"Communicating Disaster - A Case for Qualitative Approaches to Disaster Research" Report of a Research Group at the Center for Interdisciplinary ...
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248 Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Jg. 41, Heft 3, Juni 2012, S. 247–255
“Communicating Disaster – A Case for Qualitative Approaches to Disaster
Research”
Report of a Research Group at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF),
Bielefeld University
Disasters have always played an important role in disaster, relying mainly on quantitative methods for
society and it seems that catastrophes have been analyses. A critical implication of this is that the re-
omnipresent over the past decades. The develop- searcher is usually too close to the rationalities and
ment of media technology and the emergence of necessities of these practical fields and therefore un-
new social media have quite radically changed the able to keep the distant view necessary for analy-
communicative processes concerning disasters. zing the social dynamics of disastrous events. But
Due to a growing range of diverse media, we get scientific concepts of disaster are always second-
immediate information not only on disasters close- order concepts’ (Schütz 1962), relying on the first-
by but also on those disasters that have taken place order concepts of disaster that will be found in the
in the remotest corners of the world. The amount views and everyday activities of people, groups or
of information, pictures, or video snippets directly organizations. In order to develop an analysis and
taken from a disaster site increases dramatically, scientific understanding of the social unfolding of
and one extreme event seems to make way for the disasters, it is crucial to get access to these activities
next, striving to gain our attention. But what does in and through which events become disasters.
that tell us about the way we perceive and relate to Drawing on reports by practitioners from the field
such disasters? And what are possible ways of dea- of disaster prevention and management as well as
ling with disasters modified by these altered infor- on a critical review of the literature, various proces-
mational and communicative dynamics? The confe- ses of oral, written, visual, and digital communica-
rence with the somewhat provocative title: Dealing tion were identified as key elements of disasters.
with the Disasters of Others’ (26–28 January 2012) A vast array of communicative activities precede,
was the closing conference and the final of a num- accompany, and follow a disastrous event and their
ber of activities by the interdisciplinary ZiF re- analysis will not only provide an insight into the
search group Communicating Disaster’. This re- course a disaster takes but just as much into the
port reflects on the context and some general nature’ of a disaster itself. From this point of view,
findings of the group. there is no such a thing as a natural disaster’ (Hart-
man & Squires 2006); a natural event is never a di-
saster by itself, since any natural event needs the in-
The context of the research group volvement of humans or their living spaces to turn
out to be a disaster (cf. Felgentreff & Dombrowsky
The research group was organised by Prof. Dr. Jçrg 2008: 13f.; Egner 2012: 57). It is only by its effects
Bergmann (Sociology, Bielefeld University), Prof. on people through material damage and casualties
Dr. Heike Egner (Geography, University of Klagen- that an extreme event is perceived as disastrous.
furt) and Prof. Dr. Volker Wulf (Informatics, Siegen Macamo & Neubert (2008) show with their com-
University), coordinated by Dr. Sarah Hitzler and parison of flooded regions in Germany, the U.S.
Marn Schorch (both Sociology, Bielefeld Universi- and Mozambique, that even these effects are no
ty). It provided a research setting for 29 renowned hard determinants’ but result from processes of in-
international researchers of the social, natural and terpretation and communication through which the
information sciences as well as the humanities who disastrousness of the event is determined.
spent working periods between a couple of weeks
and several months at Bielefeld’s Center for Inter-
disciplinary Research (ZiF). The researchers tack- Zooming in and zooming out:
led the topic in regular meetings and a range of Communication in disaster research
workshops and conferences.
The group had set out in November 2010 to chal- The idea of communication, of course, is no stran-
lenge classical perspectives of disaster research and ger to disaster research. It is predominately concep-
establish a novel, communication-based approach. tualized as an imperative, as the right way of deter-
Traditionally, disaster research focuses on the plan- mining and passing on information to the ap-
ning, management, and mitigation processes of a propriate addressees (e.g. Dynes 1998; Clausen &Mitteilungen 249
Dombrowsky 1983). This perspective draws on the cope or deal in some ways with a disaster. This tou-
conduit model of communication such as described ches upon an epistemological challenge for the in-
by Shannon & Weaver (1949) for technical purpo- terdisciplinary research group which assembled re-
ses initially, which however has found great accep- searchers from more traditional disaster research
tance in communication studies. In the context of areas such as natural scientists, engineers, and ma-
the ZiF research group, more elaborate concepts of nagement experts, who were used to working with
communication were relied upon to do justice to a mostly positivist epistemological stance, as well
the intricacies of communication in disaster scena- as researchers from the social sciences and the hu-
rios. Niklas Luhmann’s (1984) systems-theoretical manities who found a common link in a general
understanding of communication as the main ope- statement against naturalism’.
