Functional Outline

Introduction

A. Introduce the study- in this part, I will provide a brief overview of the study
B. State what the goal of the study is
C. State the rationale for the study
D. Contract with the reader providing the preview for the paper

Case Study: 2009 Fargo Flood
A. Overview of the events of the flood
B. Provide timeline of the flood (Figure 1)

Transition: In order to compare how an organization, MPS, and the media used blogs during the Fargo Flood, we must first understand how they have been previously used.

Conceptual Framework
A. Overview of the conceptual framework
B. Blogs and Information-Sharing
1. Describe how blogs have been used by organizations to share information
2. Examples of how organizations have used blogs
3. Describe how in the Fargo Flood there was an incredible need for information

C. Uses and Functions of Blogs
1. Describe how blogs have been used as a crisis management tool
2. Describe the effectiveness of using blogs during crisis situations and tie to Fargo Flood
3. Explain how blogs have been used as a way to bond communities and tie to Fargo Flood.

D. Seeger’s Best Practices
1. Explain how Seeger’s Best Practices of remaining open and honest with
the public and accepting uncertainty and ambiguity help illuminate this study
2. Describe each of these best practices

Transition: The following research questions guide this study:

RQ1: How did organizations use blogs during the 2009 Fargo Flood?
RQ2: In what ways, did organizations use blogs to employ Seeger’s Best Practices?
RQ3: How did the media’s blog compare to the organization’s blog?

Method
A. Explain why the use of a case study
B. Explain the two blogs I analyzed
C. Describe the procedure I conducted for the analysis

Transition: Five overarching themes emerged from the data (I think there will be five, but I am not sure yet)

Results
-the goal of this section is to describe the results and provide examples of the themes

A. Briefly describe the goal of the research and outline the themes that emerged from the data.
B. Theme 1
1. Describe theme
2. Examples of the theme in data
C. Theme 2
1. Describe theme
2. Examples of the theme in data

D. Theme 3
1. Describe theme
2. Examples of the theme in data

E. Theme 4
1. Describe theme
2. Examples of the theme in data

F. Theme 5
1. Describe theme
2. Examples of the theme in data

Transition:

Discussion
A. Overview of the results
B. Connect the themes to theory.
C. Explain how these themes answer my research questions
D. Give Practical Applications for organizations and media when using blogs in crisis situations
E. Contributions/Limitations
1. Explain the theoretical contributions of this research
2. Explain the practical contributions of the research
3. Discuss limitations and future research

Transition

Conclusion
A. Restate the goal of my research.
B. Provide summative conclusions and reemphasize the so what
C. Reemphasize future research

Review of Literature-Outline

Analyzing the Fargo Flood: The Role of Social Media During the 2009 Fargo Flood

I. Introduction
I will introduce the overall topic of how organizations used blogs during the 2009 Fargo Flood. I will also setup preview the structure of the paper

II. Case Study: 2009 Fargo Flood
In this section, I will give the timeline of events during the flood. I will also provide a timetable.

III. Conceptual Framework
I will preview the concepts that I will talk about

A. Defining blogs
I will briefly describe what a blog is

B. Roles and Functions of Blogs
I will briefly discuss how organizations generally use blogs during crisis situations. These include spread information, give voice, bond individuals, and mobilize individuals.

C. Seeger’s Best Practices
I will outline two of Seeger’s Best Practices in a crisis

RQ1: How did organizations use blogs during the 2009 Fargo Flood?
RQ2: In what ways, did organizations use blogs to employ Seeger’s Best Practices?

Understanding Internet Use

Interview Protocol

1. Tell me about the first time you used the internet. What did you think of it? Was it a good experience? Where did you use it?

2. Do you remember a time when you didn’t have the internet? How was your life changed since now?

3. How often do you use the internet? What applications do you use? What sites do you primarily visit? What do you use it for?

4. How does the internet affect your relationships?


Participant:

Kisha Janovsky, is the researcher’s twin sister and lives in Montgomery, MN. During high school, the researcher and Janovsky had similar classes, so for this assignment, the researcher wanted to understand Janovsky’s perception of the internet and how it may be different or similar to the researcher’s.

Procedure:

Kisha Janovsky was interviewed via phone on Sunday, September 27th at 9:15pm. The interview lasted around 30 minutes. For purposes of this assignment, the interview was not transcribed, but some quotations were typed verbatim. Because of the nature of the assignment, IRB permission was not necessary.

