As noted by many bloggers and journalists,many of the Syrians refugees fleeing from the war in 2015 were carrying smartphones. One of them told an AFP reporter: “Our phones and power banks are more important for our journey than anything, even more important than food.” Smartphones provide a guide, a map, and help refugees navigate many issues, including asylum bureaucracy. In extreme circumstances, a message with geographical coordinates sent from a sinking boat can be the difference between life and death.

The question on whether people will continue using social media during crises, is really a question on whether they will continue using social media at all; in times of crises, people use the tools that are most familiar to them (Potts, 2013). As long as people use mobile technologies and social media, these technologies will continue playing a key role in the way they communicate during disasters and humanitarian crises.

Different emergency response and humanitarian relief organizations make different choices with respect to how to be part of this conversation. Some have embraced social media, others have remained in the sidelines, most are somewhere in between. Individuals in these organizations also make their own choices, which follow to some extent – but seldom completely – whatever is mandated by organizational policies. Individuals with more interest and/or competencies on social media have been driving forces to change their organizations and their policies.

Computing researchers and practitioners, specially during the early years of crisis informatics, often developed methods with little or no input from the crisis and disaster management community. This has changed in recent years, as more interdisciplinary research projects appear, both big and small. These projects can be very rewarding, but they are also very challenging for all involved.

This chapter integrates part of the discussion of the previous chapters by using two paradigms: information quality (§12.1) and peer production (§12.2). Next, we address two emergent topics: using technology to support institutional communications, (§12.3) and processing user-generated videos for crisis response (§12.4). We conclude outlining relevant factors for future developments on this field (§12.5).