Blue Mountains Firewatch and Recovery Facebook group research

Surveys were conducted with both the volunteer admins and the members of Blue Mountains Firewatch and Recovery. APPENDIX D – Admin survey APPENDIX D – Member survey

This report shows organisations that have engaged with the Blue Mountains Firewatch and Recovery Facebook group and also contains recommendations to further develop relationships within the community as part of the operational plan. APPENDIX C – Stakeholder engagement report

Both the Firewatch and Recovery groups developed documentation to assist group members during and after the 2013 fires. These documents are constantly revised to ensure that they are up to date, but also show how comprehensive the information is. Members of both groups contributed to these documents. APPENDIX B – Firewatch group documents APPENDIX B… Read more Appendix B: Group documents

These files are designed to work with the appropriate section of the Evaluation report. APPENDIX A – Evaluation part1a APPENDIX A – Evaluation part1b APPENDIX A – Evaluation part 2 APPENDIX A – Evaluation part 3

This report looks at the experience of a community-run social media group, operating in the Blue Mountains, that provides information and support about bushfires in the area. The Blue Mountains Firewatch and Recovery (BMFR) group began in 2011, but grew very rapidly around the time of the October 2013 fires. The group is still operating… Read more Executive summary, Evaluation and Operational plan

Should you set up a group or a page? The answer depends on what kind of interaction you want, and the resources you have. A group is best used for discussion, while a page is most useful as a static information source.

Moderation of any Facebook site is important, but particularly during an emergency. Both the Firewatch and Recovery groups created strong guidelines, in conjunction with members about what was suitable to be posted and what would be deleted. The guidelines are only the first step, with admins needing to apply them consistently and often. Group members… Read more Moderation and guidelines

To make a page or group credible, and reliable in emergencies, it is important to check information posted. Some useful questions to ask can be: What is the lead agency for this emergency? (For example, in NSW, the RFS is the lead agency for bushfires.) Identify the lead agency, and repost information from their social… Read more Information sourcing and posting

Volunteer admins are vital to the success of any Facebook page or group in an emergency. They are the people that update the group with relevant information, moderate content and deal with spam. There are some key qualities that emerged from the BMFR research – wanting to help, not able to help in other ways,… Read more Admins