rating modus through which society and its sub-sys- One implication of this challenge surfaced in on-
tems are processed was heavily drawn on, as well going discussions of the issue how the notion disas-
as ethnomethodological (Garfinkel 1967; Sacks ter’ ought to be defined, and whether it was neces-
1992) insights which conceive of communication as sary at all to agree on a shared definition (cf. Qua-
a joint product of members of a society rather than rantelli 1998). The prevailing positivistic notion
a simple one-way transmission of information. with its emphasis on definitions based on standar-
The systems-theoretical concept of communication dized aspects such as the amount of damage, num-
describes communication as an autopoietic process ber of victims, or other countable items was regu-
in which the three elements of information, mes- larly met by the critique that standardization tout
sage and understanding are indispensable ingre- prix reduces the complexity of a disaster to a great
dients of any communication. In this perspective, extent, for instance by ignoring vulnerabilities, so-
neither the participants nor the information or the cio-cultural differences of assessment as well as the
question of understanding can be separated from socio-economic context of a disaster. At the same
the sequential unfolding of a communication. Parti- time, it cannot be dismissed that standardizations
cipants may change their situated identities in the and clear underlying definitions can serve as a sta-
course of a communication, the information might ble tertium comparationis which renders possible
be ambiguous, and how a recipient has understood comparative research as well as being indispensable
a message can only be seen in his or her subsequent for a number of practical fields connected to disas-
contribution to the communication. Thus, commu- ters, such as insurance companies, disaster manage-
nication is anything but determined or clear; com- ment institutions, or relief organisations (Dom-
munication rather is contingent and its effects even browsky & Neubert 2011).
more so. The ethnomethodological understanding A way out was sought by supplementing existing
in which communication is an on-going sequential positivistic definitions with a definition embracing
accomplishment between actors comes to a similar a relativistic perspective. Such a definition is neces-
conclusion, highlighting the necessity of paying at- sarily more flexible and less clear-cut, while crea-
tention to the actual unfolding of communicative ting a link to the life world of the people affected
situations rather than post-hoc reports. and thereby allowing contextualized research that
Each of these approaches opens up new perspecti- includes the everyday-life understanding of a disas-
ves for disaster research which have up to now been ter. The supplementary working definition agreed
neglected and which, borrowing an image from upon read: A disaster is a breakdown of established
photography, can be described as zooming out to social order and the ordinarily expected coping stra-
get an encompassing, distant view, and zooming in tegies within a community or society.’1 Obviously,
for detailed close-ups. In terms of research, this this approach entails the challenge of contextualized
translates into the use of a framework of second-or- terminology: The definitions and understandings
der observation on the one hand and of a qualitati- will differ in regard to local understanding and in-
ve research methodology on the other. terpretation and this poses obvious restrictions on
comparative research. Resorting to a qualitative re-
Qualitative methods are essential tools when analy- search perspective thus brings about a reduction of
zing the microstructures of communicative proces-
ses of disasters. In contrast to quantitative practices 1
Vollmer (2012) makes a strong point of not reducing
traditionally embraced in disaster research, the em- what he calls disruptions’ to spectacular instances of di-
pirical focus of qualitative approaches takes the sastrous events. This perspective has been considered but
lived-in-a-world terms as a basis: the first-order ob- ultimately addresses issues beyond the already diverse in-
servations of those who experience, witness, report, terests in disasters represented in our group.250 Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Jg. 41, Heft 3, Juni 2012, S. 247–255
the scope of its analytical results, but will permit by the three dimensions rapidity’, radicality’, and
better and more precise understanding of the idio- rituality’, while Keller (2008) draws a distinction
syncrasies, inherent dynamics, and situatedness of a between slow-motion disasters (cf. Mosley 2008 on
disaster and of those affected by it. the smoke pollution of industrial Britain) and fast-
Using the distanced, zoomed-out perspective of se- forward disasters: rapid extreme events like earth-
cond-order observation on the other hand is neces- quakes or tsunamis invalidating every-day-routines
sary in order to confront research traditions that and normalities, unsettling or even destroying be-
mingle closely with planning, management and mi- liefs in the control of technical processes or, even
tigation perspectives on disasters and thereby run deeper, the trust in the world-as-taken-for-granted.
