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

执法部门、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，让人们了解情况，尽量减少干扰。这个快速反应研究（Rapid）项目将确定当局在波士顿悲剧事件发生后立即传播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颖的数据收集方法——收集所有与来自应急响应机构的推文相匹配的公开推文。此外，将对波士顿应急人员进行后续访谈，以获得他们的观点。该奖项还将考察推文中产生积极（或消极）行为和/或公众情绪反应的因素。本研究将探讨哪些推文是关键触发器，由推文引起的信息触发器，当与由此产生的推特用户的情绪和行动反应相匹配时，如何引起推文的传播/分享/再传播。灾难造成的破坏是非常昂贵的。紧急反应机构为促进恢复正常而可以采取的任何额外措施，就避免的损害和伤害而言，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众行为的影响微乎其微，而其他推文则具有重大价值。这将有助于制定应急机构迅速恢复公众信心的有效途径。因此，本研究将有助于提高信息推文的价值，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.