Digital Inequality and Second-Order Disasters: Social Media in the Typhoon Haiyan Recovery
Digital Inequality and Second-Order Disasters: Social Media in the Typhoon Haiyan Recovery
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DOI：
10.1177/2056305115603386
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发表时间：
2015-07
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Mirca Madianou
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Mirca Madianou
本文研究了灾难恢复背景下数字和社会不平等的交叉点。在此过程中，本文回应了最近关于“人道主义技术”的乐观主张，“人道主义技术”指的是受灾群众有权使用和应用交互式技术。本文借鉴了对 2013 年台风海燕袭击菲律宾并引发大规模人道主义响应的受影响社区恢复过程的长期人种学研究，对社交媒体在灾难恢复中的作用进行了扎实的评估。文章特别关注与数字媒体使用相关的任何积极后果是否在富裕和社会边缘化参与者中平等传播。分析揭示了尖锐的数字不平等，这映射到现有的社会不平等。虽然我们的一些已经富裕的参与者能够进入丰富的媒体环境，他们能够在其中导航并经常获得显着的收益，但低收入参与者却因社交媒体机会减少而陷入延迟复苏的境地。一些参与者正在利用社交媒体快速恢复，而另一些参与者却陷入困境，这一事实表明社会不平等现象正在加深。从这个意义上说，数字不平等可能会加剧社会不平等，导致潜在的“二级灾难”。这是指人为造成的持续灾难，其影响甚至可能超过自然灾害的影响。
This article investigates the intersection of digital and social inequality in the context of disaster recovery. In doing so, the article responds to the optimism present in recent claims about “humanitarian technology” which refers to the empowering uses and applications of interactive technologies by disaster-affected people. Drawing on a long-term ethnography with affected communities recovering from Typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines in 2013 triggering a massive humanitarian response, the article offers a grounded assessment of the role of social media in disaster recovery. In particular, the article focuses on whether any positive consequences associated with digital media use are equally spread among better off and socially marginalized participants. The analysis reveals sharp digital inequalities which map onto existing social inequalities. While some of our already better-off participants have access to a rich media landscape which they are able to navigate often reaping significant benefits, low-income participants are trapped in a delayed recovery with diminished social media opportunities. The fact that some participants are using social media to recover at a rapid pace while others are languishing behind represents a deepening of social inequalities. In this sense, digital inequality can amplify social inequalities leading to a potential “second-order disaster.” This refers to humanly perpetuated disasters that can even surpass the effects of the natural disaster.