the risk of adopting the terms and needs of the ac- The unfolding of a disaster is often captured in the
tors in the field. imagery of a cycle. The disaster life cycle’2 is ap-
Rather than relying on first-order observations plied in most emergency management strategies
(simultaneous distinctions and denominations of and identifies six central functions for management
things) which remain within the system of the disas- activities: preparation, response, recovery, mitiga-
ter, second-order observations (simultaneous dis- tion, reduction and prevention. The research group
tinctions and denominations of observations) such took this understanding of a circular unfolding and
as described by von Foerster (1984) and Luhmann progression of disasters as an organizing starting
(1992) allow to step out of the immediate complex- point in order to single out the forms of communi-
ities of the field, forming a reflexive perspective on cations disasters will engender. As the temporal di-
how the first-order distinctions came about. mension of before’, during’ and after’ can be
identified for every disastrous event, despite their
Adopting observation theory to disaster communi- diversity in cultural setting, type, length and de-
cation and disaster research allows a deeper insight grees of the events, this allows for a comparatively
into the social practices related to disasters as well stable framework even in regard to a very heteroge-
as the dynamics and processes of the social con- neous notion of disaster.
structions of disasters. Combining this approach
with an understanding of communication as an However, while such a model allows for circularity
autopoietic and dynamic process provides a range of the entire disaster event (pointing out that after’
of new insights into the nature of communication a disaster is before’ the next), it proved to be ill-
processes in disaster contexts, shedding light on prepared for the circularity of communications
who defines what, when, how, in which context, which take place during its course. In discussing
and with what consequences in the processes and and analyzing communication related to the phase
dynamics of disaster related communication (Metz- of coping with a disaster, for instance, it may be ne-
ner-Szigeth 2009; Egner & Pott 2010; Egner 2012; cessary to go back to different aspects of alarm
Egner et al. 2013). communication – not just the first alarms, but also
the ensuing warning and alarm communicating in a
disaster site. The circularity becomes even more ob-
vious when talking about evaluations of coping
Time and space of disasters
strategies, effective warning etc. in order to provide
a basis for understanding and defining future risks.
While these theoretical and methodological reflec-
Communication concerning evaluation, blaming,
tions opened up the research topic, two forms of
false or failed alarming will often start as soon as
heuristic were relied upon in order to provide more
awareness of the onset of a disastrous event arises –
structure: a temporal and a spatial dimension. Fol-
and thus will also affect other phases of the tempo-
lowing Kant’s assumption, time and space are a
ral heuristic. Rather than providing a helpful struc-
priori notions to the very possibility of comprehen-
ture, the classic temporal understanding of a disas-
ding sensory perceptions. Both are ways of ratio-
ter unfolding turned out an impediment to the
nally organizing the course of chaotic events, impo-
analysis of communicative processes.
sing distinctions in sensemaking on both the first
level of observation, i. e. the perspective of those af- The finding, however, that communication within
fected, and the second level of observation, i.e. the unfolding disasters does not adhere to clear-cut
perspective of academic analysis. 2
Mostly known from FEMA (Federal Emergency Ma-
The temporal dimension is regularly relied upon in nagement Agency) in the USA that in turn is based on the
the discussion of disasters. Clausen (1983) defined works of (amongst others) Roberts 1994 and Faulkner
disaster as an extreme social change characterized 2001.Mitteilungen 251
phase models did not render the concept of time lear power plant by the authorities. Although this
worthless. As a crucial first-order distinguishing va- zone was installed on the basis of guesses rather
riable for the actors within a disaster event, it resur- than factual information, it had very concrete con-
faced at a number of points. The media, for in- sequences for the people living or staying within it
stance, aim to present up-to-date, new’ news even who all of a sudden were labeled as affected’.
