Robert Soden - April 15, 2020

Robert Soden, PhD, "The emergent mutual aid response to COVID-19: a crisis informatics perspective"

New Yorkers in every borough, though mostly home-bound and separated in response to social distancing orders, are nonetheless finding ways to connect and support each other. Emergent, hyper-local, “mutual aid” groups are organizing all over the city in order to offer support to their neighbors in the form of sharing information, cooking meals, running errands, caring for children and pets, helping with essential chores, and keeping each other company via phone or video conference. Using tools that include Google Docs, Facebook, Slack, and Whatsapp, these groups are creating rosters of potential volunteers and working to match their skills and resources to the needs of their communities that are emerging as a result of the ongoing pandemic. These efforts are common during moments of crisis. Scholars have told us for decades that, contrary to popular myths about looting and panic, most people act calmly, rationally, and altruistically during emergencies. The current mobilizations are, indeed, part of a much longer history of both online and offline organizing and community self-help. This presentation will discuss initial findings from a mixed-methods study of the mutual aid response in NYC and highlight potential areas for further research.

Summary provided by presenter.