Tsunami of Confusion
Posted: October 1st, 2009 | Author: Zef | Filed under: Design, Human Nature, User Experience | 2 Comments »The information graphics created to inform people on the Samoan tsunami about to hit New Zealand didn’t send a clear message.
When disaster hits it spreads on the internet like wildfire. But the information graphics the public are served up are next to useless for making an informed decision on whether or not you’re in imminent danger.
Yesterday morning I arrived at work, opened Twitter and found out about the shocking Samoan earthquake – my contacts on the social networking site said the tsunami was heading toward New Zealand and would be here within hours.
So we’ve heard this before – a tsunami is on the way – don’t panic (yet). Do some quick research – so how big is it? 10cm or 10metres? Where will it hit? Should I phone home and warn the family?
The main New Zealand news websites gave conflicting information and seemed at least an hour behind the news on Twitter. Who could I trust? I found a lot of misleading information and hype from both the public and officials.
So I turned to the New Zealand, Australian and US government websites for the facts – they’d be accurate and up to date right?
