“Do-it-yourself justice”: considerations of social media use in a crisis situation: the case of the 2011 Vancouver riots

In June 2011, during the ice hockey Stanley Cup, as the Vancouver Canucks were losing, riots started in downtown Vancouver. Social media were used to communicate between authorities and citizens, including the rioters. The media reporting on these events framed these communications within different narratives, which in turn raised ethical considerations. We identify and reflect upon ideas of justice, fairness, responsibility, accountability and integrity that arise in the media stories. In addition we investigate (1) the “institutional unpreparedness” of the Vancouver police department when receiving such quantity of material and dealing with new processes of inquiry such material requires; (2) the “unintended do-it-yourself-justice”: the shift from supporting crisis responders to social media vigilantes: citizens overruling authorities and enforcing justice on their own terms and by their own means through social media and; (3) the “unintended do-it-yourself-society” supported by the potential-of social media’s use for prompting people to act.

RIZZA Caroline;  MARTINHO GUIMARAES PIRES PEREIRA Angela;  CURVELO Paula; 

2018-08-13

ICI Global

JRC85157

1937-9390,   

https://www.igi-global.com/article/do-it-yourself-justice/129605,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC85157,   

10.4018/IJISCRAM.2014100104,