Rachel’s semester doing independent research on disaster preparedness

This past semester I have been working with Dr.Kimberly Rogers to develop an independent research project studying how the use of social media has changed the landscape of disaster preparedness on Roanoke Island. My main research question is: How has social media changed the landscape of disaster preparedness knowledge in Manteo and Wanchese, NC over the past 10 years? The goal of this study is to understand how people in Manteo and Wanchese use social media to prepare for disasters (i.e. hurricanes) and how this influences their perception of risk.

This is a two semester project, and I am currently developing an online survey to distribute to residents of Manteo and Wanchese. I am also incorporating a geospatial component and will use ArcGIS to analyze how Roanoke Island’s vulnerability to storm and flood events have changed over time, and use survey responses to create a time series that correlates this vulnerability to social media use.