Understanding Public Information Needs in Crisis Contexts
The Public Information Needs in Crisis Contexts Directed Research Group Spring 2014
When a disaster strikes how will you get the information that you need?
How do emergency professionals reach the public?
What are the prevailing information needs in a crisis? Are they all met the same way?
There are many challenges to getting information out to the public during a crisis. Crises are inherently unpredictable, often interrupting predetermined strategies for getting information to the public. People are also ever more diverse in terms of the communication tools and platforms that they turn to for information. Given these challenges, the Public Information Needs in Crisis Directed Research Group examines the current strategies employed to get information out during crises from two perspectives: official response operations and observed recent information sharing behaviors among the public. Spring 2014, we’ll use document analysis and informal interviews with domain experts to create a basic model of how the work of informing the public during crises is taking place for one locale in the United States. With guidance and support students will be responsible for conducting and documenting a portion of the analysis.
- This research group will be run by HCDE PhD student Dharma Dailey and iSchool PhD candidate Beth Patin, and supervised by HCDE Professor Kate Starbird. If you are interested, please send an email to both Dharma (ddailey@uw.edu) and Beth (bethp@uw.edu) with a brief description of why you interested in the group, any relevant experience, and the number of credits you are seeking. Meetings are mandatory for all registered students. Students should register for 2-3 credits and are expected to conduct 3 hours per week of work outside the classroom for each registered credit.
