Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? Internet Communication, Geographic Community, and Social Capital in Crisis

This study investigated Internet communication and use in a crisis situation, Hurricane Katrina, to explore the role of the Internet in supporting or diminishing geographically-based community during a crisis. The researchers conducted an online survey of Internet users (n=1192) from the dispersed metropolitan New Orleans area. The survey focused on amount, type, function, and importance of Internet use to creating and maintaining social capital, supporting geographically-based communities, activating social networks, reducing uncertainty, and achieving both expressive and instrumental communication goals. The results indicated that Internet users in a crisis situation went online to seek interactive fora specific to their neighborhoods and to activate weak ties in their social networks. They engaged in more uncertainty reduction behavior when experiencing higher degrees of damage. They turned to the Internet in place of other media as a result of disruptions caused by the crisis. Women valued online expressive communication more than men did. The findings suggest that social capital theorists would benefit from a communication perspective on the Internet. The study also led to the formation of suggestions for emergency preparedness agencies, shelter providers, crisis victims, and online news providers that can improve emergency response.     

Making a Case for Restorative Rhetoric: Mayor Rudolph Giuliani & Mayor Ray Nagin's Response to Disaster

This analysis of the rhetorical styles of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin—in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—and the former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani—following the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11—outlines the characteristics of what we term “restorative rhetoric.” We demonstrate how restorative rhetoric functions in situations of natural disasters and acts of terrorism, and we distinguish it from other crisis response frameworks. Through this examination, we establish the features of restorative rhetoric that reflect a clear process for managing these unique crisis situations—whereby image restoration is not the primary goal. Further, we argue that these unique types of crises prompt a unique type of rhetorical response; one that combines strategic communication—to alleviate risk and restore public safety—with a deeper, more humanistic communication—to focus on more substantive issues of crisis leadership. It is this unique response that exemplifies restorative rhetoric. Features of this form of rhetoric include: (1) initial reaction; (2) assessment of the crisis; (3) issues of blame; (4) healing and forgiveness; and (5) corrective action and rebuilding through a rhetorical vision. Finally, we conclude that both Giuliani and Nagin employ restorative rhetoric in an attempt to restore hope after tragedy.     

Challenges in the adoption of crisis crowdsourcing and social media in Canadian emergency management

When a disaster occurs, government agencies are responsible for managing the response and recovery efforts of the impacted communities and infrastructure. Crowdsourcing and social media are widely used in disaster response, yet their primary implementation and application are often via non-governmental agencies and private citizens. A review of the literature suggests that government emergency management agencies in Canada have made little documented progress in adopting crowdsourcing or social media for emergency management. Most of the literature around crowdsourcing and social media for emergency management focus on its use or role outside of Canada (e.g. the USA, Australia, etc.). In order for government agencies in Canada to progress, it is important to identify the Canada-specific barriers and constraints. This study offers a new perspective from Canadian government emergency management agencies to address this gap. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with 15 government officials from 14 agencies, this study identifies the primary challenges and constraints faced by Canadian agencies looking to adopt crisis crowdsourcing. Results indicate that organizational factors, policies, and federal legislation in Canada present barriers to crisis crowdsourcing (including crowdsourcing through social media) adoption within agencies at various levels of government. Based on these results, recommendations are made to support the adoption of crisis crowdsourcing amongst Canadian government agencies.     

Stages of a Crisis and Media Frames and Functions: U.S. Television Coverage of the 9/11 Incident During the First 24 Hours

This study examined how five U.S. television outlets framed the 9/11 incident during the first 24 hours and how stages of the crisis affected media frames and functions. The study found media frames were dynamic rather than static, especially when events changed rapidly. Television served primarily to inform rather than provide guidance and consolation, and its functions changed according to its priority in the coverage during the different stages of the crisis. Use of a wider range of sources led to a diminished role of government sources in the coverage of this rapidly changing crisis of national magnitude.     

RECOVERY FROM DISASTER

This paper examines how journalists at the Times-Picayune in New Orleans understand the role of the local newspaper during the recovery stage of Hurricane Katrina. Qualitative one-on-one interviews were conducted in New Orleans to gain the perspectives of these journalists. These interviews were analyzed in the context of theories of news production. Two key findings emerged. First, journalists saw their role as “objective” recorders of events complicated by their personal experience. Second, journalists saw the newspaper as an advocate for the city. These findings suggest that theories about news production and about objectivity should be considered more contextually.     