Janovsky’s experience with the internet has not changed much since the first time she used it in college. When she first experienced the internet, it was during her freshman year at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She primarily used the internet for fun, particular using email. When she described her first experience using the internet, she said “It was like wow, this is really cool.” She remembers the internet being very slow, but that she could look at all the information she needed on the screen.

During these first years of using the internet, Janovsky remembers worrying about the accuracy of the information online. She was apprehensive about the information, and because of this, she still used books and other traditional sources to look up information. But, as she got more comfortable with the internet, she progressed to looking up all different types of information online.

Today, she feels comfortable using the internet in many different capacities and is constantly on the internet. In her job, she uses the internet to look up various venders and customers. Thus, she will use a Freight website, White and Yellow Pages, and Google. Among these uses, Janovsky also uses the internet for fun. She emails her friends and family all the time, and uses Facebook to stay in touch many of her friends from high school and college.

When asked how the internet has changed her relationships, Janovsky replied “I have better contacts with people. It’s a good thing.” There was a time when Janovsky did not have the internet at her house, and she felt disconnected from the world. She said, “I like the internet. It is something I use everyday and considering the time when I didn’t have it at home, it was very difficult. It was hard to keep in contact with people. I was missing it.”

Janovsky feels the internet has contributed greatly to her relationships, and she cannot even think about what life would be like without it. Janovsky said, “Now that you have the internet it is hard to be without it.” Although many years have passed since she first encountered the internet, the reasons why Janovsky goes online really have not. Janovsky may use the internet for her job, but she still primarily uses it to maintain personal relationships. When asked what she thinks of the internet, Janovsky exclaimed “It is awesome.”

A Research Proposal: Exploring New Media in the 2009 Fargo Flood

For those of us who were around the Fargo-Moorhead area in March of 2009, we remember feeling stressed, cold, frustrated, defeated, and even triumphant (at times).

During this time, news organizations tried to capture the events as they were unfolding; however, there were many individuals “behind the scenes” who were doing the same. With the use of blogs, individuals who were experiencing the flood, in some way or another, blogged about their experiences. The literature on crisis communication has only just begun exploring how social media is used during crisis events.

According to Seeger, Sellnow, and Ulmer (2003), a crisis event usually conveys loss and risk. In the Fargo-Moorhead flood, many individuals experienced many negative outcomes, losing their homes and belongings. During this difficult time, individuals decided to blog about their experiences to communicate to the online community. Therefore, my study explores how residents used blogs during this stressful time and what role did the blogs serve for individuals. Were they simply for using blogs to get the word out or did they use them as a place to make sense of the chaos that was happening in the area? Thus, I am proposing the following research questions:

How did residents of the Fargo-Moorhead flood use new media?

What role did social media play for Fargo-Moorhead residents in the 2009 Flood crisis?

Method
Through the use of online ethnography, I want to explore how individuals used blogs during the Fargo-Moorhead flood crisis (n=30). Lindlof and Taylor (2004) note that ethnography is a way to describe the relationships between social practices. Ethnographers usually try to describe all or almost all of the culture they are studying. More specifically, ethnographers “live intimately inside the life space of the cultural members” (Lindlof & Taylor, 2004, p. 17). Through the virtual world, I will be living intimately with my participants, trying to understand and describe their communication practices.

The text I will use are blogs from residents of the Fargo-Moorhead area. I plan on conducting Google searches as well as snowball samples and sending emails through departmental listservs.

This study will contribute to current knowledge on crisis communication and social media because there is currently little research that addresses how social media is used during a crisis, specifically how are blogs used during a crisis. Additionally, there is no research that addresses the 2009 Fargo-Moorhead Flood. Therefore, this study will contribute to the literature on crisis communication.

Annotated Bibliography

Carey, J. (2003). The functions and uses of media during the September 11 crisis and its
aftermath. In A.M Noll (Ed.), Crisis Communications: Lessons from September 11 (pp. 1-16). New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Carey explores how the web and e-mail functioned during the September 11th crisis. Specifically, Carey notes how fast information spread compared to other crises. This article will be beneficial in providing some context to the use of media during crises and how technology has influenced the spread of information when a crisis hits.

Eyrich, N., Padman, M. L., & Sweetser, K. D. (2008). PR practioners’ use of social
media tools and communication technology. Public Relations Review, 34, 412-414.

