Nepal Earthquake: Facebook To Google, How Tech Is Helping Survivors Reach Out 39
An anonymous reader writes: In the aftermath of the earthquake that struck Nepal, many social media sites and mobile applications have come up with features that could help locate friends and loved ones. From the Times of India: "Social networking website Facebook, and Google's Person Finder have helped locate the whereabouts of those stranded in quake-hit areas. For instance, members of one Himmatramka family residing in Birgunj in Nepal marked themselves safe on Facebook. 'Our relatives back in India were worried about our safety. So, we marked ourselves safe to inform them,' said Nitesh Himmatramka.
Just be prudent although... (Score:4, Insightful)
Just be prudent although, every catastrophe like this one bring along a bunch of people how are just trying to make a buck out of it. Don't get scammed.
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I'm not posting this AC, and will take the karma hit off need be.
So with that, let me say that I hope you die of some horrible cancer that makes you smell like rancid cat shit, so awful that your own mother hopes you die, but you don't, and just linger on, more foul and corrupted with each passing day, becoming as vile and repugnant on the outside as you are on the inside.
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Let's be frank, you're evil.
Where are the robots? (Score:4, Interesting)
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I suppose that helps... (Score:3)
'Our relatives back in India were worried about our safety. So, we marked ourselves safe to inform them,'
I would've sent them an email first. I suppose broadcasting on FB in addition to that could be useful but it wouldn't be my primary means of communication
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I would've sent them an email first. I suppose broadcasting on FB in addition to that could be useful but it wouldn't be my primary means of communication
You just dated yourself. It is mostly just people that are 30+ that still use email on any sort of a regular basis. It would be sort of like letting everyone know you are safe via telegraph.
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You just dated yourself. It is mostly just people that are 30+ that still use email on any sort of a regular basis. It would be sort of like letting everyone know you are safe via telegraph.
No, texting would be like letting everyone know you are safe via telegraph. Facebook would be like letting everyone know via a billboard that people may not drive by or pay attention to.
Re:I suppose that helps... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Red Cross (Score:3)
Re:Red Cross (Score:4, Insightful)
Honestly, my take is that this feature on Facebook / Google makes a lot of sense. How many people would think to first check the Red Cross website first (or specifically, the site you linked to, which I couldn't seem to find via the main site)? People are much more likely to *first* check Facebook to see if their family or friends have posted an update. These are social networks already in place, so why not use them for an important feature that's obviously "social" in nature?
The Red Cross feature is fantastic for people who aren't already hooked up with Google or Facebook. But honestly, who wants to do that when they can click a single button on their already-used social network of choice, versus the battery of personal data you have to enter at the Red Cross? Consider the Facebook or Google feature as a first-line system. If a person doesn't mark themselves safe, family members can then register them as a missing person on the Red Cross site.
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While there is some overlap between "facebook friends" and actual friends, those groups are very different.
The feature is convenient on FB and Google, but the problem is redundancy. They serve the same purpose, but they run different databases. Suppose a person in the disaster area who uses G+ frequently and FB rarely. They may never realize FB has the person finder feature, so they mark themselves as safe on G+ but not on FB, or vice-versa.
That sort of confusion is avoided if only one website provides th
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Your friends and family would already know which social network you hang out on, and how to contact you. Think about it - what better way is there to use the same social network where you already are regularly in contact with each other? A completely different system used *only* during emergencies? That makes zero sense.
Also, how do you figure real friends and family are somehow different from Facebook friends? You're suggesting that real-life friends and family don't use Facebook to keep in touch with [readwrite.com]
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How many people would think to first check the Red Cross website first
To be honest, I would have expected the Red Cross to have more important things to do and I wouldn't want to bother them.
Then again, I would have thought people in a disaster would have more important things to do than to go on Facebook.
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If you think about it, after a disaster, there's really nothing more important to family members than finding out if a loved one is okay or not as soon as possible. I think the point of this flag is just to obviously signal to everyone "I'm OK" with minimum fuss and bother, because for those in the danger zone, they very likely have other immediate pressing needs.
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How many people would think to first check the Red Cross website first
To be honest, I would have expected the Red Cross to have more important things to do and I wouldn't want to bother them.
Then again, I would have thought people in a disaster would have more important things to do than to go on Facebook.
The Red Cross is a big organisation. They probably have their own IT department, which is located somewhere in Europe or the US, or maybe even in India, but not on the location of the disaster. IT is essential to an organization like the RC, for themselves, but also for victims.
One essential part of recovery from a disaster is stress release. If you know what happened to your family, that saves you from a lot of stress, the stress of uncertainty, even in the case that they are dead. If they are alive, you c
Let's mention the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (Score:2)