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Citizens have often been found to converge on disaster sites. Such personal convergence is increasingly supported by online informational convergence. The adoption of online platforms represents an opportunity for response organizations to manage these two different manifestations of citizen convergence. We analyse one such platform, “Ready2Help”, developed by the Red Cross in The Netherlands. Our research demonstrates that by utilizing platforms, response organizations are able to transcend the boundaries between different types of organized behaviour during disaster. We extend the original conceptualization of organized behaviour, as previously described by the Disaster Research Center, explaining how the development of new platforms channels convergence of citizens and information. As such, platforms provide an interface between established, expanding, extending, and emergent forms of organized behaviour. These developments change the landscape of organized behaviour in times of disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowdfunding involves raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet and social networks, to fund a project. Crowdfunding projects are mainly funded by the project creator’s relatively small network of family and friends. We argue that mobilizing funders outside this close network positively contributes to the success of a crowdfunding success. To study how project creators seek to attract funding from more distant/potential resources (latent ties) in addition to existing networks (strong and weak ties), we examined usage of social media (Facebook and Twitter) and the crowdfunding platform (website). We analyzed 10 cultural projects hosted on the Dutch crowdfunding platform “Voordekunst.” Our results contribute to theorizing on latent tie activation by demonstrating that social media messages and platform updates add economic value to the crowdfunding effort. Our study also explains the moderating effect of these messages on funders of various tie strengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and Communication Technology-enabled Development (ICT4D) discourse relies upon the idea that ICTs can foster development in particular by encouraging wider participation in development initiatives. In this paper, we question how the blogging practices of development professionals shape such ICT4D discourse. Through a combination of interviews and analyses of blog contents, we examine two major purposes of blogging: reflecting upon development practices and engaging with a self-selected audience. Our analyses reveal that these two purposes were interwoven in ways that contributed to making bloggers' ICT4D discourse innovative but oriented towards a small community of peers rather than a larger audience. Through blogging, development professionals refined their expertise on ICT4D. As they did so, they also generated a personal speaker's corner that primarily attracted like-minded peers rather than promoting larger participation in ICT4D discourse. This research contributes to the emerging literature on social media practices by showing how blogging practices enable the formation of what a discourse is about, and by highlighting differences between perceived and actual levels of interactions between bloggers and their audience. The paper also adds to the ICT and development literatures by revealing that blogging practices can deepen ICT4D discourse, but that they do not necessarily enhance participation in development. Such insight is crucial for development professionals to develop realistic expectations of blogging for ICT4D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]