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The Situational Small World of a Post-Disaster Community: Insights Into Information Behaviors After the Devastation of Hurricane

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The Situational Small World of a Post-Disaster Community: Insights Into Information Behaviors After the Devastation of Hurricane THE SITUATIONAL SMALL WORLD OF A POST-DISASTER COMMUNITY: INSIGHTS INTO INFORMATION BEHAVIORS AFTER THE DEVASTATION OF HURRICANE KATRINA IN SLIDELL, LOUISIANA Tisha Anne Slagle, B.S., M.S., M.S. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2010 APPROVED: Brian O’Connor, Major Professor David McEntire, Committee Member Herman L. Totten, Committee Member Herman L. Totten, Dean of the College of Information James D. Meernik, Acting Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Slagle, Tisha Anne. The Situational Small World of a Post-disaster Community: Insights into Information Behaviors after the Devastation of Hurricane Katrina in Slidell, Louisiana. Doctor of Philosophy (Information Science), December 2010, 165 pp., 17 tables, 48 illustrations, references, 156 titles. Catastrophes like Katrina destroy a community’s critical infrastructure—a situation that instigates several dilemmas. Immediately, the community experiences information disruption within the community, as well as between the community and the outside world. The inability to communicate because of physical or virtual barriers to information instigates instant isolation. Prolonged, this scarcity of information becomes an information poverty spell, placing hardship on a community accustomed to easily accessible and applicable information. Physical devastation causes the scarcity of what Abraham Maslow calls basic survival needs— physiological, security, and social—a needs regression from the need to self-actualize, to meet intellectual and aesthetic needs. Because needs regress, the type of information required to meet the needs, also changes—regresses to information regarding survival needs. Regressed information needs requires altered information behaviors—altered methods and means to meet the information needs of the post-disaster situation. Situational information behavior follows new mores—altered norms—norms constructed for the post-disaster situation. To justify the unconventional, situational social norms, residents must adjust their beliefs about appropriate behavior. Situational beliefs support situational social norms—and situational information behaviors prevail. Residents find they must trust strangers, create makeshift messaging systems, and in some cases, disregard the law to meet their post-disaster survival needs. Copyright 2010 By Tisha Anne Slagle ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My committee chair, Brian O’Connor listened to my ideas, allowed me to create while encouraging, advising, and providing me the benefits of his knowledge, depth, and creativity. Herman L. Totten groomed me for success in academia and life with his confidence in me and his dependability and optimism. David McEntire patiently taught me and directed me to the appropriate resources to provide me with a foundation in emergency management and disaster research. Jarrod, Carmen, and Haley Knudson introduced me to Slidell and Louisiana—the culture of its people, the lay of its land, and the depth of its suffering. Jarrod, as well as my other children Ryan Knudson, Neil Slagle, and Lindsey Collings, along with Diane Green, Valerie Luetkemeyer, and Charles and Paula Slagle—all excellent writers in their own right, read and reviewed my document, making suggestions for improved clarity, flow, and syntax. John Pipes alleviated my everyday life responsibilities and provided me with encouragement and support throughout my doctoral studies. Valerie Luetkemeyer and Theresa Jackson graciously donated their personal time to help me transcribe hundreds of pages of notes and interviews. Special thanks is also extended to all the helpful individuals and organizations in Slidell, Louisiana, who graciously gave of their time and shared their stories. Thanks are also extended to the National Science Foundation and the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder for a Quick Response Grant that funded my travel to Slidell. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ xi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................. xii Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Hurricane Katrina Storms Slidell, Louisiana ............................................................ 1 Hurricanes as Catalysts of Disaster ......................................................................... 1 What Drives These Destructive Storms? .................................................... 2 Huracán, God of Wind and Destruction...................................................... 3 Before Katrina Hit New Orleans .............................................................................. 5 Katrina Makes Landfall ........................................................................................... 7 Isolation from the Outside World ......................................................................... 11 Research Question ................................................................................................ 14 Post-Katrina Slidell as a Case Study ...................................................................... 14 Why Study Post-Katrina? ...................................................................................... 15 Frequency of Gulf Coast Hurricanes Does Not Deter Residency .............. 15 History of Troubled Waters: Katrina Validates Predictions ...................... 18 Losing Ground In Louisiana ....................................................................... 18 Why Study Slidell?................................................................................................. 19 Slidell Overlooked in the Immediate Aftermath of Katrina ...................... 20 Communities Like Slidell Are Understudied ............................................. 22 Slidell is a Prosperous Community ................................................ 23 iv Scant Disaster Research on Information Concepts ...................... 24 Scant Information Research on Disaster Concepts ...................... 24 The Convenience of Slidell ........................................................................ 25 My Role in the Research ....................................................................................... 25 Methods and Design ............................................................................................. 26 Purpose and Preview of the Study ....................................................................... 26 Endnotes ............................................................................................................... 28 2. REVIEW OF RELEVANT RESEARCH 33 Response and Recovery Phases of Disaster .......................................................... 34 Information in Isolated Societies .......................................................................... 35 Normative Behavior in the Small World ............................................................... 35 Insiders and Outsiders .............................................................................. 36 Social Norms ............................................................................................. 36 Worldview ................................................................................................. 37 Social Types ............................................................................................... 37 Information Behavior ................................................................................ 37 Small World Concepts and Disaster Studies ......................................................... 38 Chatman’s Small World and Moore’s Disaster Subculture .................................. 38 Chatman’s Normative Behavior and Rob Gordon’s Fusion .................................. 39 Chatman’s Norms and Quarantelli’s Emergent Norms ........................................ 39 Chatman’s Worldviews and Mead/Blumer’s Symbolic Interactionism ................ 41 Chatman’s Social Types and Wolenski and Miller’s Disaster Roles ...................... 41 v Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ............................................................................... 42 Disaster Survival Aid ............................................................................................. 43 Disaster Studies..................................................................................................... 44 Disaster Recovery...................................................................................... 45 Post-Disaster Communities as Social Systems .......................................... 45 Disasters and Behavior ............................................................................. 46 Endnotes ............................................................................................................... 48 3. METHODOLOGY 49 Post-Katrina Slidell, Louisiana as a Case Study ..................................................... 49 What is Qualitative Research? .............................................................................. 49 Naturalistic Inquiry .................................................................................... 50 Emergent Design [Format] Flexibility ....................................................... 51 Decision to Interview ................................................................................ 52 Purposeful Sampling ................................................................................
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