Eyrich, Padman, and Sweetser explore how PR practitioners used 18 social media tools for strategic purposes. Results show that the PR industry has adopted social media. This article relates to my study as it shows the growing use of social media for public relations professionals.

Fearn-Banks, K. (2007). Crisis communications: A casebook approach (3rd ed.).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

This book details the ways in which blogs, websites, and the internet have contributed during crisis situations. Additionally, the author define crisis. This book will contribute to my study as it specifically addresses how new media are used during crisis situations.

Flood Information (2009). City of Fargo. Retrieved September 11, 2009 from
http://www.cityoffargo.com/Flood09/

This website details flood information as well as the history of the Red River. Additionally, it provides floodplain information. This website will useful as I need to provide a context for why I choose the Fargo Flood as well as provide some background on the Red River.

Grossman, L., Hamilton, A., Buechner, M. M., & Whitaker, L. (2005, October 28).
Media: Meet Joe Blog. Time. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994463,00.html

This article addresses the rapidly growing use of blogs and bloggers. The authors detail why individuals follow blogs and the role of blogs in society. This article is relevant to my study as it addresses the reasons why individuals follow blogs. Although this source is not scholarly, it will address the need to detail the role of blogs and why they are so popular.

Howard, P. N. (2004). Embedded media: Who we know, what we know, and society
online. In P. N. Howard & S. Jones (Eds.), Society Online: The Internet in Context (1-28). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

In this introduction, Howard provides several statistics on who is online and why individuals go online. This article will apply to my research as I may need statistics and general information about why individuals choose to blog during the crisis.

Makinen, M., & Kuira, M. W. (2008). Social media and postelection crisis in Kenya. The
International Journal of Press/Politics, 13, 328-335.

Makinen and Kuira analyze how individuals used online discussions and media during the Kenyan postelection crisis in 2008. Findings indicate that social media were used as an alternative to traditional media as well as participatory journalism. This article relates to my research as it shows how individuals use social media during crisis situations.

Maratea, R. (2008). The e-rise and fall of social problems: The blogosphere as a public
arena. Social Problems, 55, 139-160.

Maratea used public arenas model to analyze how blogs are used to advance social problem claims. Findings show that blogs are more efficient and give outsiders a voice in the claim-making process; however, bloggers still have to compete with traditional forms. This article applies to my study as it shows the uses of blogs and how blogs can be an efficient and effective ways to give individuals voice.

Norris, P. (2004). The bridging and bonding role of online communities. In P. N. Howard
& S. Jones (Eds.), Society Online: The Internet in Context (31-42). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Norris addresses the idea that online communities serve to bridge and bond individuals. She includes several surveys that indicate the internet serves to bridge race, gender, and class, and bond with others who have similar interests. This article will be useful in describing what role social communities play for individuals.

Shankar, K. (2008). Wind, water, and wi-fi: New trends in community informatics and
disaster management. The Information Society, 24, 116-120.

Shankar explores how social networks can be used to mobilize individuals during disasters. He argues that officials, volunteers, and citizens use social technologies to communicate during crisis situations. This article applies to my study as it explores the use of blogs to communicate during a crisis. Specifically, this article shows that blogs can be effective tools during a disaster.

Slevin, J. (2000). The internet and society. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

In his book, Slevin outlines the impact of the internet. Specifically, he addresses the history of the internet, who uses the internet, and how the internet is used. Slevin also analyzes how the internet is a tool to enrich the process of self-information. This article applies to my study as it shows the many uses of the internet as well as the role of the internet in today’s society.

Schneider, S. M., & Foot, K. A. (2004). Crisis communication and new media: The web
after September 11. In P. N. Howard & S. Jones (Eds.), Society Online: The Internet in Context (pp. 137-154). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

In this article, Schneider and Foot address the role of the internet during the September 11th crisis. They review how individuals used the web for online social mobilization or online action. This article directly relates to my study as it explains the uses of the web during a major crisis.

Seeger, M. W., Sellnow, T. L., & Ulmer, R. R. (2003). Communication and
organizational crisis. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

This book explores theories, stages, and management functions of crisis communications. Additionally, the authors discuss the role of crisis within society. This book will be very helpful as I look for theories and define crisis within my study.

Singh, G., & Shahid, S. M. (2006). Blogs as tools for online information sharing. Library
Philosophy and Practice, 9, 1-4.

