Presentation made at "Enhancing Information and Communication: Issues for Policymakers, Ambassadors, and Commanders" organised by National Defence University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC on 17 August 2011.
8. Reality in most CPEs
Complex Political Emergencies (CPEs) and relief work
9. Focus on process, not just spikes
Narrow band over time adds richness, full spectrum adds context
Local language(s)
Culture
Local actors
Diaspora
Hagiography and myth
Identity and power
Partisan politics
Regional power blocs
Inequity
Demographics (Youth)
Civic media
Verbal storytelling
10. New information networks
Fluid, spontaneous, viral, short-term spikes, long tail
Event / Issue Witness / Victim Citizen media
Army / Govt / Members
Closed Intel
UN system states /
Global / Local
audiences
12. A lesbian in Damascus
And other tall tales
Disinformation
Misinformation
Partial accounts
Gaming the system
Gender imbalance (e.g. rape reports in DRC)
Lack of access leads to challenges in verification
Multiple retweets mistaken for authenticity
Anonymity online (esp. post-Norwegian terrorist attack)
Machine translation / Lack of translation
Little or no direct access
Trauma
Anxiety
Fear
Persecution
Network infiltration and disruption
Trust perceptions and authority markers
Bias in mainstream media
Bias in citizen media
14. how do we know?
Traditional media
Citizen journalism / Digital, web based
media
Trusted intelligence from UN system
Situational Awareness
15. human security approach
Human security is an emerging paradigm for understanding global
vulnerabilities whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of
national security by arguing that the proper referent for security should
be the individual rather than the state. Human security holds that a
people-centered view of security is necessary for national, regional
and global stability.
16. more open, not more closed
Open content generation and sharing (e.g. wikis)
help in environments with conflicting and unreliable
data and after sudden onset disasters.
17. communicate effectively
Use the same networks that civil society uses to
communicate aims, objectives, vital information.
Civilians will always suspect military domains.
18. tune in without subscribing more
Choice kills. Determine through robust analysis that is
revisited often what and who to listen to, when, why
and how. Use local knowledge and technology to
increase signal to noise ratio.
19. go beyond UN, UN going beyond UN
Durable solutions, community resilience and early warning stem
from people on the ground, increasingly producing their own
content. UN is there over long term, but also needs to engage
with hyper-local, web and mobile based, alternative narratives.