This thread by @rvawonk digs into how central Twitter has become to relaying information during disasters, how terrible it will be to suddenly lose it.
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1592347386684506113
Yep, still angry about it.
Saw that on the bird site. I think Mastodon can address the need with a disaster-specific instance.
1. Instance is by invitation only to verified disaster specialists or organizations, e.g., local / state EOC.
2. Instance is federated, so anyone can follow the discussions and alerts on their timeline.
It would be interesting to see if some hashtags could be restricted to that instance to complement the 'verified' timeline. This would prevent, say, #disaster being used by just anyone.
It would be good if the instance could be mirrored.
Excuse this pedantry if you are familiar with disaster phases.
1. Mitigation
2. Preparation
<the disaster aka the boom> "hunker down"
3. Response
4. Recovery
...repeat
The public needs messages during phases 2-4. That's the service Twitter, and FB provide with some success.
I'll address this for individuals and mainly reference hurricane disasters. But this is generally applicable to all disasters.
Phase 1 is less critical. This is where you get an emergency generator or install roof tie-downs.
Preparation is mainly done immediately before the disaster. Purchase water and food, plywood, fill gas tanks, etc.
Response after the boom is getting people to safe locations. Where are shelters? What roads are closed? Where are gas stations and food stores open?
Recovery is restoring normalcy. This is agencies explaining how to get assistance. This is FEMA, local disaster recovery groups, etc.
Recovery goes on for years, even for individuals. Because of this, it isn't feasible to bring up an instance for a specific disaster.
Is it feasible to create something new in a reasonable time? I don't know for sure. The core is providing messages, although providing a discussion area for pros might be useful. I see it as a local timeline that is only federated for outgoing messages. You don't want individuals chiming in on this instance.
@rmerriam @allochthonous @rvawonk there’s lots to figure out about Mastodon in emergencies…but it’s more than just broadcast. Bird site has allowed information gathering and conversation between professionals…both of which seem harder here. Not unsolvable, just harder!
@rmerriam @rvawonk that's one possibility - another is that ActivityPub provides a route for organization websites to be visible in the Fediverse without needing an instance, so orgs could connect that way. Perhaps setting up a temporary instance for a particular disaster response would also work better - establish hashtag and use it to collate information.
However, none of this is going to happen overnight.