信息技术推动社区团体在危机响应中的赋能2011年泰国洪水中的社交媒体

1信息技术推动社区团体在危机响应中的赋能：2011年泰国洪水中的社交媒体梁美玲（LeongMeiLing），新加坡国立大学的计算机学院潘善琳（PanShanLing），澳大利亚新南威尔士大学商学院PeterRactham，泰国国立法政大学商学院LaddawanKaewkitipong，泰国国立法政大学商学院摘要：本文探讨了信息和通信技术在诸如自然灾害一类的社会现象中的新应用。学界普遍认同社区团体本身就拥有在危机响应中独立管理各种挑战的能力。然而，现存的信息系统研究主要从危机响应机构的视角出发探究其对信息系统的使用，从而无形中弱化了社区团体在危机响应中的角色。通过采用赋能的理论视角，本研究聚焦于探究社交媒体如何增强社区团体在危机响应中的能力。本文是关于2011年泰国洪水的定性案例研究。通过使用一种解释性的方法，本研究就信息和通信技术促进下的社区团体赋能提出了一系列发现。本文有两个贡献：1）通过分析社交媒体在危机响应时对社区团体进行赋能中所扮演的角色，从而探讨了信息和通信技术带来的最新社会影响；2）通过阐明以社交媒体为中介结构的赋能的实现过程，本研究填补了赋能理论相关的理论空白。关键词：信息与通信技术带来的社区团体赋能，危机响应，信息和通信技术的社会影响，案例研究2ICT-enabledCommunityEmpowermentinCrisisResponse:SocialMediainThailandFlooding2011AbstractThispaperexaminestheemerginguseofICTinsocialphenomenalikenaturaldisasters.Ithasbeenacknowledgedthatacommunitypossessesthecapacitytomanagethechallengesincrisisresponseonitsown.However,extantISstudiesfocuspredominantlyonISusefromthecrisisresponseagency’sperspective,therebyunderminingtheroleofcommunity.Byadoptinganempowermentperspective,wefocusonunderstandinghowsocialmediaempowersthecommunityduringcrisisresponse.AqualitativecasestudyoftheThailandflooding2011ispresented.Usinganinterpretiveapproach,thispaperprovidesfindingsontheICT-enabledcommunityempowerment.Thepapermakestwocontributions:1)itexploresanemergingsocialconsequenceofICTbyillustratingtherolesofsocialmediainempoweringthecommunityduringcrisisresponse;and2)itaddressestheliteraturegapinempowermentbyelucidatingtheactualizationprocessofempowermentenabledbysocialmediaasamediatingstructure.Keywords:ICT-enabledcommunityempowerment,crisisresponse,socialconsequencesofICT,casestudy3ICT-enabledCommunityEmpowermentinCrisisResponse:SocialMediainThailandFlooding20111.IntroductionRecentdecadeshaveseenanintensificationintheoccurrenceandimpactofnaturaldisasters(Noordegraaf&Newman,2011).AccordingtotheIMF(2012),damagesinflictedbythesecatastrophiceventshaverisensharply,fromaboutUSD20billionayearinthe1990stoaboutUSD100billionayearduring2000to2010.Inlasttwoyears,morethan700naturalcalamitieshavestrucktheworld,affectingover450millionpeople.Someoftheseremainafreshwoundintheworld,likethe2004IndianOceantsunami,the2005HurricaneKatrina,the2010Haitiearthquake,andthe2011Japantsunami.Besidesphysicaldestructionandeconomicloss,naturaldisastersbringaboutdevastatinghumansufferingandsocialimpact.Withtherecognitionthatcrisesareerraticanddifficulttoprevent(Yang&Hsieh,2013),andpoorcrisisresponsecanresultinahumanitariancatastropheoffarlargermagnitudethanthedamagecausedbytheoriginaleventitself(Junglas&Ives,2007),agrowingbodyofISresearchhasemphasizedtheimportanceofcrisisresponse(Hiltz,VandeWalle,&Turoff,2010;Leidner,Pan,&Pan,2009;Pan,Pan,&Leidner,2012).Often,theabilityofICTtofacilitateinformationflowamidsttheurgencyofthecrisisishighlighted(Majchrzak,Jarvenpaa,&Hollingshead,2007).However,theseISstudiesarelargelysituatedinthetop-down,command-and-controlmodelofdisastermanagement,wheretheroleofcommunityisinadvertentlyundermined.Often,theyinvestigatetheroleofICTresourcesandcapabilitiesfromthecrisisresponseagencyperspective(e.g.Leidneretal.,2009;Panetal.,2012;Yang&Hsieh,2013).Somestudies,whileincorporatingtheroleofcommunitystakeholders,tendtoviewthemasaconstituentinthecommand-and-controlmodel(e.g.H.Gao,4Geoffrey,&Rebecca,2011;Grabowski&Roberts,2011;Sheth,2009),likecitizensensing.Inhindsight,thisinsinuatesthatthecommunityisa“victim”thatcanonlyplaya“reactive”roleincrisisresponse.Conversely,ourpaperarguesforexplicitattentiontothecompetentroleofthecommunity.Wepositthatthecommunity’sactiveroleincrisisresponsehashithertobeenconstrained,duetoalackof“mediatingstructures”(Berger&Neuhaus,1977)thatenablescommunityaction.However,inrecentyears,thisconstrainthasbeensurmountedthroughtheemergenceofsocialmediaasanalternativecommunicationchannelincrisisresponse(White,2012).AccordingtotheAmericanRedCross(2011),33%ofcitizenshaveusedsocialmediatogaininformationaboutanemergency.Withtheprevalenceofsocialmedia,theformerNationalIncidentCommanderoftheUnitedStates,AdmiralThadAllen,assertedthat“therewillneverbeamajordisasterthatwon’tinvolvepublicparticipation”(Berinato,2010p.78).Moreimportantly,socialmediahasgivenrisetoself-helpcommunitiesincrisis.Inafewrenownedexampleslikethe2010Haitiearthquake,2011Japanearthquakeandtsunami,2012HurricaneSandy,and2013ChinaLushanearthquake,communitiesinvolvethemselvesactively,notonlyinrequestinghelp,butalsoinrespondingtopleasforhelpthroughsocialmedia.Socialmediahasempoweredthecommunity,allowingthemtotransformfromavictimcommunitytoacompetentcommunitythatmay“useitsownresourcesandabilitiestomanagethechallengesthroughself-determination”(VandenEynde&Veno,1999).Withthisemergingphenomenoninmind,ourresearchquestionisposed:“Howdoessocialmediaempowerthecommunityincrisisresponse?”Toaddressthisquestion,anin-depthcasestudywasconductedintothe2011Thailandfloodingdisaster,theworld'sfourthmostseverenaturaldisaster,intermsoftheeconomicconsequencesasof2011,withUSD45.7billionlosses(WorldBank,2011).5Ourpaperisorganizedasfollows:webeginwithareviewofsocialmediaintermsofcrisisresponseandempowerment.Weth