ABSTRACT
This chapter describes online convergence in disaster with fresh perspective, drawing from over a decade of crisis informatics research. It focuses on what we have learned about online convergence behavior and how it has changed the way we respond to disaster events. The chapter also focuses on a convergence framework that identifies seven types of people that physically converge on a disaster site: helpers, the anxious, returnees, supporters, mourners, exploiters, and the curious. It utilizes verbs to describe the converger types: helping, being anxious, returning, supporting, mourning, exploiting, and being curious. Verbs are used because it is difficult to tie convergent actions and behaviors to particular people in the online space as can be done more readily in a physical environment. This convergence framework serves as a useful tool to understand how people use online media during a crisis event because it helps better explore the different types of convergence behaviors and identify potential gaps in our knowledge.
