RAPID/Collaborative Research: Emergency Response Authorities' Microblogging and Community Needs: An Analysis of the Boston Bombings

执法、医院和消防机构等应急部门已经开始使用Twitter等社交媒体渠道，让人们随时了解情况，并将干扰降至最低。这一快速反应研究(RAPID)项目将确定当局在波士顿悲剧事件发生后立即发布的推文是如何被公众解读的。这包括审查导致应急机构社交媒体公告广泛传播的因素。这项研究将使用一种新的数据收集方法--收集所有与紧急响应机构发布的推文相匹配的公开推文。此外，还将对波士顿应急人员进行后续采访，以了解他们的看法。该奖项还将审查推文中在公众中产生积极(或消极)行动和/或情绪反应的因素。这项研究将探索哪些推文是关键触发因素，推文引发的信息触发是如何与推特用户由此产生的情感和行为反应相匹配的，从而导致推文的传播/分享/重新传播。就造成的破坏而言，灾难是非常昂贵的。在避免损害和伤害方面，应急机构可以采取的任何促进恢复正常的额外措施都可能价值数十亿美元。该奖项将研究为什么某些推文会导致错误信息或对公共行动的影响微乎其微，而其他推文则具有重大价值。这将有助于为应急机构制定一种有效的方式，迅速恢复公众信心。因此，这项研究将有助于增加信息推文的价值，以提高其满足公众信息需求的能力，并在紧急情况下在公众中产生期望的行动。

Emergency response authorities such as law enforcement, hospitals and firefighting agencies, have begun to use social media channels, such as Twitter, to keep people informed and minimize disruption. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project will identify how tweets disseminated by authorities in the immediate aftermath of the tragic events at Boston were interpreted by the public. This includes examining the factors that led to widespread dissemination of emergency response agency social media announcements. The research will use a novel method of data collection for this study - collecting all public tweets that match a tweet that originated from an emergency response authority. In addition, follow up interviews will be conducted of Boston emergency response personnel to obtain their perspective. This award will also examine the factors in the tweets that generated positive (or negative) actions and/or emotional reactions among the public. This research will explore which tweets were critical triggers, how the information triggers caused by tweets, when matched with the resulting emotional and action responses of Twitter users caused propagation/sharing/re-transmission of tweets. Disasters are very expensive in terms of the disruption caused. Any additional measures that emergency response agencies can take to facilitate the restoration of normalcy can be worth billions of dollars in terms of avoided damage and harm. This award will study why certain tweets resulted in misinformation or had minimal impact on public actions, while others were of substantial value. This will help develop an effective way for emergency response agencies to restore public confidence quickly. This research will thus help increase the value of information tweets to improve their ability to meet the public's information needs and generate the desired actions among the public in emergency situations.