Here is an online copy of our Best Practices and Future Research Guide Presented at PRIMR 2022

PRIMR 2022 Panelists: Joseph Trujillo Falcón (CIWRO/ NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory), Néstor Flecha (Chief Meteorologist at KXTX), Bianca Garcia (Meteorologist at NWS Fort Worth/Dallas), and Nancy D. Carlson (The University of Texas at Austin). Moderator: Keri K. Stephens (The University of Texas at Austin)

 Best Practices

●        Become familiar with the diversity of Spanish-speaking communities in the US. One of the biggest misconceptions of Spanish speakers is that they belong to one singular group. Spanish speakers originate from various parts of Latin America, Europe, and Africa, and their cultures vary as much as their climates. To learn more, click here.

●        Consider sharing preparedness information in both English and Spanish if possible. Weather preparedness graphics created and/or translated by National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists are available here: https://www.weather.gov/wrn/spanish

●        When translating information from English to Spanish, it is important that the meaning rather than the word gets translated. This means that all translations might not directly translate from English and that is okay! Spanish speakers practice various dialects of their language and creating relevant translations is one way to reach them

o   Dialect-neutral safety information and weather/climate dictionaries in Spanish can be found in this one-stop shop created by Joseph Trujillo-Falcón. This page can be useful for both English and Spanish practitioners.

●        Trust is very important, it is fragile, and it often requires cultural competence. Have people on your teams who really understand your Spanish-speaking communities, not just people who speak Spanish.  This is essential to build trust.

o   If no one from your team has experience connecting with Spanish-speaking communities, find partners who can (most are willing to help!). For example, many cities have a bilingual broadcast meteorologist with valuable insights.

●        Building trust is the first step, and sustaining it is the second. Trust plays a critical role in disaster preparedness and response and identifying areas of improvement is crucial to build stronger communities. Partnering with local NGOs active in the community can be a starting point.

●        Know the history of how Spanish speakers in your specific area have been treated in the past.  Have they been included in decisions?  How do they want to be included in decisions?  Who are important leaders in their community who might help you share disaster-related information? 

●        Social media use is considered ubiquitous, and people are going to use it whether it is recommended or not. If emergency response groups are not on social media, and monitoring it, they are at risk of not effectively communicating and not knowing when misinformation is being spread. 

o   Best practices for creating effective risk communication in short-messaging platforms can be found here. Credit: Dr. Jeannette Sutton (SUNY Albany) and Dr. Erica Kuligowski (NIST)

●        Each community has specific needs based on the disasters that recurrently impact them. Resources and information should be community tailored.

●        Get community leaders involved so they can personalize engagement in the communities they serve.

●        Updates and information pertaining to community members should be shared frequently, not just before and after a disaster.

●        Latino/a/x and Hispanic communities may have concerns to communicate with city leaders due to legal status and fear of repercussion. Building trust in these communities will require effort from city leaders to diminish this fear. 

●        Develop training and workshops outside of 9 am-5 pm hours and with childcare options for members to be able to participate. There are community members willing to take action, but they lack options to be involved.

●        Understand technology skills and preferences (along with internet access) of the community in order to share information that is effective and efficient.

●        Some NWS offices have started to offer Spanish SKYWARN classes in the spring. Coordinate with local the local office to host a class. Even if the class is virtual, giving the option to view the class in a conference room, classroom, etc. near the underserved community would give those who do not have access to the necessary technology in their home the opportunity to learn about preparedness. Information about these classes are available here: https://www.weather.gov/fwd/skywarn

Directions for research – including partnerships between academics, govt. officials, & emergency mgmt. professionals.

●        Current research on the words used in warnings and alerts suggest that different Spanish dialects interpret these words differently. We need more research that can help guide the effective use of language to help people understand urgency.

·       We need more interdisciplinary, collaborative research to address this issue from all angles. For example, experts in Spanish dialectology, Hispanic/Latinx studies, etc. can provide perspectives that other social scientists cannot and would be immense additions into any research team.

●        Mixed methods research is important when reaching underserved groups. Some Spanish speakers may not be comfortable with surveys, as it is not built into their culture. Implementing qualitative approaches in addition to quantitative perspectives can incorporate more members of a community.

●        We need much more research on how to communicate flood risk in both English and Spanish.  With the changing nature of floodplains in Texas, this is essential. 

●        The current research on wireless emergency alerts (the brief messages that can be sent through text messages) has identified some best practices, but few government and emergency management professionals know how to find this information. There is almost no research around using Spanish and other languages to communicate these alerts.

●        We need more field-based research projects that do more than just allow communities to participate, but instead, researchers need to listen to communities and more fully incorporate their needs into solutions being designed. 

●        Small businesses and rural communities are often hit hard during disasters and we have limited research on how to help them prepare and recover from disasters. This is an important part of the Texas economy and studying the best ways to help them matters. 

●        Conducting social scientific experiments around the words to use and the message’s to be communicated are important, and if conducted properly, they can provide some clear guidance. For example, it is often important to make health and disaster threats more salient to help people understand the impact they can have on them and their property.

●        Effective communication research is different from marketing research.  They are both important, but ideally the communication research comes first and is guided by theories; the marketing takes these evidence-based practices and further packages them for our audiences.  

●        There is growing interest to use public social media data to provide situational awareness for emergency managers.  While some research has been conducted on using people working with machines (strategies related to artificial intelligence and natural language processing) to identify meaningful data, very little research has used public social media data presented in Spanish.  

●        We need to find ways to get the community more involved in helping their own members prepare for disasters.  They may need support from emergency managers and government officials, but if we can provide them the tools to do things meaningful for their community, the impact will be more lasting. This is especially important for under-resourced and underserved communities.  To read more about a community-wide wildfire drill that happened in Travis County, Texas, check this out:  https://texastipi.org/project/travis-county-community-driven-wildfire-evacuation-drill/

●        If you want to learn more, we will be putting research and resource materials up on the following websites:  https://texastipi.org and https://orgcommtech.org.