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Social Media in Risk Perception and Disaster Management: A Geographical Perspective

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Disaster Resilience and Human Settlements

Part of the book series: Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements ((ACHS))

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Abstract

The advent of the last Technological Revolution has completely upset long-entrenched relations among spaces, places and communication flows, by influencing the ways through which information is territorialized and, vice versa, territories are (re)shaped in the virtual dimension. In particular, the internet and the social web have further accelerated the increase in geo-tagged data which are co-created by not professional users. The increasing co-production of space-related information has also influenced risk perception and disaster management. On the one hand, a huge increase in disaster-related data flows diffused by institutional actors is due to a variegated range of purposes (prevention, on-site disaster management, real-time information). On the other hand, a significant amount of data is co-created and shared by users from the bottom-up while the disaster crisis is still unfolding, by integrating official informational sources. Theoretically inserted at the intersection between the Geography of Communication and the Geography of disaster, the chapter provides a theoretical review and a set of descriptive examples demonstrating the growingly pervasive role of ICTs in risk perception and management.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The pioneering efforts of mapping global diasporas online were made by the TIC&migrations research group coordinated by Dana Diminescu at the Fondation Maison Sciences de l’Homme of Paris (FMSH). The results of this research can be retrieved from the interactive website (www.e-diasporas.fr) and a dedicated special issue Social Science Journal. The author of this chapter collaborating with this project as invited visiting scholar at the FMSH in 2011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Teresa Graziano

Authors
  1. Teresa Graziano
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Correspondence to Teresa Graziano .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand

    Bharat Dahiya

  2. Department of Culture and Society, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Francesco de Pascale

  3. University of Calabria, Rende (CS), Italy

    Orlando De Pietro

  4. University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy

    Piero Farabollini

  5. University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy

    Francesca Romana Lugeri

  6. Department of Culture and Society, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Leonardo Mercatanti

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Graziano, T. (2023). Social Media in Risk Perception and Disaster Management: A Geographical Perspective. In: Dahiya, B., de Pascale, F., De Pietro, O., Farabollini, P., Lugeri, F.R., Mercatanti, L. (eds) Disaster Resilience and Human Settlements. Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2248-2_7

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