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Iowa City, IA June 2008

*The names of the individuals we interviewed were changed in order to maintain anonymity

The Information Behavior of Disaster Survivors

LIS 510 Autumn 2010

Group One
Riley Donelson Edmonds, WA Elly Krumwiede Seattle, WA Kimberly Powers Lakewood, CO

Questions for the Discussion Board

How do you define disaster? How do you use the word disaster in your everyday language? The Information Behavior of Disaster Survivors

What is a Disaster?

A sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, or destruction; broadly: a sudden or great misfortune or failure (Merriam-Webster) Disasters can include:

Personal accidents Epidemics Financial disasters Natural disasters Man-made disasters such as acts of terrorism

Group One focused on survivors of natural disasters that resulted in some property damage regardless of age, sex, or ethnic group impacted

The Disaster Life Cycle

Prepare Prevent Disaster

Reduce

Respond

Mitigate

Recover

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Websites to Explore

Federal Emergency Management Agency United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs National Disaster Education Coalition National Geographic (photos and video) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations National Weather Service University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center

Why are Disaster Survivors Relevant to Us?

Group one believes that information professionals may be part of bridging the gap between needs and solutions related to natural disaster Natural disasters can happen

Anywhere To anyone Anytime

Literature Review

Literature Review
Where we looked:

Dissertation databases Google Scholar University of Colorado HazLit University of Washington Libraries

Some search terms we used:

Disaster / crisis + information behavior, informatics, information needs, information seeking, information retrieval, information use, and library

What we found:

A gap in literature covering the full disaster life cycle that also links natural disaster survivors with information systems

What we asked you to read:

The Global Disaster Information Network

Theme One
Survivors of disaster may actively filter or avoid information before, during, or even after a disaster

As Maslow once put it: We can seek knowledge in order to reduce anxiety and we can also avoid knowing in order to reduce anxiety. He recognized that sometimes we would rather not know that we are at a high risk for a disease or disaster (Case, Andrews, Johnson, & Allard, 2005, p. 354) Systems may play a role in creating an environment where disaster survivors feel they need to filter (Teich, Wagner, Mackenzie, & Schafer, 2002)

Theme Two
Disaster relief agencies often depend on the media to carry their message, but survivors of disaster may find informal sources of information just as helpful as formal sources of information

Moreover, interpersonal channels were of more importance to minorities when compared with Caucasians. This suggests that if concern for the evacuation and safety does exist, then government agencies need to work with minority community leaders to create programs that will use existing interpersonal networks to plan and educate for issues of evacuation (Spence, Lachlan, & Griffin, 2007, p. 550) We see new roles and functions emerging as people, including those in the geographical space of the disaster as well as those outside it, go online to provide, seek and broker information (Palen, Vieweg, Sutton, Liu, & Hughes, 2007, p. 2)

Theme Three
Distrust develops quickly when disaster relief agencies and governments do not provide accurate or relevant information

Frequently, too, while the information may be accurate and useful to one type of disaster manager, its format may be of little value to another expert fighting the same sort of emergency (Roeder, 1999, p. 25) They have not developed a trust or understanding of one anothers abilities, and the totality of resources they each bring to bear have never before been exercised (Van de Walle and Turoff, 2008, p. 295)

Anomalies & Emerging Areas of Study

Crisis informatics Post-disaster information seeking behavior:

Recovery Relief Rebuilding

The Information Behavior of Disaster Survivors

Fieldwork

Methodology - Interviews
Survivors
Tornado: Windsor, CO May 2008 Flood: Cedar Rapids, IA June 2008 Flood: Davenport, IA June 2008 Flood: Iowa City, IA June 2008

Agencies

King County Office of Emergency Management Red Cross of King and Kitsap County Colorado Division of Emergency Management

Methodology Content Analysis

A prominent text on content analysis explains how any artifact of communication newspapers, journal articles, books, speeches, letters, songs, paintings might be analyzed to understand themes and orientations (Krippendorff, 1980) Content analysis - Tornado: Windsor, CO May 22, 2008

Reviewed the content of 15 articles 10 were from news sources (paper and TV) 5 were recovery reports from the City of Windsor

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Survivors

Colorado Tornado - 2008 Iowa Flood - 2008

Questions for Discussion Board

If you were to experience a disaster, where would you look for information first? The Information Behavior of Disaster Survivors

Information Behaviors - Survivors

Informal information sources

We relied heavily on anybody we could think of...So we really got our best help from other libraries. We talked to everybody at every library we could think of or researched that been through a disaster. ~ Disaster survivor

Information overload and avoidance

I wasnt sure what all the stuff was that was being offered and whether we would even need it. Im not sure if they werent explaining it or if I was just so overwhelmed I couldnt comprehend it. ~ Disaster survivor it was really frustrating working with FEMA and the government, you always kind of have to haggle to get what you need from them or whatever. ~ Disaster survivor

Mistrust of agencies

After was more difficult than the tornado itself. ~ Disaster survivor

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Agencies

King County Office of Emergency Management Colorado Division of Emergency Management

