Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publisher
NMRC
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
School
School of Communication and Arts / Centre for Research in Entertainment, Arts, Technology, Education and Communications
RAS ID
16419
Funders
Australian Research Council
Grant Number
ARC Number : LP110200020
Abstract
Successive bushfire inquiries in Australia have called for authorities to more effectively harness and disseminate bushfire information. Recommendations from these inquiries suggest a new approach to bushfires involving greater co-ordination, in which home dwellers, emergency fire services and government work more closely together and acknowledge that education, safety, planning and emergency management can be effective responses to the threat of bushfire. Policymakers and community members are seeking to revise bushfire protocols and access new sources of authoritative information, which may help guide public responses. Nonetheless, the effective communication of information regarding bushfires still seems to be problematic (Department of Justice, 2013). This paper reports on findings from an ARC-funded research project, titled Using Community Engagement and Enhanced Visual Information to Promote FireWatch Satellite Communications as a Support for Collaborative Decision-Making. The project investigated the fire information communications environment of remote Australia in order to develop a suitable, user-friendly bushfire information website. Using a ‘communicative ecologies’ framework, this paper analyses findings from interviews held in 2012 and 2013 with community members living in the remote area of Kununurra, Western Australia. Interviewees described a fragile ‘communicative ecology’ where the coverage or reach of different communications technologies is variable, and where there are reception and compatibility problems. They also expressed disappointment and frustration about the lack of fire information in times of bushfire – as well as a lack of operational transparency and effective community engagement on the part of emergency organisations.
Access Rights
free_to_read
Comments
Holloway, D. J., & Green, L. R. (2013). FireWatch: Community engagement and the communication of bushfire information. Proceedings of Emerging Issues in Communication Research & Police (pp. 127-136). University of Canberra. NMRC. Available here.