Opportunities and Challenges in Crisis Informatics
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This document outlines opportunities and challenges in crisis informatics, which is an integrated approach to the technical, social, and informational aspects of crises. It begins with definitions of key terms like crisis informatics and crowdsourcing. It then discusses types of social media and ways crowdsourcing is used during crises. Opportunities of crisis informatics include citizen-based hazard science, situational awareness, and damage estimates. Challenges include ensuring data quality, integrating crowdsourced and authoritative data, and addressing legal/policy issues. The document concludes by identifying priority research challenges such as developing validation methods and best practices for data integration.
Opportunities and Challenges in Crisis Informatics
- 1. Opportunities and Challenges in Crisis Informatics COMMONS LAB WOODROW WILSON CENTER WASHINGTON, DC PRESENTED TO WHITE HOUSE SENIOR STEERING COMMITTEE ON BIG DATA 13 DECEMBER 2012
- 2. Outline Definitions—What is Crisis Informatics? Typology Opportunities Challenges Conclusion
- 3. What is Crisis Informatics?
- 4. Crisis Informatics Definition: An integrated approach to the technical, social, and informational aspects of crises. —Coined by Hagar (2006, 2010), Palen (2007, 2011) Scope: Full life-cycle of a crisis Focus: Needs and contributions of the public
- 5. Crowdsourcing The usage of distributed, voluntary collaboration from a (networked) community of users/participants, often through an open call. —Jeff Howe (2006) Crowdsourcing crisis reports after 2011 typhoon in Phillipines, Source: iRevolution.net
- 6. Crowdmapping Crowdsourced mapping, or the aggregation of crowd- generated inputs, such as SMS text messages and social media feeds, with geographic information and imagery to provide real-time, interactive information. Related: Crisismapping, Community Remote Sensing, VGI, Participatory Geoweb Philippines Flood Map 2012, Source: Ushahidi
- 7. Typology
- 8. Social Media
- 9. Social Media Social Networks Image Sharing Blogs Map Sharing Microblogs Video Sharing Aggregators Video Streaming Idea Sharing Video Conferencing Document Sharing Virtual Worlds Knowledge Sharing
- 10. Typology of Crowdsourcing Activities Typology Data or photo collection Crowd creation Classification Crowdfunding Computational resources Crowdmapping Content analysis Crowdvoting Idea generation Code-a-thons Knowledge sharing Data mining Mapping Field reporting Micro-tasking Prediction markets Pattern recognition Prizes and Challenges Problem-solving Serious Games Programming Technology testing
- 12. “Citizen Sensors” speaker light camera(s) proximity GPS When? Where? Phone state: profile, RFID charge level, Whom? What? application data... ... touch calendar, contacts, media player, ... GSM Bluetooth gyroscope WiFi compass microphone accelerometer(s) Source: Jakob Eg Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Technical University of Denmark, DTU Informatics.
- 13. Characteristics Challenges Size Challenges Storage Volume Multi-dimensionality Transfer Inter-linkages Analysis Metadata Sources and types Variety Semantics Semi- and unstructured Integration Speed of collection and Stream reasoning Velocity processing Rule systems High variability Verification Veracity Bias Uncertainty Privacy Personal location data Values Security Cost Procurement Sources: Gartner 2011, GIScience 2012, McKinsey 2012
- 14. Opportunities
- 15. Opportunities Citizen-based hazards science Hazards detection Public safety and crisis information Tracking what the “crowd” is discussing Public engagement and trust building Fostering transparency Emergency warnings and alerts Situational awareness Requests for assistance Damage estimates Locating missing persons Spotting rumors and viral information Finding hidden problems Determining who is influential Leveraging the “Capable Crowd”
- 16. USGS Did You Feel It? Rapid and automatic intensity maps based on felt reports submitted online by the public. • 2011 VA Earthquake : 142k reports (45k/hour) • United States: 2+ million reports in the last decade. • Globally: 190k responses in 9,500 cities in 140 countries. • Pilots – Twitter Earthquake Dispatch, NetQuakes, Did You See It?
- 17. Open Street Map – Haiti 2010 http://www.maploser.com/2010/09/06/openstreetmap-in-the-first-month-after-the-haiti-quake/
- 18. Gulu, Uganda: U.S. State Department HIU worked with Humanitarian Open Street Map Team (H.O.T.) to deliver high-resolution commercial satellite imagery to “the crowd” for a Red Cross disaster reduction project.
- 19. Tracking Population Movement Figure 2. Est. distribution of persons who Figure 5. Average daily numbers of SIMs moved out of Port-au-Prince after the moving out of the cholera outbreak area. earthquake. Bengtsson L, Lu X, Thorson A, Garfield R, et al. (2011) Improved Response to Disasters and Outbreaks by Tracking Population Movements with Mobile Phone Network Data: A Post-Earthquake Geospatial Study in Haiti. PLoS Med 8(8): e1001083. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001083 http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001083
- 20. Challenges
- 21. Agency Mission and Needs What information do local and national government decision-makers need for disaster response and recovery? For scientific research? Where might governments effectively leverage social networking and crowdsourcing for disaster management? What policy frameworks will need to be adapted or established?
