Today, a range of new digital tools are available to first responders, including applications that pull content from social media, aggregate, analyze and curate the data, and display information deemed important to the user. This paper digs into the roots of emergency management in mid-20th century USA, reviews the study of crisis informatics and draws on the concept of ‘emergency politics’ to discuss questions that arise from the growing application of user-generated content and geolocation in emergencies. The paper examines digitalization of emergency management as ‘emergency politics’, discussing the tension between authoritarian ‘militaristic’ approaches to emergency management and decentralizing approaches that rely on civil engagement, preparedness and ‘resilience’.
Kolås, Åshild (2023) Crisis informatics, disinformation and emergency politics, presented at 6th Nordic STS conference 2023 ‘Disruption and Repair in and beyond STS’, University of Oslo, 7-9 June 2023.
