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A diversity of practices have emerged in the last five years that have permitted new forms of present tense responses to crisis. H20 seeks to link and learn from these diverse but related initiatives by providing a forum through which pioneers of web 2.0 technologies can be brought into productive dialogue with experts in humanitarian relief.
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TWITTER AND THE UK RIOTSTHE IMPACT OF TWITTER ON THE SHAPE OF AND POLICING RESPONSE TO THE 2011 RIOTS
RUMOURS//DISPUTED INFORMATION | SPECULATION | MISINFORMATION | DISINFORMATION
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RUMOUR CLUSTERS IN THE LONDON RIOTS// CONCLUSIONS//
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cance when compared to the evidence in the corpus that Twitter was used for more positive ends and, in particular, the or-
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ter effectively.
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ingly, forces with the biggest growth include those where there was the most unrest. By mid-August, @metpoliceuk had over
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gained several thousand new followers.
Keeping the public informed is only one of the challenges the police face during crises. The other is to have access to in-
formation that can help them understand events, as without that, they will not be in a position to keep the public properly
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social space in which communication within social media unfolds and how content, social networks and groups are linked.
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ences, a social media platform like Twitter, with its follower and friendship model, may sometimes produce quite distinct and
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Finally, for journalists working in mainstream news media, while social media has opened up new sources, the tools they have
available do not assist with the problems of interpreting and verifying the authenticity and credibility of that content. The
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authenticating and verifying content, which net-savvy journalists often do by tapping into the wisdom of the crowd.
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