1) Strategy adopted by NTU in dealing with this tragedy.
- Multiple mass dissemination of information from the President of NTU.
- First email was sent on the day of the tragedy. It was addressed to all faculty members, NTU's staffs and students. The email inform general description of the incident. The email also provide the contacts of Counselling Centre Crisis hotline and Corporate Communication office to allow media queries.
- Second email informed the condition of Prof. Chan and the situation in David's family. President shared what he and the some of the faculty from the university were doing. They expressed condolescences to parents of David Widjaja. The email focused on how united the university was in joining hands to support and help out in the tragedy.
- Third email informed that David widjaja's ash was tranported back home with his family. Prof. Chan was said to be recovering well and has already discharged from hospital. The email also mentioned that Prof. Chan expressed gratitute for the outpouring support from members of the NTU community. President of NTU also said that he is fortunate to have the crisis management team who had responded swiftly upon the incident. Lastly, he mentioned that NTU has been working on forming a pastoral care structure and processes with caring professionals, faculty, stuff and students.
- The seemingly less information provided by the school may be interpreted as a move to cover-up the real reason behind the tragedy. The school, however, has the responsibility to embrace confidentiality of all records and information as respect for all the parties directly involved.
2) How new media, in particular blogs presented new problems in effective crisis management.
- Ethics
- Credibility of sources
Ethics
Rebecca Blood’s code of ethics (http://www.rebeccablood.net/handbook/excerpts/weblog_ethics.html)
1. Publish as fact only that which you believe to be true.
2. If material exists online, link to it when you reference it.
3. Publicly correct any misinformation.
4. Write each entry as if it could not be changed; add to, but do not rewrite or delete, any entry.
5. Disclose any conflict of interest.
6. Note questionable and biased sources.
3) Blogs as a new means of attaining information blur the line separating personal and public.
- Invasion of privacy
- Identity of bloggers(What's true and who has the right to comment)
Invasion of privacy
- Definition
Warren and Brandeis (1890) defined it as “the right to be let alone”. However the problem with the above definition is that there is no evidence of the close relationship between privacy and personal information in the information age. The definition provided by (Murata & Orito, 2008) is more poignant as they wrote that it is the “regulation of the collection, storage, processing, use and circulation of personal information” (p. 234). This definition is more useful because the information age brings about different dimensions to the definition of adding, collection and storage of the insane amount of personal information available today.
- Significance in the Blogosphere
(Murata & Orito, 2008) “ What is important is that individuals acknowledge how important it is to control oneʼs own personal information and to place stronger emphasis on protecting personal information” (p. 235). What is happening now in Singapore as described correctly by (Murata & Orito, 2008) is that “we attach less importance to this right and to the protection of personal information” (p. 238).
- With respect to the case in hand
He was a loner.. He had his ASEAN scholarship terminated... He plays online games... His family did not have problems financing his studies..
Identity of Bloggers
- Reduced auditory and visual cues.
- Internet communication is anonymous.
- Able to comment without fear of stigma or retaliation/backlash that have real world repercussions.
Blogs often begin by giving factual details about the incident which have been obtained either from the newspaper or from online sources. The story is then synthesized so that readers of the blog can get a grasp of the situation within a paragraph.
“Nanyang Technological University student, David Hartanto Widjaja went crazy and stabbed his professor before slitting his own wrists and jumping down to his death”
- http://izreloaded.blogspot.com/-
Bloggers also include information from personal sources and opinion. Such speculation from bloggers complicates the crisis intervention. Often, perception over-shadows the reality. Bloggers include their own thoughts on how, why an issue happened and try to counter what has been reported by reporting their own version or creating doubts in the official report. This is often in conflict with the version publicized by the media or may cover angles not reporteded by the media.
“I'm guessing he most likely couldn't take the stress from FYP or the prof was pushing him too hard or a combination of factors. But perhaps, something like that was bound to happen anyway; sooner or later considering the crazy workload we have here what with projects and projects and assignments”
- http://can-this.blogspot.com/-
Who has the Right to Comment
Blogs invite anonymous commentary which in turn, might affect the judgement and viewpoints of readers. Comments often contain speculation and personal opinions about the incident.
ANG said...
“The prof survived. That means we will all know soon what really happen. My guess is he wanted help from his prof but prof said he could do it by himself. Feeling pressured and stress, he got into an argument with the prof. Then stabbed him. Shocked, he then ran out with blood in his hand. Then thought of killing himself after committing the act”.
Anonymous said...
“singapore too stressful to live in lah... study also stress, work also stress... no work also stress.... many pple commit suicide now”.
Anonymous said...
“it's so obvious that NTU trying to spice things up to cover something!! from the statement that said david slit his wrist is already wrong. nothing found in his arms. instead a long cut found on his neck.he's a good guy and he doesnt have any financial problem. his family is not poor, n not a big problem for them to pay the tuition even tho scholarship has been terminatedwhen the family came to see david's body, they never allow the parents to see the whole body, only the upper neck n head. don't know what they r trying to cover up. and the knife found was without the handle. isnt that ridiculous???all the opinion on the newspaper hasn't been proved. and why the body cremated so fast??”
Personally affected by the issue, they can provide the human dimension to the story by divulging personal information regarding the person and the situation.
He was such an awesome friend really smart and funny. I known him a long time now and we have spent so much time together. He really did have such a nice personality. I wish I could have spent my time to talk to him better and get in a core of his problem because now he is gone and it will not be the same without him. (By Mystica)
Once, we were talking about universities and how hard is to get good grades and he told me he didnt know why he had chosen this course, he didnt know if he would finish this, so i said, wait a minute, this is your last year, you need to do that and u will do it well, don't worry. He just told me " I hope so". I didn't realize it was more than that. I'm feeling so unuseful cause I think maybe i could say something else, or try to go deeply into his problems.( By Nanda)
http://klayhead.blogspot.com/
Hence, people in positions of power have a duty to make a statement regarding the issue and give an account of the situation, such as the President of NTU.
Pros & Cons of Blogging on the issue
Positive :
1) Use of anonymity to make personal statements that would sabotage a relationship if stated openly.
2) Used to pass information and evade any threat of direct retribution. E.g. `whistleblowers'.
3) Anonymity can be extremely important and potentially lifesaving diagnoses and discussions carried out on medical or theurapeutic newsgroups.
4)Open discussion of views on a topic.
Cases: Lindsay Van Gelder
Negative :
1)Serve to impede the crediblity of information that is reported.
2)Bypasses traditional sources of information such as news reports and may cause emotional and psychological harm to those within the primary circle of vulnerability.
3)Creates doubts of issues reported.
Cases: Megan Meier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_meier)
