How Can Technical Communicators Help in Disaster Response?

Abstract

Purpose: This article explores the role of technical communicators during disaster response and provides suggestions to practitioners about how to incorporate social justice-oriented language, culture, and context-specific crisis communication during disasters. Method: This is a mixed-methods study that includes a) narrative inquiry and b) social network analysis. The study is based on two different disasters: the April 2015 Nepal Earthquake and Hurricane Maria of 2017. I used narrative inquiry with 28 participants who represented government, non-governmental agencies, community organizers, activists, and students for the qualitative study portion of my research. For the social network analysis portion, I analyzed approximately 50 million tweets that were posted during the first week after both disasters. In this article, I showcased a word frequency display that focuses on the words uttered and written in response to the calamities. Results: Based on this method, I found that there were two different types of communication that happened during these two disasters: organizational communication and crisis publics communication, which was mediated by people from all walks of life. Conclusion: Technical communicators and publics (local or non-experts) who take up the role of technical communicators during a disaster can play an important role in providing accurate information and dispelling misinformation by working closely with the experts, scientists, journalists, and other officials.