The Boston Marathon Bombing happened in 2013. FBI lead crowdsourcing in an attempt to gain photos and videos on the Marathon. The FBI was able to find a photograph of a suspect and asked for help with the identification. The digital volunteers did more than that they launched their own investigation eventual falsely accusing two men of being the perpetrators. The FBI did eventually find the real perpetrators.  

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1. The Haiti Earthquake
2. Flooding in Alberta, Canada
3. The Boston Marathon Bombing


Examples of Collective Intelligence used in Crises

While collective intelligence can be helpful it can also be harmful in a crisis. 

1. Reliability of information and who controls it
2. Communication and connection to officials

Issues with using Collective Intelligence During a Crisis

Clicktivism can allow for information to be spread easily regarding a crisis. The issue is that the information spread is not always accurate which can cause major issues in dealing with a crisis for example the Boston Marathon Bombing. Another issue is that Clicktivism has a timespan meaning that once the wow factor or drama is gone then so is the attention from digital volunteers.   

Clicktivism used in Crisis

The Boston Marathon bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred in 2013 near the finish line of the race. The immediate aftermath of the explosions was a scene of chaos, characterized by scattered debris, numerous injuries to spectators and runners, and civilians helping one another.

Boston Marathon Bombing

Büscher, M., Liegl, M., & Thomas, V. (2014). Collective Intelligence in Crises. In J.  Stewart (Ed.), Social Collective Intelligence: Combining The Powers of Humans and Machines (pp. 243–265). Springer International Publishing. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-08681-1__12

Collective Intelligence in Crises

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

The Haiti Earthquake happened in 2010. Digital volunteers from around the world organized themselves and created a massive global collective in order to analyze data coming from Haiti. The volunteers translated reports into different languages. They also used and analyzed satellite images in order to create digital maps. They used apps like OpenStreetMap and Ushahidi to share not only information but geographical locations in order to build the map. The information gained and shared by the volunteers enabled the emergency resopnders a clearer image of what was happening on the ground. 

Collective Intelligence During The Haiti Earthquake

The Flooding of Alberta, Canada happened in 2013. The Mayor, Naheed Neshi, of Calgary used media and social media in order to share information regarding response and recovery efforts. In effect, Neshi became the "puppetmaster" and was able to organize the online volunteer efforts. Multiple other organizations including the Calgary police did the same thing using Twitter and Facebook to share information and request help.  Outside of the political realm of information sharing the community was able to stay connected and share information about resources, equipment, food, and illegal activity like price gouging. 

Collective Intelligence During The Flooding in Alberta, Canada

Collective Intelligence During The Boston Marathon Bombing

1. Reliability- as the information is mostly gained through individuals that are not trained to gather it. It's important to remember that the information can be incorrect even if it is widely spread. This can be extremely harmful when news media shares incorrect information. 
2. Controlling Information- When crises happen in areas that are not technologically advanced the power of certain decision are given to those individuals who are. This can cause tension between local people and those who are responders and digital volunteers. 

Reliability of Information and Who Controls It

1. Communication- The way the officials, volunteers, and members of the community talk to each other is important in regards to how they feel about each other. Digital volunteers may feel like they get left out if there is not a reciprocation of information from the officials. Emergency responders may feel like they are being controlled/instructed by a shadow group.

2. Connection to Officials- If responders do not feel like they are respected or that officials are sharing information promptly then they may try to take things into their own hands. This can be seen during manhunts like the Boston Marathon bombing in which the internet volunteers vilified two men that where not involved. 

Communication and Connection to Officials

Collective Intelligence in the modern age is having a big impact on how crises are seen and dealt with. Scholars are interested in how social media plays a role in the creation of collective intelligence during a crisis.  

Using Collective Intelligence in Crises

To test if this phenomenon existed in other situations, researchers created an online survey sent to a few thousand participants after the Boston Marathon Bombings. Participants estimated the amount of time they spent watching content related to the attack, gave self-reported mental health scores, and answered if their daily life was impaired in anyway.

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