Using Crowdsourcing to Enhance Crisis Management

Transcription

1 Using Crowdsourcing to Enhance Crisis Management Alfred C. Weaver and Joseph P. Boyle Department of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901, USA Abstract - In the event that a natural disaster or terrorist attack strikes, it would be valuable for both individuals and officials overseeing the response to have access to the best possible information regarding what has happened, what is happening currently, what could possibly happen in the future, and where these events are occurring. Crowdsourcing, the use of a group of people or community to achieve a desired goal, is a potential method for gathering this information. Here we present the design and implementation of a crowdsourcing application suite that facilitates the gathering and display of information from individual citizens during a crisis. Our goal is to provide ground truth (multiple citizen observations) to enable a citizen to make an informed decision about his or her health and welfare (e.g., shelter-in-place vs. flight). We explore how the system is used and potential improvements for the future. Keywords: crowdsourcing, disaster management, mobile computing, geolocation, intelligence gathering. 1 Introduction In the event of a bioterrorism attack, the government is unlikely to be adequately prepared or equipped to gather information and disseminate it to the public [2]. Yet the growing use of mobile phones and social media is responsible for the generation of masses of information every day [7]. If we can use these avenues to collect important information, we would have a valuable real-time tool for managing and understanding situations as they unfold, rather than relying solely on retrospective analysis. In some applications, crowdsourcing has improved efficiency [11] and businesses are increasingly relying on crowdsourcing as a method for solving problems and making predictions [4]. The usefulness of this approach resides in the sheer number of participants and the vast amount of information that can be generated quickly [1]. Along with partners in the UVa School of Medicine, we propose to apply this methodology to crisis response. Figure 1 shows a map that identifies the location of reports received from the crowd. Figure 1. This is an example of report geolocation. Reported locations are converted to GPS locations and plotted on a Google map. Tag colors correspond to the reliability levels of the reports. Numbers correspond to report numbers in the reports list below the map. 2 Methodology To approach this problem we sought to develop a webbased application that would provide users with information submission and viewing functionality. Because of the widespread availability and use of the Internet, this would be the most effective way to reach a large audience of potential contributors. We began by conducting a survey of existing open-source platforms for crowdsourcing. For this project, we identified three major software systems as contenders for our application base and the features and capabilities of each were compared. 2.1 Ushahidi The Ushahidi platform was developed in Kenya following the post-election fallout of It was intended as a way to monitor both violence and peace efforts throughout the country to provide up-to-date information to interested parties. Ushahidi has since become a major

2 player in the crowdsourcing market, with applications in India, Mexico, Lebanon, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and the Philippines, ranging from monitoring elections to tracking medicine supplies [10]. Recently, it has even been deployed in the United States in response to the North American Blizzards of 2010 to help identify areas in need of assistance and help individuals connect with each other to assist in relief efforts [5]. The platform can handle reports from multiple data streams including text messages, , twitter, and web forms. It has an interactive mapping capability as well as a dynamic timeline tool to track events. Additionally it can integrate with SwiftRiver [9] for information processing and analysis and with Frontline SMS [3] for sending alerts to participants. 2.2 Sahana Sahana was developed specifically with disaster management in mind. It was built to assist those suffering during the Asian Tsunami in 2004 by volunteers in the Sri Lankan FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software) community. It has since been deployed to assist in the response to the earthquakes in Haiti and Chili in 2010, as well as in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, among others [8]. As with Ushahidi, Sahana provides basic reporting and display functionalities based on geospatial analysis. In addition, it enables coordinating and managing aid, as well as tracking shelters. Sahana also has a missing person registry, methods for communications and alerts, and standalone applications for iphone and Android. 2.3 Crows The third system we considered was significantly smaller in scope than the previous two. Crows was developed by the Pittsburgh Independent Media Center for coverage of the G20 summit and subsequent protests in Pittsburgh in September 2009 [6]. Crows has not seen widespread use as a crowdsourcing platform, possibly due to its limited functionality. Crows provides the very basics of crowdsourcing: the ability to submit reports and view them on a Google map. It also includes widgets for Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Podcast integration as well as a smartphone-compatible mobile version of the website. Ultimately, we decided that the Ushahidi and Sahana systems were too large for us to manage given our limited resources. Thus we chose Crows, whose smaller size made management more feasible for this project. Additionally, the lack of certain features enabled us to customize the platform to our own particular needs and develop a more targeted application. 3 System Design We began development by identifying some of the features that we felt would be the most valuable to our application (including some present in the alternative platforms) and implementing them in our selection. Our goal has been to try to implement a new feature every week over the course of the year. We also have had several meetings with representatives from the American Red Cross and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). These meetings have been helpful in identifying new useful features to add as well as gaining visibility for the system we are developing and bringing attention to the possible use of crowdsourcing for crisis response. At this point, our development has resulted in a system capable of using the crowdsourcing model to collect and display information. This system includes a desktop web application, a mobile web application, and a standalone application for the Android platform. Together, these components provide a number of key functionalities and features. 3.1 Submitting Reports First, the system allows users to submit reports of events through our website (desktop and mobile version) as well as through . The format of the report includes a headline, the reporter s name (optional), the location (optional), report classification (e.g., traffic, weather), the content of the report, and links to relevant content elsewhere. These reports can be made either anonymously or by registering with the site and logging in. Users can also add links to relevant information (including photos, videos, and news articles) to their reports. Individuals may also upload their own photos (hosted on our server) and link to them in a report. 3.2 Viewing Reports Second, our site allows all users to view reports that have been made. These reports are shown on an embedded Google map with colored tags identifying each report as well as in a list format below the map (figure 2). Colored flags correspond to the different reliability levels associated with a report (green is highly reliable, yellow is moderate, and red is low or unknown). These flags are also numbered to correspond with the numbered reports in the list below. The map also has the ability to be filtered. Users can choose to see only certain reports by selecting the desired reliability level and report classes. The site

