The Roles of Infomediaries in Crisis Response: The Case of 2017 Bangladesh Flood

The role of infomediaries in crisis response is implicitly discussed in the literature. However, it is not explicitly theorized. Therefore, in this paper, we have scrutinized the roles of infomediaries in crisis response situation, particularly in developing countries context. We also examined how various contextual factors influence the roles of info- mediaries. To illustrate, we conducted an interpretive case study of 2017 Bangladesh flood. Our findings show that two types of infomediaries: online and local, played sev- eral roles such as data collector, trusted arbitrator, fundraiser, logistics provider, col- laborator, relief distributor and communicator. Furthermore, the study identified three contextual factors such as trust, social obligations and involvement of local communi- ties that can influence the role of infomediaries. The study can be useful to emergency responders in identifying infomediaries and contextual factors while responding and assessing the natural crisis in developing countries.