in situations in which no new information is avai- While such demarcations often set off as temporal
lable, and resort to reorganizing existing informa-
solutions, they have a tendency to stabilize. In her
tion (Bergmann 2011). Social media may speed up
work on evacuation camps and refugee movements,
reactivity to specific situations of distress but may
Inhetveen (2010) speaks of precarious topogra-
also ventilate obsolete information, producing false
phies’. Initially planned as ephemeral spaces, they
alarms (Starbird & Palen 2011).
often remain for years, contributing to the manifes-
In addition, a very promising second concept for tation of new social structures in an area. The plain
the analyses of communicative processes crystal- fact that victims of a disaster are forced to leave be-
lized at various points of the discussion: the concept hind their homes and relocate at all is of course
of space, or, more specifically, of spatialisation. The another aspect of how understandings of space
social understanding and manipulation of space become pertinent (Bakewell 2011). Potentially
proved to be highly consequential for the under- meeting already precarious conditions, such effects
standing of disasters and disaster-related activity. may be particularly severe in developing societies
Most processes connected to disasters generate spa- (Collins 2009).
tial effects which create differences that in fact pro-
Spatialization becomes pertinent not only in cases
duce a difference: Space and spatial or space-rela-
ted semantics, just as risks, can be conceived as of actual disastrous events, but plays a great role in
media of communication that fulfil the function of risk assessment and pervades our daily lives. Risk
contributing to social structuring and order forma- maps, for instance, are intended to be an instru-
tion.’ (Egner & Pott 2010: 231) This is already tied ment to enhance the safety of a community or a re-
to the fact that extreme events leading to a disaster gion, marking off areas which are safe for building,
always happen somewhere; they literally take skiing or camping, while denoting others which are
place’. Emergency call takers for instance make an out of bounds (Bründl et al. 2009). The apparent
effort to establish early-on and in precise detail the absoluteness’ and truth’ of such maps however
location of the reported incident, and partly deduct may well cause a false sense of security and invite
from this information the course of action, such as imprudent behavior, resulting in the creation of
whom next to notify (Bergmann 1995; Fele 2008) – new risks for their users. Drawing lines to demark
a task which turned out to be more problematic in spaces thus is a highly consequential, intrinsically
cases of mobile phone emergency calls. social and political, and far from unambiguous acti-
vity. This necessitates closer inspection of the proces-
The place that a disaster takes’ is never just a single
ses and actors through which such demarcations
co-ordinate on a map. Localizing a disastrous event
come about in order to understand more closely
will necessarily create new social spaces; a distinc-
which factors, rationalities, and interests play a role.
tion is drawn between a space for those affected by
an event and a space for those who are not. An ac- Spacialization also is a contingent element of our
cident is cordoned off, separating a site of the acci- daily lives, as can be readily experienced when
dent’ which may only be accessed by authorized trying to find one’s way in an unknown environ-
professionals of disaster management from an area ment. What is merely annoying in everyday situa-
where everyday life is to continue just as before, the tions can turn highly dangerous in situations of di-
border between both often reinforced by curious saster. We rely heavily on geo-semiotics, on signs
bystanders trying to get as close as possible in order bearing pictograms or written information, in order
to catch a glimpse. While such a new social order is to navigate our way. Geo-semiotics pre-structure
usually of a temporary nature in the case of an acci- our social spaces via a form of communication that
dent, other demarcations have longer lasting and is non-oral but situated nonetheless, gaining the im-
more drastic consequences. One of the first reac- pact of facts (Habscheid 2012). It is crucial to un-
tions to the nuclear event in Fukushima Daiichi in derstand how such structuring comes about and
the wake of the major earthquake and enormous how it is dealt with in emergency situations, where
tsunami in March 2011 for instance was the instal- orientation and clear, unique information are essen-
lation of a 10 km evacuation zone around the nuc- tial for those affected.252 Zeitschrift für Soziologie, Jg. 41, Heft 3, Juni 2012, S. 247–255
Finding new topics Pipek, Gunnar Stevens). The increasing role of
technology for disaster management on the other
The perspectives sketched out above – the overall hand makes relevant the implications of its
subject of communication, the concepts of time and breakdown in critical situations (Jçrg Potthast).
