#participantcentered #casestudies (2)

When faced with an immutable mobile such as CNN’s Safe List, users will seek out a mutable mobile, and in this case that mutable mobile was Craigslist, where any participant could contribute information regarding the whereabouts of missing persons or offer shelter and assistance to those in need (Potts, 2013).

In chapter four, the discussion on participant-centered design continued with a case study on the 2005 London Bombings and how information on the disaster was circulated by The British Broadcasting Company (BBC). The BBC posted updates as information became available, but those participants at the site of bombings reported to Flickr.com by posting photos of missing persons to specially designated photopools. Actors near the blasts were also able to avoid the latest bombing sites by following posts to other “photopools.” Finding images of destruction from the most recent blasts helped civilians identify which geographic regions to avoid or where to search for loved ones. Readers can only guess how the civilian actors and actants appreciated social media in London’s time of crisis. Hence, this case study and the others would be greatly enriched with an addendum or concluding sidebar that reported a first-hand perspective of an actor’s experiences using social media during the bombings.