An exploration of collaboration over time in collective crisis response during the Haiti 2010 earthquake

In 2010, Haiti was struck by the worst natural disaster in 200 years. The work of first responders was helped by micro-blogging services and crisis mapping systems that were deployed for rescue missions. These systems provided the capability to reshape the crisis response by facilitating collective response through citizen reports, visualization and interactive mapping by (1) enabling crisis information from the voluntary online public to be disseminated speedily, (2) offering new insights into events happening in near real-time, and (3) assisting humanitarian efforts related to community recovery from crises. In this research-in-progress paper, we focus on a participatory and collaborative crisis mapping system known as Ushahidi. We explore how the Ushahidi mapping system was utilized for collaboration in collective crisis response. Second, we suggest that two dimensions of the information quality framework are paramount in such crises: uncertainty reduction and urgency. This paper therefore is a step toward understanding the interplay of information quality measures (urgency reduction and uncertainty) in collective crisis response situations. We also suggest implications for emergency responders to better manage voluntary online citizens by reducing uncertainty at the right time.