The role played by government communication on the level of public fear in social media: An investigation into the Covid-19 crisis in Italy

In situations of crisis, governments must acknowledge that communication is a major weapon in their armoury, and can be used to convince the public to accept sometimes stringent measures, while preventing a worsening of the situation by curbing any spread of panic. Theoretically, during a pandemic, fear can be contained at reasonable levels by governments counterbalancing uncertainty with information. However, there is no empirical evidence on how the flow of information during a crisis can influence emotional states among the population. In this process, social media appears to be a valuable tool for governments to observe emotional response in a population. In the light of this and within the context of the Italian government's social media campaign #iorestoacasa (‘I'm staying at home’) launched during the Covid-19 crisis, the current study utilises text analytics to explore the relationship between government and press communication, and the level of fear expressed by citizens through more than 200 thousand #iorestoacasa tweets. The results highlight how the content of the messages evolved in the early part of the outbreak and during the social media campaign. They suggest that in Italy the discussion regarding the efforts made by the European Council to find common solutions for dealing with the emergency has prompted a positive influence on public mood. Conversely, messages about people's individual vulnerability and the associated sense of an external locus of control correlated positively with levels of fear. This study opens new ways to support government communication during a crisis by monitoring public emotional response through social media.     

OUT-ing AIDS

Little is known about the relationship between the Irish gay press and the AIDS crisis during the 1980s. This article aims to fill this gap by presenting the findings of a study dealing with the AIDS epidemic in Ireland and how it was confronted through the alternative media platform of OUT magazine. Using issues of OUT, it argues that alternative media in Ireland were pivotal in generating vital public health information for the gay community, particularly when the mainstream press and Irish government were not providing the necessary resources. This article also highlights the activist potential of alternative media such as OUT, as it engaged with public bodies in an attempt to hold them accountable for their response, or lack thereof, to the epidemic. The Irish gay press is thus an important example of how alternative media are critical when mainstream society ignores a particular group’s public health needs.     

Citizen–government collaboration on social media: The case of Twitter in the 2011 riots in England

How social media can enable opportunities for collaboration between citizens and governments is an evolving issue in theory and practice. This paper examines the dynamic aspects of collaboration in the context of the 2011 riots in England. In August 2011, parts of London and other cities in England suffered from extensive disorder and even loss of human lives. Based on a dataset of 1746 posts by 81 local government Twitter accounts during or shortly after the riots, we explore how local authorities attempted to reduce the effects of the riots and support community recovery. Using Twitter's conversational and rapid update features, they produced a variety of informational and actionable messages with clear calls for offline or online action. In some cases, collective against the riots evolved in a mutual way: not only citizens were mobilized by local authorities, but also local authorities actively promoted actions initiated by citizens.     

公共危机管理中政府信息公开存在的问题与对策

文章分析了政府信息公开在公共危机管理中的作用,指出公共危机管理中政府信息公开存在的问题,并从制度、法律、政府、媒体、公民等多方面,提出加强公共危机管理中政府信息快速、高效公开的对策。     

When shutdown is no option: Identifying the notion of the digital government continuity paradox in Estonia's eID crisis

States must increasingly manage cybersecurity threats and disruptions in their digital government infrastructures. However, the digital government literature lacks a systematic, more rigorous understanding of how states respond to such risks and crises and what factors can explain these responses. This article addresses this research gap by identifying explanatory mechanisms of cyber risk and crisis governance in a critical and, to date, unique case: the Estonian government's management of the ‘ROCA’ vulnerability, which rendered two-thirds of its national electronic identity cards vulnerable to a major security risk. The case provides one of few examples in which a digitally highly advanced state publicly dealt with a large-scale cyber risk at the heart of its digital government. Estonia overcame the crisis without constraining the affected infrastructures' functionality, while other countries did not. The article examines a seeming paradox of 'digital government continuity': Crisis managers can not afford to shut down widely adopted, yet vulnerable, digital systems. However, the vulnerable systems' continued operation contributes to their resilience. The article identifies five constructs that help explain digital government resilience: 1) technology management, 2) networked cooperation, 3) collaboration capital, 4) risk management capacity, and 5) legitimacy building.     

“Not Just the Levees Broke”: Jazz Vernacular and the Rhetoric of the Dispossessed in Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke

This essay proposes the notion of the “jazz vernacular” as a tool specific to the Creole culture in New Orleans for understanding racial discourses of disposability both geographically and historically. We argue that the jazz vernacular is a discourse structured by musical repertoire. The jazz vernacular provides a channel for the historical pain of the black diaspora by playing in the background, both literally and figuratively, of communication in and about New Orleans. This essay considers Spike Lee's documentary When The Levees Broke to understand how the jazz vernacular frames hurricane Katrina as well as how it frames Lee's film as an intervention into “neoliberal” racial discourses. We argue that Lee's film utilizes the jazz vernacular as a metadiscourse to reinforce the ways in which residents used jazz to restructure cultural memory around the rhetoric of the dispossessed in New Orleans after Katrina. When the Levees Broke uses testimonials and affective communication to structure the narrative of Katrina through elements of the jazz vernacular like: displacement, embodiment, brashness, and improvisation to connect contemporary Creole New Orleanians to a long history of structural oppression and violence. By harnessing performative elements, Lee's film performs a jazz intervention into neoliberal discourses about freedom, defense, safety, and heroism that contrasts these discourses with the despair and the resistance of black America. Consequently, Lee's use of the jazz vernacular relies on native musical culture to recontextualize what neoliberalism had erased.     

