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.

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

38. United Nations Reports