OCTOBER 14, 2015
4:30—5:20 P.M.
241 MARY GATES HALL
4:30—5:20 P.M.
241 MARY GATES HALL
Crisis
events in the physical world are now precipitating mass convergence
events online, where thousands and in some cases millions of people turn
to social media to seek and share information. This activity includes a
new form of spontaneous volunteerism—digital volunteerism—where
individuals and organizations come together in online spaces to provide
assistance, both to those affected and to emergency responders. Often
this takes the form of informational assistance, as volunteers help to
process, filter, categorize, map and route information. Dr. Starbird's
research has focused on ways in which remote volunteers contribute to
these efforts. In this talk, she will cover some of the foundational
research in digital volunteerism, and discuss as well more recent
studies examining how members of affected communities, including
emergency responders and local volunteers, come together with remote
volunteers to participate in "emergent crowdwork" after disasters.
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About Kate StarbirdKate
Starbird is an assistant professor in the department of Human Centered
Design & Engineering and director of the Emerging Capacities of Mass
Participation Laboratory. The emCOMP Lab examines the dynamics of and
applications for massive interaction facilitated by social media and
other online platforms. The lab also considers how connected, collective
intelligence manifests and can be supported within contexts of
emergency and humanitarian response, political disruption, and other
events of large-scale interest. Starbird received her PhD in 2012 from
the University of Colorado, Boulder. Starbird is the Principal
Investigator (PI) for a National Science Foundation (NSF) two-year grant
for the project, "Detecting Misinformation Flows in Social Media Spaces
During Crisis Events."