- 22. Crowdsourced Data Quality What tools and methods have been developed for validation and verification of crowdsourced data? How does the accuracy and efficiency compare to other data sets? Under what circumstances might crowdsourced data fill gaps or be more useful than traditional sources?
- 23. Data Collection and Management How can government integrate crowdsourced data with authoritative data sets? What issues emerge when using fused data sets? What methods and processes have governments put into place to support crowdsourcing?
- 24. Impact Evaluation How do we measure the impact? How do we define success? What forms of monitoring and evaluation are effective? How can we develop an iterative design process with a positive measureable impact?
- 25. Public and Volunteer Engagement What are potential models for successful participatory engagement? What effective techniques for engaging and motivating volunteers? What types of organizational structures, protocols, and processes have proven effective?
- 26. Research Challenges Technology mediated- Information security behavior and reputation systems Data integration and Legal and policy issues system interoperability Ethics and codes of Information extraction conduct and natural language processing
- 27. Priority Research Challenges Create durable workflows to connect the info needs of responders and government decision-makers with info providers. Develop methods to quickly verify and validate crowdsourced data. Establish best practices of integrating crowdsourced and authoritative datasets. Construct methods and processes that can streamline this integration and synthesis.
- 28. Priority Research Challenges Determine where governments can effectively leverage social networking and crowdsourced data to augment existing info or intelligence for improved decision-making. Conversely, determine where it is not appropriate. Determine which policies need to be adapted or established. Develop ways for agencies to look ahead in their policymaking 5-10 years with rapid technological change – “Strategic Foresight.”
- 29. Research-and-Operations How does a government agency turn new capabilities into official processes? How does an agency look out 10-20 years and build processes with uncertainty and adaptation as part of the design?
- 30. Legal and Policy Issues Liability/Risk Mitigation Strategies http://www.scribd.com/collections/3840667/Commons -Lab-Science-and-Technology-Innovation-Program-STIP http://wilsoncommonslab.org/2012/11/07/calling-for- backup-indemnification-for-digital-volunteers/ Privacy Statutes and Regulations Data Ownership/Terms of Service Records Management and Retention Procurement Rules
- 31. Security of Crowdsourcing What are the emerging security standards for crowdsourcing? How should governments approach the use of crowdsourcing data to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty? How does this differ from the usual “fog of war” that surrounds disasters?
- 32. Conclusion
- 33. Wilson Center Commons Lab Lea Shanley, Director, Commons Lab Science and Technology Innovation Program Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington, DC USA Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CommonsLab Blog http://CommonsLab.wilsoncenter.org Email CommonsLab@wilsoncenter.org Twitter @GeodataPolicy @STIPCommonsLab
- 34. G2G Workshop Materials Background Materials and White Papers: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/webcast-day-2- connecting-grassroots-to-government-for-disaster- management-policy-roundtable Workshop Session Videos: http://bit.ly/CommonsLabVideo Workshop Summary and Policy Reports (In progress, To be published in 2013): http://bit.ly/CommonsLabReports
- 35. Resources
- 36. Wilson Center Commons Lab Responding to Liability: Evaluating and Reducing Tort Liability for Digital Volunteers (2012) Privacy and Missing Persons Registries in Natural Disasters (2013) Transforming Earthquake Detection and Science Through Crowdsourcing (2013) Security of Crowdsourcing (2013) http://bit.ly/CommonsLabReports
- 37. Resources The Evolving Role of the Public Information Officer: An Examination of Social Media and Emergency Management Amanda Hughes and Leysia Palen, EPIC Project, UC-Boulder, forthcoming in Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (2012) http://epic.cs.colorado.edu Trial by Fire: The Deployment of Trusted Digital Volunteers in the 2011 Shadow Lake Fire Lise Ann St. Denis, Amanda Hughes, and Leysia Palen, EPIC Project, UC-Boulder (2012) http://epic.cs.colorado.edu/wp-content/uploads/TrustedDigitalVolunteersStDenisHughesPalen.pdf Disasters 2.0: The Application of Social Media Systems for Modern Emergency Management Adam Crowe, CRC Press (2012) 2011 Social Media + Emergency Management Camp: Transforming the Response Enterprise Clarence Wardell and Yee San Su, CNA (2011) http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/social-media- emergency-management-transforming-the-response-enterprise Optimizing Citizen Engagement During Emergencies Through Use of Web 2.0 Technologies Laurie Van Leuven, Naval Postgraduate School (2009) http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2009/Mar/09Mar_Van_Leuven.pdf