space as structuring heuristics allowing compari-
Finally, a topic that turned out to be of central re-
son, the theoretical claims of ethnomethodology
levance to discussions at several points concerned
and second-order observation theory, and our qua-
the role of media in the definition and shaping of
litative methodology – identified a number of topics
disasters. While already addressed by Wenger &
which are not well established within traditional di-
Quarantelli in 1989, this topic has gained new im-
saster research and provided the chance to shed
portance with the quick rise of social media over
new light onto other, already discussed topics:
the last couple of years. Media take on a special po-
Q The role of cultural and historical relativity in the sition in disasters as they literally serve as media-
definition of what a disaster is was addressed, sti- tors, seemingly bridging the distance between those
mulated by the work of Dieter Neubert, Greg affected and those not affected by the event. Media
Bankoff, Stephen Mosley, Katharina Inhetveen, do not restrict themselves to objective reporting but
and Carsten Felgentreff who presented empirical adopt an active role in collective disaster manage-
case studies of historical and cultural aspects of ment efforts by addressing and challenging the de-
various disaster events. meanor and the achievements of actors in the field,
Q Disaster communication was investigated from a such as politicians, organizations, or managers
micro perspective with the aim to reveal intrinsic (Rusch et al. 2007). They also produce a paradoxi-
patterns of e. g. alarm communication (the group cal sense of involvement among viewers who, im-
joined forces with a research network working mersed in increasingly authentic’ information such
on emergency calls all over Europe, of which Jçrg as footage produced by mobile phones or seemingly
Bergmann, Giolo Fele, Ilkka Arminen and Tho- first-hand accounts in blogs and internet forums,
mas Ley are members) or to analyze how media may have the impression of immediate participa-
correspondents structure their reports on disas- tion; at the same time, however, they are aware of
ters (which was investigated by Ruth Ayaß). the detachment that sitting safely in front of a TV
Q Since it is nearly impossible to observe an actual set or computer necessarily implies (Bergmann
live’ disaster, the role and explanatory power of 2012b). This paradoxical experience is a crucial
simulation was debated regularly. Technical si- condition for the willingness to become engaged, ei-
mulations such as CERN’s particle physics simu- ther through donations to relief organizations or by
lation (Martina Merz) and social simulations
choosing the same medium to react, such as collect-
such as disaster scenarios for disaster manage-
ing, selecting and playing back information to rele-
ment or operative teams (Stefan Strohschneider,
vant actors via social media such as blogs or twitter.
Stefan Kaufmann) were analyzed, members of
This dependency traditionally accords control to
the research group took part in LÜKEX 2011, a
the media which are in the position to direct their
nationwide disaster set-up at the administrative
users’ attention and, to some degree, level of invol-
level simulating an attack on crucial IT systems
vement and engagement. However, the more the es-
(Marn Schorch), and furthermore the research
tablished media become supplemented by what
group hosted an ethnological art project on emer-
Gunawardene (2012) calls citizen media’, the more
gency provisions which worked with psychodiag-
this influence can be de-centralized and democra-
nostic tools (Xperiment!).
Q
tized.
Research in the context of CSCW (Computer
Supported Cooperative Work) and current devel- The title of our closing conference, Dealing with
opments of web-based technology and content the Disasters of Others’, was inspired by the works
(mainly social media) were intensely discussed of Sontag (2003) and Chouliaraki (2006). While
with regard to their impact and potential for in- the general everyday perception seems to be that di-
formation management and communication of a sasters are on the increase, for most of us disasters
wide range of actors in disasters (Monika Bü- are not based on first-hand experience but on se-
scher, Leysia Palen, Andrea Kavanaugh). cond-hand information – disasters are mostly the
Q Several researchers pointed out that an awareness disasters of others. The media, media recipients, di-
of the communicative peculiarities of disaster si- saster management, politics, and not least resear-
tuations is a crucial prerequisite for the adequate chers are confronted with the paradoxical form of
design of tools and spaces (Volker Wulf, Volkmar involvement sketched above: doing something withMitteilungen 253
the disaster while not really being affected by it. Bründl, M., H. Romang, N. Bischof & C. Rheinberger,
This paradox needs to be reflected with respect to 2009: The Risk Concept and Its Application in Natural
how the positioning of non-affected media, reci- Hazard Risk Management in Switzerland. Natural Ha-
pients, relief organizations, researchers etc. affects zards and Earth System Sciences 9: 801–813.
