It has been a few days now since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, that has destroyed many miles of land and has taken tens of thousands of lives. The horrifying news spread quickly on Tuesday afternoon following the largest earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years, but what spread just as quickly, or perhaps quicker, were the posts and thoughts by concerned citizens and corporations looking to provide critical relief to the victims.
It is absolutely amazing and heartwarming to me to see how so many individual citizens, concerned school/work/community groups, non-profit organizations and state governments have quickly taken action..not to mention the ways they have used citizen media, specifically online resources to spread their concerns and cries for help within the public sphere.
There are countless websites and online donation sites established where people can learn more about the situation, learn how they can help, donate money to relief organizations, etc. etc. There are so many of the websites! A few that I have found particularly interesting and prominent include: Save the Children, World Vision, the BBC and the Canadian Government who is matching personal donations up to $50 million to the Haiti relief fund. There are also numerous online communities, internet-based companies, and even individuals on Facebook and other social networking sites that are creating groups and events such as clothing/food/shoe drives and calling for donations and medical supplies to be sent to Haiti.
The use of the internet as a citizen medium, spreading knowledge and awareness in the public sphere is truly a utopic view on how new technologies, and individual citizens can use their voice as a means of positive change and goodwill in the world. It will be interesting to see the result of these efforts, or perhaps the extension of this use of citizen media as the aftermath of the earthquake unfolds.
Until Next Time...
14 years ago
Great blog. I agree that citizen media has certainly been a beneficial technology in the case of the earthquake in Haiti. It has brought people together in a positive way to aid with relief for the victims. Prior to citizen media such as blogs and Facebook, our only sources of information about the earthquake would have been through broadcast media such as the evening news on television or the daily newspaper.
ReplyDeleteI actually first found out about the earthquake after logging onto my Facebook page. My friend's status announced this devastating catastrophe to me. Soon after, she updated her status to say that her aunt was in Haiti, volunteering as a nurse and to pray that she would be okay. Unfortunately, a couple of hours later, her status was updated to say that her aunt had passed away in the earthquake. Dozens of people were able to comment and ask questions and offer their condolences.
Although this is a sad and horrible time for thousands of people, I appreciate that citizen media allows us to find out about events almost as quickly as they are occurring. Citizen media on the Internet allows for real-time communication instead of having to wait for the 6 o'clock news or the paper delivery boy as 7am.
Thank you for your thoughts, and I agree with you. It's amazing the speed at which social/citizen media is able to inform the mass public about recent events, such as the earthquake. I too found out about the disaster from friends' Facebook statuses.
ReplyDeleteI believe there is a time and place for both formal, mass media such as the daily news and for informal social media. But in instances such as the Haitian earthquake, I believe social media is typically more beneficial because of the speed at which information is distributed, as well as the personal aspect, and personal stories of people directly involved with relief efforts or reporting directly from the scene of the disaster,that bring the story to life.