[Yr7-10it] Bushfires and the social media

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Social media lights up as Victorian bushfires rage

Asher Moses February 9, 2009 - 11:22AM
http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/web/social-media-lights-up-as-
victorian-bushfires-rage/2009/02/09/1234027910408.html


As the worst bushfires in Australia's history raged across Victoria, 
Twitter, Flickr and Facebook lit up with condolences and horrific first-
hand accounts, while many used innovative online mapping tools to assess 
the risk of the fires reaching their own homes.

Mainstream news outlets, battling to provide comprehensive coverage of 
the tragedy, have incorporated accounts published on the social 
networking sites extensively in their reports.

Using online social media to spread vital information and personal 
stories is becoming increasingly commonplace in times of crisis, but this 
may be the first time the social networking sites have been used 
extensively during an Australian disaster.

Google's engineers have created a map containing the latest up-to-date 
information about fire locations and their status, based on data provided 
by Victoria's Country Fire Authority (CFA).

http://mapvisage.appspot.com/fires/FireMap.html

The map, updated in real-time with information about the number, type and 
size of fires in a particular location, buckled as thousands of web users 
sought out updates. But the site appeared to be working as normal this 
morning.

Google created the map after the CFA's website struggled to cope with the 
surge in people looking for information about the fires.

"We hope that it's of some use to people who may be affected, to 
emergency services personnel, and that it takes some load off other 
websites which are being inundated," Google wrote in a blog post.

Aus-emaps.com created its own map of the fire locations - derived from 
data provided by Federal Government body Geoscience Australia through its 
Sentinel national bushfire monitoring system - before Google but also 
reported slowdowns due to high demand. 

http://www.aus-emaps.com/bushfires.html

On Twitter, "bushfires" is as of this morning the No.1 "trending topic" 
as users traded first-hand accounts, news, and information on how to 
donate and seek help. http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23bushfires

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, through his Twitter account, has published 
messages telling his 7000 followers how to make cash and blood donations, 
find out more information on the fires and seek emergency Government 
assistance. 

http://twitter.com/KevinRuddPM

"Red Cross donation page is down, which is a good sign," wrote steven-
lewis.

Another users, carloscomputers, wrote: "My thoughts go out to those 
affected by the bushfires. I really feel for you poor buggers."

One Twitter member and volunteer firefighter, cfavolunteer, has been 
posting updates on his progress since late January. 

http://twitter.com/cfavolunteer

Yesterday, he wrote he had "experienced and seen things today that no one 
should ever see".

He added: "7th February 2009 will go down in history for all the wrong 
reasons. I hope people are safe, especially after what I have seen."

CFA has even created its own Twitter account, CFA_News, to aggregate the 
latest news updates on the fires. 

http://twitter.com/CFA_NEWS

Another unofficial Twitter account providing information on the fires, 
cfa_updates, has published over 9000 messages and has 330 followers. 

http://twitter.com/cfa_updates

On Flickr, Victorians flooded the site with amateur images of their fire-
ravaged state. 

A user going by the handle Aussie Pecker published several particularly 
striking images of burnt out cars, houses and bushland, devastated 
displaced residents, a clothing donation drive in Whittlesea and family 
reunions. http://www.flickr.com/photos/14654415@N07

Several more photographs can be found in the special Flickr group created 
to collate images of the fires. http://www.flickr.com/groups/998526@N20/

On Facebook, at least three groups have been created in remembrance of 
those who lost their lives in the bushfires. The biggest, "Applaud the 
CFA heroes & empathise with the victims of the 09 Vic bushfires", has 
almost 7500 members. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?
sid=c015ec3a2230ae71d73525cc70037943&gid=48846541698

"Without the selflessness of the people on the fireground and those 
unsung people behind the scenes this tragedy could unbelievably have been 
much worse," wrote Facebook user Marci Medley among scores of other 
tributes.
--

Cheers people
Stephen Loosley
Victoria, Australia