Clausen, L. & W.R. Dombrowsky, 1983: Einführung in
participation and various forms of involvement
die Soziologie der Katastrophen. Bonn: Osang.
(Bergmann 2012a). Such reflexivity seems to be im- Collins, A., 2009: Disaster and Development. London:
portant specifically for research on disasters in Routledge.
order to avoid the traps of either adopting a nave Chouliaraki, L., 2006: The Spectatorship of Suffering.
humanistic or a purely technological approach to- London: Sage.
ward disaster response. As researchers we can al- Dombrowsky, W.R. & D. Neubert, 2011: Standardkata-
ways resort to a distanced point of view but the strophen und die Grenzen der Planbarkeit. Ein Streitge-
danger is not only to disregard the uniqueness – the spräch. Ed. By Manuela Lenzen. ZiF-Mitteilungen 2/
haecceitas (Garfinkel) of every single disaster but 2011: 25–30.
also to lose sight of the victims. While the research Dynes, R.R., 1998: Coming to Terms with Community di-
saster. Pp. 109–126 in: E.L. Quarantelli (ed.), What is a
group has only begun to sketch out a perspective
Disaster? Perspectives on the Question. London, New
for a field of mainly qualitative disaster research on York: Routledge.
communication, this perspective has already led to Egner, H., 2012: Risk, Space and Natural Disasters. On
a number of new questions and tacks, a few tenta- the Role of Space and Nature in Risk Research. Pp.
tive answers and a range of new cooperations, brin- 57–77 in: C. Mauch & S. Mayer (ed.), American Envi-
ing together academics and practitioners from di- ronments. Climate, Cultures, Catastrophe. Heidelberg:
verse disciplines and backgrounds. Most of the Winter Universitätsverlag.
work remains to be done in order to further devel- Egner, H. & A. Pott (eds.), 2010: Geographische Risiko-
op the field. The year at the ZiF may have planted forschung. Zur Konstruktion verräumlichter Risiken
a handful of seeds. und Sicherheiten. Stuttgart: Steiner.
Egner, H., M. Schorch & M. Voss (eds.), 2013: Learning
Heike Egner, Marn Schorch, Sarah Hitzler, from Calamities. Interpretative Patterns, Patterns of
Jçrg Bergmann, Volker Wulf Practices and Communication on Disasters and Catast-
rophes (forthcoming).
More detailed information about the multiple acti-
Faulkner, B., 2001: Towards a Framework for Tourism Di-
vities, workshops and conferences as well as reports saster Management. Tourism Management 22: 135–147.
of the events and publications can be found on our Fele, G., 2008: The Collaborative Production of Respon-
website: ses and Dispatching on the Radio. Forum: Qualitative
http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/ZIF/FG/2010Commu- Social Research. http://www.qualitative-research.net/
nicatingDisaster/ index.php/fqs/article/view/1175/2616
Felgentreff, C. & W.R. Dombrowsky, 2008: Hazard-, Ri-
siko- und Katastrophenforschung. Pp. 13–29 in: C. Fel-
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Die Natur der Gesellschaft. Verhandlungen des 33.
Coordination and academic assistance
Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in
Kassel 2006, Volume 2. Frankfurt a.M.: Campus. Dr. Sarah Hitzler, Sociology, Bielefeld
Metzner-Szigeth, A., 2009: Contradictory Approaches? – Marn Schorch, M.A., Sociology, Bielefeld
On Realism and Constructivism in the Social Sciences
Research on Risk, Technology and the Environment. Fellows
Futures 41(2): 156–170.
