SGifford CFischer L(2024)Burning Through Information: An Investigation of Information Sources and Information Seeking Behavior During 2020 Oregon WildfiresInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104841(104841)Online publication date: Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104841
Jo JKnearem TCarroll J(2023)Coproducing Support Together: Sustainable and Reciprocal Civic Disaster Relief during COVID-19Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35794747:CSCW1(1-25)Online publication date: 16-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3579474
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Providing Online Crisis Information: An Analysis of Official Sources during the 2014 Carlton Complex Wildfire
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing

Recommendations

Online public communications by police & fire services during the 2012 Hurricane Sandy
CHI '14: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Social media and other online communication tools are a subject of great interest in mass emergency response. Members of the public are turning to these solutions to seek and offer emergency information. Emergency responders are working to determine ...
Finding community through information and communication technology in disaster response
CSCW '08: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work

Disasters affect not only the welfare of individuals and family groups, but also the well-being of communities, and can serve as a catalyst for innovative uses of information and communication technology (ICT). In this paper, we present evidence of ICT ...
Data that matter: opportunities in crisis informatics research
WSDM '14: Proceedings of the 7th ACM international conference on Web search and data mining

In an increasingly global society and on a planet experiencing effects of climate change, large-scale emergencies both instigated by humans and arising from nature can devastate human life and our tightly- woven social fabric. With a promise of improved ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 2017

7138 pages

ISBN:9781450346559

DOI:10.1145/3025453

General Chairs:
Gloria Mark
University of California Irvine
,
Susan Fussell
Cornell University
,
Program Chairs:
Cliff Lampe
University of Michigan
,
m.c. schraefel
University of Southampton
,
Juan Pablo Hourcade
University of Iowa
,
Caroline Appert
Universit� Paris-Sud
,
Daniel Wigdor
University of Toronto

Copyright � 2017 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

Sponsors

SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 02 May 2017

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Conference

CHI '17

Sponsor:

SIGCHI

CHI '17: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 6 - 11, 2017

Colorado, Denver, USA

Acceptance Rates

CHI '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 600 of 2,400 submissions, 25%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

17
Total Citations
View Citations
546
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)54
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 21 Oct 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Joe MCocci AIhekweazu CAdetona OAdetona AMaslak TNaeher L(2024)Limited availability of health risk communication related to community smoke exposure from prescribed burns in the United States: a reviewInternational Journal of Wildland Fire10.1071/WF2315833:9Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23158
Lawson CAdhikari SGifford CFischer L(2024)Burning Through Information: An Investigation of Information Sources and Information Seeking Behavior During 2020 Oregon WildfiresInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104841(104841)Online publication date: Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104841
Jo JKnearem TCarroll J(2023)Coproducing Support Together: Sustainable and Reciprocal Civic Disaster Relief during COVID-19Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35794747:CSCW1(1-25)Online publication date: 16-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3579474
LaLone NHughes ATapia A(2022)More Than MillingResearch Anthology on Managing Crisis and Risk Communications10.4018/978-1-6684-7145-6.ch003(31-53)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2022
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-7145-6.ch003
Fraser KFitchett J(2022)Misinformation and Instant Access: Inconsistent Reporting during Extreme Climatic Events, Reflecting on Tropical Cyclone IdaiWeather, Climate, and Society10.1175/WCAS-D-21-0085.114:1(273-286)Online publication date: Jan-2022
https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-21-0085.1
Kim JWang YMa LChatham A(2022)Engaging the Public in Disaster Communication: The Effect of Message Framing on Sharing Intentions for Social Media PostsInternational Journal of Strategic Communication10.1080/1553118X.2022.203397916:4(649-662)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2022
https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2022.2033979
Zhao HThrash TSchläfli FKapadia MAguilar LHelbing DHölscher C(2022)Collective Intelligence during Emergency Egress: The Mechanisms Underlying Altruistic Information ExchangeInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2022.208727439:14(2876-2892)Online publication date: 21-Jun-2022
https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2022.2087274
LaLone NHughes ATapia A(2021)More Than MillingInformation Technology Applications for Crisis Response and Management10.4018/978-1-7998-7210-8.ch001(1-23)Online publication date: 19-Feb-2021
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7210-8.ch001
Heaney EHunter LClulow ABowles DVardoulakis S(2021)Efficacy of Communication Techniques and Health Outcomes of Bushfire Smoke Exposure: A Scoping ReviewInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health10.3390/ijerph18201088918:20(10889)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2021
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010889
Lep ŽIlić STeovanović PHacin Beyazoglu KDamnjanović K(2021)One Hundred and Sixty-One Days in the Life of the Homopandemicus in Serbia: The Contribution of Information Credibility and Alertness in Predicting Engagement in Protective BehaviorsFrontiers in Psychology10.3389/fpsyg.2021.63179112Online publication date: 5-Jul-2021
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631791
Show More Cited By

View Options

Get Access

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Table of Contents