Focal Report 7: Risk Analysis: Conceptualizing the Crisis Mapping Phenomenon: Insights on Behavior and the Coordination of Agents and Information in Complex Crisis

Abstract

During a large scale crisis, innovative information and communication technologies (ICT s) can support crisis managers in various ways to coordinate relief and response as well as communicate with stakeholders and the public. Yet, ICT s not only support traditional crisis management, but moreover have led to the emergence of new bottom-up systems of crisis coordination and cooperation. So far, little is known about the structures or the agents that drive these crisis systems. Focusing on the recent phenomenon of crowdsourced crisis maps, this focal report tracks the main organizing principles of grass roots crisis systems. To this end, the authors examine crisis maps created during the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and during the riots in London 2011. The analysis of the crisis mapping phenomenon reveals the self-organizing and adaptive traits within complex social systems that have access to ICTs during crisis situations. At the same time, crisis mapping systems are never purely grass-roots. Rather, they typically rely on volunteer citizens as well as established crisis management actors to function. The report concludes that, due to their structural features, crisis maps can be well-integrated into governmental strategies for building disaster-resilient societies.