What’s up with Twitter in an earthquake zone?
Now that I’ve got my snark out of the way regarding Twitter’s role in breaking the news about the earthquake in China, it’s time for some more positive. One of the projects going on behind the Burma cyclone is the development of Geochat - basically a spatially-enabled Twitter - as a disaster response tool. Given that I’ve just snapped at the likes of Robert Scoble for cheerleading about Twitter as a news source, why do I think that something like Twitter has a role to play?
I’m not saying that Twitter (and others like it) is useless - far from it. It’s a tool and, like many tools, it has many uses. The example from the earthquake today shows that Twitter can provide a wealth of details on current events - but that wealth of details is difficult to filter and has no quality control. If you know of a particular Twitterer who is a reliable source, then you can follow them - but for the casual reader, most of the flood of detail won’t rise above the level of gossip. Essentially, the Twitter stream isn’t targeted enough to be particularly useful to me.
As both of the regular readers of this blog will know, I’m interested in how these tools can be used in humanitarian operations. In this case, we want to see how microblogging via sms can be harnessed for reporting - for logistics updates, for example, or reporting security incidents. We want to see how co-ordination activities might benefit from having sms notifications as an extra stream of communications, on top of email and telephone. We want to see how beneficiaries might be able to use these channels to build their own picture of their situation and to increase accountability (that one’s a bit optimistic, I admit).
If the technology community really wants to show that Twitter is a force to be reckoned with, that’s where we need to be headed. It’s fine to gloat about beating the mainstream media to the news story, but that doesn’t actually help anybody. Let’s see where this Geochat development takes us - it could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
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Never underestimate the value of gossip! It is part of people’s coping mechanisms. For survivors, worried relatives, and even aid workers, Twitter facilitates the seemingly trivial communications that tend to mean so much to people under stress.
“I’m scared but OK. Will phone when I can.”
“The house is damaged but the kids and I are safe thank God”
“does anyone know where we can get hot food?”
“we are going to try to clear the south rd. need more people. please spread the word.”
Of course there are more formal uses of Twitter as well. EQTW (http://twitter.com/EQTW) gives earthquake and Tsunami warnings. safeandwell (http://twitter.com/safeandwell), lets you Twitter your status to the Red Cross Safe and Well Website. Just send “D safeandwell FIRSTNAME LASTNAME #### STREET CITY STATE ZIP CELLPHONE” and a brief note about how you are. The Red Cross will then enter you into the system.
The big problem as I see it is keeping people off their mobiles during an emergency. Too many simultaneous “Are you OK?” calls quickly overwhelm the system. SMS lets people communicate but eases the burden on the system.
For more advanced uses of systems like Twitter check out Twitter tracking, useful for context analysis, and hashtags. I can see a use for hashtags like #logistics, #security, #coord etc.
So many ideas and so little time to think them through. Sigh. Back to work.
Kevin Toomer
13 May 08 at 6:47
I agree that gossip is an essential coping mechanism, and that twittering clearly fills that niche… but you’ve given me food for thought about how to use it to meet more specific objectives. BTW, have you checked out the Geochat app yet?
Paul Currion
13 May 08 at 21:17
I’ve been following GeoChat but haven’t seen a version that a Mac guy like myself could deploy and test. I’m hoping that Nargis and the earthquake in China gives impetus to further development.
Kevin Toomer
14 May 08 at 5:28
I always like your snarks because they’re right on.
I am hopeful that you will see the value in the changes we’re making to GeoChat once it is up and running. Basically, it will be Thuraya SMS to inbox. Security was my primary concern so we’re building in enough controls to ensure safety while minimizing confusion. The design is a plain vanilla app that does one thing very well. We’re trying hard to stick to the small app solves big/chronic problem equation.
I think one of the biggest problems today is that there are too many people saying too much. When I was introduced to InSTEDD and presented them with the type of app I was looking for I stressed that we needed it only to facilitate communication between the field Thuraya user and a selection of email addresses. Once the selected individuals receive the coordinates from the field user the conversation has begun and recipient of the notification will able to forward the message, send a text message back, or call the listed Thuraya number. “Are you ok?” can be typed in or phoned back. If the answer is “no” The Machine swings into action and protocols are followed. If the answer is “yes, just checking in” the receipient can reply with a simple “thanks, have a nice day”.
So, that is premise. I have great faith in the incredibly motivated folks over at InSTEDD. Eduardo is as driven as they come. I am looking forward to feedback from the both of you and your readers.
Many thanks!
Jon Thompson
16 May 08 at 16:55
I think one of the biggest problems today is that there are too many people saying too much.
Bang on. One of the most important things to emphasise when we’re developing the apps is that this isn’t necessarily an open platform in the way that Twitter is. This is exactly what I mean when I think about targetings - clarity of purpose and scope of audience.
Paul Currion
18 May 08 at 21:39