The authors detail the origins and history of blogs. They also provide the definition of blogs and the role of blogs in society. This article will be very useful when defining what a blog is and possibly giving background on the use of blogs.

Sullivan, A. (2004, September 27). A blogger’s creed: A member of the blogging class
tells why they deserve your thanks. Time. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,995196,00.html

This article points out several reasons why journalists are starting to use blogs. Sullivan also explains why bloggers are credible journalists. This article will be very help in explaining the various functions of blogs and the role they play for individuals.

Sweester, K. D., & Metzgar, E. (2007). Communicating during crisis: Use of blogs as a
relationship management tool. Public Relations Review, 33, 340-342.

Sweester and Metzger performed an experiment exposing individuals to three types of blogs: personal blog, organizational blog, and a control blog. Results showed that blogs can affect the perception of a crisis situation. This article directly applies to my study as I am exploring how blogs are used, and this article could tie into the effect blogs have during a crisis situation.

Taylor, M., & Perry, D. C. (2005). Diffusion of traditional and new media tactics in crisis
communication. Public Relations Review, 31, 209–217.

Using diffusion of innovations theory, Taylor and Perry analyze how organizations use the internet during crisis situations. Generally, organizations are adopting new ways to communicate during crisis situations. This article relates to my topic as it provides background on the way the internet has been used during crisis situations. This article will help me develop my argument that blogs were used differently during the Fargo flood.

The “Fargo Flood” Homepage (2009). North Dakota State University. Retrieved
September 11, 2009, from http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/fargoflood/

This website tells the story of the Fargo flood as well as background information about the Red River and the 1997 flood. This website also provides links to the National Weather service. This website applies to my research as I will need to justify why the Fargo Flood was used, and I will need to give some history on the Red River.

Thelwall, M., & Stuart, D. (2007). RUOK: Blogging communication technologies during
crises. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12, 189-214.

Using 68,022 blogs and news feeds from the London attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the Pakistan-Kashmir earthquake, Thelwall and Stuart compare how communication technologies were used in each of these crises. Results showed that the bloggers used electronic communication depending on the crisis. This article applies to my study as it shows how blogs are used during a crisis situation. Specifically, this will be helpful in developing my argument in the literature review.

Thelwall, M. (2006, May). Bloggers during the London attacks: Top information sources
and topics. Paper presented at the WWW2006 Workshop on the Weblogging
Ecosystem: Aggregation, Analysis and Dynamics, Edinburgh. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from www.blogpulse.com/www2006-workshop/papers/blogs-during-london-attacks.pdf

Thelwall explores how bloggers as a whole reported during the London attacks. He specifically addresses all bloggers and not just A-List bloggers. This article will be a good balance in noting how all bloggers, both A-Listers and the nonprolific bloggers use social media during a crisis.

Trammell, K. D., & Keshelashvili, A. (2005). Examining new influencers: A self-
presentation study of A-list blogs. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly,
82, 968–982.

This article investigates A-list bloggers using impression management theory. Results showed that A-list bloggers tended to disclose more information about themselves. This study applies to my research as it describes individuals who blog and why some blogs are more popular than others.

Advanced Qualitative Project Timeline

Week 1: September 7th-13th (Done)
Collect literature
Write up paper proposal

Week 2: September 14th-20th (Done: September 16)
Recruit participants
Collect data
Start writing literature review

Due: Paper Proposal

Week 3: September 21st-27th (Done)
Collect data
Write literature review

Week 4: September 28th-October 4th (Done)
Collect data
Write literature review

Week 5: October 5th-October 11th (Done: October 7)
Revise Literature Review
Start writing methods section
Collect Data

Due: Literature Review

Week 6: October 12th-October 18th
Revise Methods Section

Due: Methods Section (Done: written in class)

Week 7: October 19th-October 25th
Collect Data

Due: Data Collection (Done: October 27. This is with preparing the data for coding, otherwise I was done collecting data by October 21)

Week 8: October 26th- November 15th
Revise literature review and methods sections (as necessary)
Start coding and analyzing data
Start writing up results and discussion

Week 9: November 16th-November 22nd
Write up results, discussion, limitations and conclusion

Due: Contributions/Limitations

Week 10: November 23rd- November 29th
Due: Functional Outline

Week 11: November 30th-December 6th
Revise draft

Due: Draft 1

Week 12: December 7th- December 17th
Revise Draft 1

Due: Draft 2