国家科技成果论文共享机制研究

国家财政资助科技活动产生的成果论文是一种重要的公共知识产品,在开放获取逐渐兴起的国际背景下,构建国家科技成果论文共享机制,促进科技成果的共享和传播是迫切需要解决的问题。为此,作者提出由国家支持建立在线数字作品仓储共享平台,通过制度保障国家科技成果论文强制缴存和开放共享,并充分协调和保障论文作品各权利主体的合法利益,真正实现科研投资的社会价值。     

公共危机网络信息扩散的政府应对仿真研究

运用复杂适应系统理论构建公共危机网络信息扩散的政府应对仿真模型。该模型以现实为基础,以有限信任Deffuant模型为依据,由网民、网络媒体、政府及它们之间的交互规则组成。运用Netlogo仿真软件进行模拟仿真,分析政府介入时间、政府公信力、政府信息真实度和政府引导与监管等政府主体属性在不同参数设置下的演化结果。并在此基础上提出公共危机网络信息扩散的政府应对建议,以期为政府有效调控公共危机网络信息扩散提供决策依据。     

It's HBO: Passionate engagement,TV branding,and tourism in the postbroadcast Era

This paper contends with how postbroadcast television branding subsumes viewers’ affective interactivities with place to produce brand value. Focusing on the HBO series Treme, I argue that Treme engendered HBO's postbroadcast brand mutation by producing “passionate engagement,” where viewers were invited to interact with the show by touring New Orleans, thus adding place to online interactivity and multiscreen engagement as a means of constructing an “authentic” brand identity. The desire for viewers to connect to New Orleans’ culture is thus transformed into a vehicle for profit making for HBO and an assurance to shareholders that the brand still holds value.     

Understanding government social media users: an analysis of interactions on Immigration,Refugees and Citizenship Canada Twitter and Facebook

Social media is being adopted at a rapid pace by governments around world and across different levels of government. In Canada, federal, provincial and municipal governments created social media accounts in 2000s and are now using them to interact with the public. Studies to date, however, focus primarily on social media strategies and practices of government agencies while government social media users' behaviors and perspectives remain understudied. This study analyzes experiences of government social media users and how they interact on Twitter and Facebook accounts maintained by a Canadian federal government agency – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). It also explores why users chose to interact on social media as well as their perspectives. The findings suggest that Canadian immigration agencies are using social media as a customer services tool, and migrant social media users are turning to government social media to hear directly from the government agencies and are expecting personalized answers.     

The Return of the Nervous Liberals: Market Fundamentalism,Policy Failure,and Recurring Journalism Crises

By providing historical context for the recurring regulatory retreat in the face of structural problems in the news media, this study examines the policy discourse that continues to define the US journalism crisis and government’s inability to confront it. To contextualize this pattern, I compare two historical junctures, the first occurring in the 1940s, exemplified by the Hutchins Commission, and the second occurring in the more recent policy debates during the years 2009–2011, exemplified by the Waldman Report. Both of these historical moments represented a societal response to a journalism crisis, and both entailed deeply normative discussions about the role of media in a democratic society and government’s role in managing that relationship. A comparison of these historical case studies brings into focus recurring weaknesses in liberal reform efforts. Specifically, it highlights what I refer to as the “discursive capture” reflected in common assumptions about the proper relationship between media and government, and how this American paradigm is constrained by an implicit market fundamentalism.     

Applied communication research: Unbounded and for good reason

This study explores how audiences seek information from social and traditional media, and what factors affect media use during crises. Using the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model, an examination of crisis information and sources reveals that audiences use social media during crises for insider information and checking in with family/friends and use traditional media for educational purposes. Convenience, involvement, and personal recommendations encourage social and traditional media use; information overload discourages use of both. Humor and attitudes about the purpose of social media discourage use of social media, while credibility encourages traditional media use. Practically, findings stressed the importance of third-party influence in crisis communication and the need for using both traditional and social media in crisis response.     

“You Lie!” Identity,Paper, and the Materiality of Information

This article uses the problems associated with citizenship verification in U.S. government health insurance programs to argue that paper needs to be analyzed as a media technology. To examine paper as a media technology is to ask, “How does paper work?” and “What are the rules and habits that enable paper to be used in paperwork?” To consider paper as a media technology, this article makes 2 arguments. First, it argues that there is a set of skills and knowledge associated with paper documents that need to be recognized as a distinct form of literacy. Second, this article argues that the relation between paper and identity is an argument about the materiality of information. In focusing on how paper facilitates the materialization of information, this case study illustrates how distinct practices of use create specific relationships between technology and information that give information a distinct functional presence.     

Hazard and Outrage: Developing a Psychometric Instrument in the Aftermath of Katrina

This article details the development of a psychometric instrument measuring the constructs of hazard and outrage in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The study focused on the interplay of perceived hazard and outrage in relation to evacuation from the New Orleans area, with specific attention to demographic differences. Perceptions of hazard and outrage during Katrina served to illustrate the utility of the scale in examining these responses across different demographic groups. Possible ways that this information can be used to design messages that alert audiences to hazards, yet successfully address the need for outrage, emerged from the study.