"Voluntweeters": self-organizing by digital volunteers in times of crisis

Authors:
Kate Starbird;Leysia Palen
Affiliations:
University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA;University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Year:
2011

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Abstract

This empirical study of "digital volunteers" in the aftermath of the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake describes their behaviors and mechanisms of self-organizing in the information space of a microblogging environment, where collaborators were newly found and distributed across continents. The paper explores the motivations, resources, activities and products of digital volunteers. It describes how seemingly small features of the technical environment offered structure for self-organizing, while considering how the social-technical milieu enabled individual capacities and collective action. Using social theory about self-organizing, the research offers insight about features of coordination within a setting of massive interaction.