Tailoring audience-specific risk and crisis communications for Alaskan wildfires

A firefighter works the Swan Lake fire on June 18 2019. Credit: Alaska Division of Forestry

It is estimated that 80% of Alaskans live in at-risk areas for wildfires, and among this percentage is a diverse public audience with various information-seeking habits. With such a large portion of the population at risk, there is a large need for effective communications on risk, crisis, and recovery information to maintain public safety in the event of wildfires, especially communications that are inclusive and tailored to diverse audiences.

Principal investigator Zoe Garbis, from George Washington University, along with her colleagues Audrey Cox and Robert Orttung, authored a new publication titled “Taming the wildfire infosphere in Interior Alaska: Tailoring risk and crisis communications to specific audiences”. The investigators focused their research on mapping the “wildfire infosphere” in Interior Alaska, to determine how residents interact with knowledge and information based on how it is communicated.