Crowdsourced Emergency Information Martin Tomko Maurits van der Vlugt, Keren Flavell, Anthony Joseph, Daniela Fernandez, and many others
Dec 17, 2014
Crowdsourced Emergency Information
Martin Tomko
Maurits van der Vlugt, Keren Flavell, Anthony Joseph, Daniela Fernandez,
and many others
Emergency
“A serious, unexpected, and dangerous situation requiring immediate action.”
Life | Health | Property | Environment
Emergency Lifecycle
• Preparation
• Warning
• Impact
• Response
• Recovery
Emergency Information
Content:• Accountable• Timely• Accurate• Unambiguous• Relevant• Updateable
Delivery:• Targeted• Accessible• Robust
The Expert Approach
Saturday 7/02/2009 bushfires
burnt the equivalent of 1 million football fields, displaced 7,500 people across 78
townships, resulting in 173 dead and 2000 houses lost.
Information Breakdown
000 overloadedSlow and overwhelmed response
No trustworthy alternative informationMisdirected and late evacuations
From VicAlerts RHOK 2011
Authoritative Information Channels
Content:• Accountable
+• Timely
-• Accurate
+• Unambiguous
+• Relevant
-• Updateable
-
Delivery:• Targeted
-• Accessible -• Robust
-
Missing Information Stream
• From people to agencies• Supportive information (not incidents, but context)• Responsiveness (change happens)• Resilience (self-help)• Impact reduction vs hazard mitigation
There is a need for change […]
Empower communities with Timely, Relevant
and Tailored information
Craig Lapsley, VIC FSC
”
”
Crowdsouring
“Crowdsourcing is the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community (a "crowd"), through an open call.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing
Crowdsouring
Johann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen de Pázmánd, cca 1770
Crowdsouring
Crowdsourced Emergency Information
Bridging the Ecosystems
Stats
QLD Flood crisis• 1 month• 100,784 reports• 213021 unique visitors over 2
weeks, 50% over 2 days (11-12th Jan)
• ~500,000 pageviews
Stats
Sinsai.info Japan)• 10K/30K users/day (Avg/Peak)• 30K/200K requests/day (Avg/Peak)• 3000 user reports in first week, 7000 in first
month
Crowdsourced Information Channels
Content:• Accountable
-• Timely
+• Accurate
+/-• Unambiguous
-• Relevant
+• Updateable
+
Delivery:• Targeted
+• Accessible +• Robust
+
Crowdsourced Project Characteristics
• Short-term Operation • Disaster-specific• Ad-hoc core team of volounteers • Short-term active moderators• Information flow and tools established during emergency• Platform development in bursts
Crowdsourced Emergency Information
Social Media Data Deluge
Example Tweets:#irene [#your primary tag] information for primary tag #loc gps coordinates #src where the information came from
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(201
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wea
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eet
Social Media Data Deluge
Stage Input features Output features Disaster type
Preparation Agency feeds + Community resources + guidelines
Subscription to SMS + App + Feed
BushfiresFloodsCyclonesPests
Warning Agency feeds + App SMS, App, Map, Feed BushfiresFloodsEpidemics & PestsCyclones and Weather
Impact Agency feeds and Twitter monitoring + App
SMS, App BushfiresFloodsUnrest
Response Twitter submissions and monitoring + App
SMS, App, Map BushfiresFloodsEpidemics & PestsCyclones and WeatherUnrest
Recovery Twitter and Email submissions
Map, Feed BushfiresFloodsEarthquakeTsunamiCyclones and WeatherUnrest
Helping neighbours help their neighbours
Characteristics
Most projects• Short-term Operation • Disaster-specific• Ad-hoc core team of
volounteers • Short-term active
moderators
BushfireConnect.org• Ongoing operation• National coverage• Stable core team +
volounteers• Long term but latent
moderators
Bushfire Connect
• Community Powered
• Community Resilience
• Integrate Crowd Sourced and Official Information
Citizen Reports
• SMS• Web form• Emails• Twitter• Smartphone
Incident Alerts – OPT IN
• SMS• Email• RSS…• APP
Crowdsourced Emergency Systems Challenges
• Data Mining and (Geo)Information Retrieval• Information synthesis, Mood detection• Usability• De-centralised dissemination• Load balancing• Social dynamics and motivation• Team organisation • Vandalism
www.bushfireconnect.org
ushahidi
http://bushfireconnect.org/feed/
@bushfireconnect https://www.facebook.com/bushfireconnect
0429 883 485 [email protected]#bushfireconnect
ushahidi
Volounteer Coordinator PositionTechnical Implementation Coordinator
System AdministratorModerators