Mosley, S., 2008: The Chimney of the World. A History Prof. Dr. Ilkka Arminen, Sociology, Tampere
of Smoke Pollution in Victorian and Edwardian Man- Prof. Dr. Ruth Ayaß, Sociology, Klagenfurt
chester. London: Routledge. Prof. Dr. Greg Bankoff, History, Hull
Quarantelli, E.L. (ed.), 1998: What is a Disaster? Perspec- Dr. Michael Bründl, Institute for Snow and Avalanche
tives on the Question. London: Routledge. Research SLF, Davos
Ramirez, L., M. Betz, T. Dyrks, M. Scholz, J. Gerwinski Dr. Monika Büscher, Sociology, Lancaster
& V. Wulf: Landmarke – An ad hoc Deployable Ubi- Prof. Dr. Andrew Collins, Disaster Management,
comp Infrastructure to Support Indoor Navigation of Newcastle
Firefighters, in: Personal and Ubiquitous Computing Prof. Dr. Wolf Dombrowsky, Disaster Management,
(PUC), in press. Berlin
Roberts, V., 1994: Flood Management: Bradford paper. Prof. Dr. Giolo Fele, Sociology, Trento
Disaster Prevention and Management 3(3): 44–60. Dr. Carsten Felgentreff, Geography, Osnabrück
Rusch, G., H. Schanze & G. Schwering, 2007 (eds.): Prof. Dr. Stephan Habscheid, German Studies, Siegen
Theorien der Neuen Medien. Kino – Radio – Fernsehen Dr. Nicolai Hannig, History, Gießen
– Computer. Stuttgart: Metzler. Prof. Dr. Katharina Inhetveen, Sociology, Munich
Sacks, H., 1992: Lectures on Conversation. Oxford: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Jensen, Hydromechanics, Siegen
Blackwell Publishing. Prof. Dr. Stefan Kaufmann, Sociology, Freiburg
Schütz, A., 1962: Collected Papers I: The Problem of So- Prof. Dr. Thomas Ley, Sociology, Meiningen
cial Reality. Dordrecht: Nijhoff. Prof. Dr. Martina Merz, Sociology, Lucerne
Shannon, C.E. & W. Weaver, 1949: A Mathematical Mo- PD Dr. Andreas Metzner-Szigeth, Sociology, Münster
del of Communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illi- Dr. Stephen Mosley, History, Leeds
nois Press. Prof. Dr. Dieter Neubert, Development Sociology,
Sontag, S., 2003: Regarding the Pain of Others. New Bayreuth
York: Picador/Farrar. Prof. Dr. Volkmar Pipek, Information Technology, Siegen
Starbird, K. & L. Palen, 2011: “Voluntweeters”: Self-Or- Prof. Dr. Andreas Pott, Geography, Osnabrück
ganizing by Digital Volunteers in Times of Crisis. Pro- Dr. Jçrg Potthast, Sociology, Berlin
ceedings of the ACM 2011 Conference on Human Fac- Prof. Dr. Gebhard Rusch, Media Studies, Siegen
tors in Computing Systems (CHI 2011), Vancouver, Prof. Dr. Gunnar Stevens, Information Technology, Siegen
CA. http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~palen/voluntweeters Prof. Dr. Stefan Strohschneider, Psychology, Jena
StarbirdPalen.pdf Dr. Martin Voss, Sociology, Berlin
Vollmer, H., 2012: Punctuated Cooperation. The Sociolo-
gy of Disruption, Disaster and Social Change. Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press (in press).
Associated members
Wenger, D. & E.L. Quarantelli, 1989: Local Mass Media Dr. Oliver Bakewell, Development Sociology, Oxford
Operations, Problems, and Products in Disasters. New- Dr. Dominik Collet, History, Gçttingen
ark, DE: University of Delaware/Disaster Research Dr. Heike Greschke, Sociology, Bielefeld
Center. Prof. Dr. Ursula Hennigfeld, Romance Studies, Freiburg
Wulf, V., M. Rohde, V. Pipek & G. Stevens: Engaging Dr. Andrea Kavanaugh, Information Technology, Virginia
with Practices: Design Case Studies as a Research PD Dr. Christian Meyer, Sociology, Bielefeld
Framework in CSCW, in: Proceedings of ACM Confe- Dr. Frank Oberzaucher, Sociology, BielefeldMitteilungen 255
Dr. Leysia Palen, Information Technology, Colorado Art team Xperiment!
Peter Parkinson, Sociology, Bielefeld
Dr. Michael Guggenheim, Ethnology, London
Dr. Valentin Rauer, Sociology, Frankfurt
Dr. Bernd Kräftner, Medicine, Vienna
PD Dr. Hendrik Vollmer, Sociology, Bielefeld
Judith Krçll, Mag., Sociology, Vienna
Helena Zemp, M.A., Media Studies, Zürich
Gerhard Ramsebner, Mag., Philiosophy, ViennaCopyright of Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of Lucius & Lucius Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
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