Social Networking, Social Media: An Annotated Bibliography

"The role that new media and communications technologies have played in the recent 'Arab Spring' uprisings, as well as in recent disaster responses, has sparked a large amount of academic and professional interest in their potential, how they can be harnessed effectively, but also their limitations."

This annotated bibliography is a collection of literature related to social networking, social media, and emergency situations. It compiles both peer-reviewed literature, typically sourced from academic journals, as well as a range of opinion and technical resources drawn from agencies that have a humanitarian mandate. "For the purposes of this bibliography the term 'complex emergencies' is deemed to cover political emergencies, conflict situations, conflict-reduction and peacekeeping processes, as well as disaster responses and associated humanitarian assistance."

It contains sources derived from a literature search undertaken within a 10-year range (2003-2013). The search was guided by a broad definition of "social media" encompassing a variety of software, websites, and technologies that enable user-generated content to be uploaded and shared, such as: social networking sites; blogs; collaborative tools such as wikis; YouTube; specialised participatory mapping software; and hybridised "mashup" programmes that combine two or more of these tools. A total of 6,239 sources were identified; a final total of 88 sources are included in this annotated bibliography.

The first substantive section examines social networking and social media use by citizens and interest groups in support of increased participation, social action, and collaboration. Sources reviewed explore issues such as social networking and media for increased transparency, accountability, political engagement, witnessing, monitoring, and citizen journalism. Other topics that emerge include: the risks associated with social networking and producing social media, the extent to which international audiences and media organisations have come to depend on user-generated content from conflict zones, and what impact this has had. Several papers also address state responses to social media use by groups that oppose them.

The second substantive section is focused on humanitarian assistance and the role of social networks and social media. Noting that collaborative tools such as wikis and social media platforms can help to gather and mobilise volunteer networks to rapidly collect, manage, analyse, and plot crisis data in order to help understand and direct relief efforts, many of the authors of the papers in this section discuss the ways in which crisis mapping "has emerged as a critical tool of 21st Century humanitarian assistance, though it is not without its limitations..."

This resource is one of the outputs of the Communication and Complex Emergencies Project, which is a collaboration between the University of Adelaide's Applied Communication Collaborative Research Unit (ACCRU) and the Australian Civil-Military Centre (ACMC). The project's main objectives are to highlight the role of communication, including new and social media, in complex emergencies and in support of humanitarian assistance.