Red Cross of King & Kitsap County

Information Behaviors - Agencies

Reliance on media to carry their message
maybe we need to reach a younger demographic and they primarily get their information online, or through texting, or through other kinds of social media angles. So maybe we should have a Facebook, maybe we should Tweet this. ~ Representative of a disaster management agency if you dont build those relationships ahead of time and get them on board, then when theres an emergency and they need to act now, when hours could make the difference for safety, we try to rely on those built in networks ~ Representative of a disaster management agency Some cultures will only take information from their established leadership. I could say something, but because Im not a part of that tribe, even if Im the nicest person in the world, and they might receive me well, they will take as an authority that same message from their leader. ~ Representative of a disaster management agency

Building partnerships in communities

Becoming a subject of mistrust

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Content Analysis

Tornado Windsor, CO

Agencies believe they provide enough information

Information Behavior Content Analysis

the [Long Term Recovery Team has] provided links necessary to ensure citizens are being offered help on an individual basis during their recovery efforts. ~ Windsor City Report - 6 months

Media Reports focus on damage

Of the 10 news articles reviewed only 3 reported information that would have been helpful to survivors

Media coverage drops off considerably

7 of the 10 news articles were within the first couple of months with almost half of those in the first 3 days

Questions for Discussion Board

Should agencies rely so heavily on media for communication? What happens when the media is no longer interested and people still need information? The Information Behavior of Disaster Survivors

Theories
Belkin - ASK Dervin - Sense-Making Johnson - CMIS

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Agencies: Conceptual State of Knowledge and Information

effective communication of desired information between human generator and human user (Belkin, 1977, p. 22)

Survivors: Anomalous State of Knowledge

Anomaly was used explicitly to indicate that this state of inadequacy could be due not only to lack of knowledge, but many other problems, such as uncertainty as to which of several potentially relevant concepts holds in some situation (Theories, 2009, p. 44-45)

+ Theories Sense-Making
Sense-making sees information as something that is constructed internally in order to address discontinuities in life. This approach uncovers the problems that people experience in life and how they face those obstructions (Case, 2009 p. 158)

Identify information gaps Make sense of the information they find

+ Theories CMIS

Social Networks

who do I now who might know the answer to my questions, or know how to find out? (Case, 2009, p. 133)

Personal Relevance Factors

ignoring, which often happens when an individual consciously knows that a problem exists, but chooses not to confront it (p.56) (Case, 2009, p. 134).

Utilities:

As Johnson highlights (p.101), what information seekers are concerned about is the content of the information, not the channel through which it arrives (Case, 2009, p. 134)

Questions for Discussion Board

Based on what you know of our disaster survivors, what other theories might apply to the model of their information behavior? How might you use the theories we have identified to create a model of information behavior for disaster survivors? The Information Behavior of Disaster Survivors

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Summary and Synthesis of Findings

Model of Information Seeking Behaviors

The victim indentifies their needs The results will be evaluated If not satisfied, the victim will try formal sources or consult an information professional The results will be evaluated Good information is directed back at informal network At any point the victim may be satisfied and take action or give up on the process

Victim: Identify Need Motivations Priorities Avoidance

Agencies

Formal Sources

Informal Sources

Information Professionals

Evaluate for Relevance

Take Action

Give Up

Theme One
Survivors arent always satisfied with the ways agencies partner with the media

There is a disconnect between the ways information is provided and how it is sought Agencies primarily use the media to provide information during a disaster, and this information is usually focused on description and damage Survivors often feel dissatisfied with media coverage and turn back to informal sources Recovery is not addressed enough by the media.

Theme Two
Survivors suffer from information overload
Survivors cant process all the information they have exposure to Survivors try to prioritize information, absorbing what they need and avoiding what they dont With survival in mind, survivors may avoid information that doesnt seem relevant at the time, but will later be important Conflicting information from agencies will develop distrust

Theme Three
Information behavior is influenced by prior experience and access to communication tools

No access to internet and formal communications Past experiences Informal network Amount of education received prior to disaster

Questions for the Discussion Board

What other variables might influence the information seeking behavior of disaster survivors? What are some additional ways agencies could reach people? The Information Behavior of Disaster Survivors

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Implications for Professional Practice, System Design, and Policy

Library as Information Provider

Librarians can become disaster experts if needed Physical libraries can become shelters for local communities Librarians can observe and evaluate information behavior to prepare for the future Libraries can provide resources like the internet for people to conduct their own searches

Design and Delivery of Information Services

Media should do their best to ensure that the information they provide is current and does not conflict with media information sources Agencies should seek methods beyond commercial media, and government agencies should purchase airtime after the disaster is over to provide recovery information Agencies should conduct more research on the results of their methods

Needs: Users Before a Disaster Education before a disaster: disaster kits, safety instructions, weather predictions. Up to date information on how to respond to a disaster: shelter, evacuation, safety.

Tasks: Information professionals Gather and update information. Respond to inquiries.

Tasks: Agencies Teach classes, create preparedness and safety campaigns. Partner with communities. Gather and update information. Raise awareness. Give press conferences to media sources, mobilize teams that assist disaster victims, publish accurate, relevant information in a timely manner. Continue to provide information and support through media and other channels. Learn from process and update methods for future use.

During a Disaster

Make relevant information readily available. Possibly assist victims by partnering with disaster relief organizations Remain available even after the media is tired of covering the disaster. Learn from process and update methods for future use.

After a Disaster

Information on recovery: insurance claims, etc.

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