3 Figure 2. Sample report accessed from the report list. Clicking a report headline brings up a window with all of the report contents. also includes embedded Twitter and Flickr widgets, showing content from these sites that may be relevant to a particular situation (identified by supplied keywords). These media can be directly included in a report through these widgets. 3.3 Registration Next, we have the ability for our users to register with our site to gain access to more features. Users register with an address and have the option to register their mobile phone to receive alerts. A text message is sent to users who elect to register their phone number to confirm the registration. Registering with the site also allows participants to have access to the higher levels of reliability. 3.4 Group Membership and Reliability Report reliability is determined by group membership. The site allows users to create and join different groups, and these groups may request elevated reliability levels from a system administrator. Access to different groups is controlled by a group administrator, who is responsible for giving individuals the required password to join the group. An individual user s reliability level is the highest reliability level of all groups of which the individual is a member. This allows a user to be a member of many different groups without sacrificing reliability. 3.5 Personal Profile When a user registers with the site, he also has access to a personal profile page. This page provides an interface for the individual to view and modify information about him. Here, personal information that was supplied at registration can be updated. Users can also view and modify their group memberships as well as see all of the photos they have uploaded to the site (with links provided so that they may be included in future reports).

4 3.6 Alerts and Timelines A critical component of the system is the ability to send mass alerts to participating individuals. At any time, a system administrator may send out an alert message to individuals who are registered with the system. The content of this alert is sent in an (so that every registered person receives the information) as well as via text message to those users with mobile phones registered in the system (figure 3). allows the user to press a button to automatically fill in her current location and also automatically fills in the user s name if she is logged in. When users submit reports, they can also connect directly to the device camera, if one exists, to include photos. See figure 5. Figure 3. Sample alert text message as viewed on a Blackberry smartphone. Finally, the system allows users to view a timeline of the event to see a chronological depiction of how the event played out and how reports were made. This tool is useful for identifying how much time passed between an occurrence and subsequent reports, as well as between a report and the time that report was resolved. The timeline is not updated in real time. Instead it requires the content of the database to be exported and parsed before the information is viewable. As such, it serves more as a retrospective analysis tool. 3.7 Mobile Web and Android Applications The mobile website possesses a subset of these functionalities, including the ability to submit and view reports (in text and on a Google map, see figure 4), as well as upload photos. The website can be accessed from any mobile device with Internet capabilities and the map can be viewed if the mobile browser supports JavaScript. The Android application possesses all of the core functionalities of the system (viewing reports, submitting reports, and uploading photos) just as the mobile website does. Additionally, it supports logging in and logging out. The application also takes advantage of the GPS device inside of the phone to provide more advanced location features. Specifically, it allows the user to filter reports in the list based on their distance from the user s current location. Similarly, the map provides the option to center on the user s current location, eliminating the need to scroll and zoom manually to find nearby reports. As another convenience, the application Figure 4. Mobile website map as seen on an Android smartphone with report tag clicked. A popup dialog appears on the click to display the contents of the report. 4 Summary and Future Work In summary, we have successfully developed a suite of applications (desktop web, mobile web, and standalone mobile) that work together and can be used for crowdsourcing information. We have the critical ability to gather and display information from participating users as well as supplemental features that make the system a more pertinent application to aid crisis and emergency response.

5 In addition to improving the functionalities of the system, we are working jointly with members of the University of Virginia Office of Emergency Preparedness to develop an experimental procedure to test our system in a real scenario. The results of this experiment will be extremely important in determining the success of our system. 5 Acknowledgments We gratefully acknowledge the work of our colleagues in the University of Virginia School of Medicine, including Greg Saathoff, M.D., and Chris Holstege, M.D., as well as our partner in the Department of Defense, Ms. Diane Kotras. We also thank the American Red Cross and FEMA for their interest and assistance throughout the course of this project. Funding was provided by the United States Department of Defense Energy Support Center under grant Community Shielding Year 1, subcontract SP C-583. Figure 5. Report form on the standalone Android application populated with sample data. We continue to work on improving the website functionality (both the desktop and the web versions). In particular, we hope to expand the web version of the system to include an improved timeline tool. We would like to have the timeline update in real time as well as show similar color and number identifiers as are seen on the Google map. Additionally, a valuable new feature that we would like to add is the ability to modify reports or mark them as completed. For example, if a report identified that power is out in a certain area, we would like to be able to annotate that report to show that is has been resolved once the power has been restored to maintain the integrity of the reports. A major area of improvement we are focused on is the addition of an improved reliability model. We are currently working to develop a reputation system that will integrate with our tools. With this system, users would be able to interact with reports by giving them ratings are well as a general agreement or disagreement response. The model will also allow users to submit comments on reports and see the comments left by others. Based on these inputs, reports will be scored and this score then becomes the basis of reliability rather than relying on administrator assigned values. This would allow the integrity of a report to change over time, which is currently not possible unless a member s group membership changes. Users themselves will also have a rating based on how they interact within the system, allowing them to earn a higher reputation by confirming other reports, identifying incorrect ones, etc. We are also working to improve the functionality of the mobile site to support the use of all web-capable phones. 6 References [1] Brabham, D. Crowdsourcing the Public Participation Process for Planning Projects. Planning Theory, 8(3), , [2] Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. World at Risk: The Report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism. Report to Congress, [3] FrontlineSMS. [4] Giles, J. Wisdom of the Crowd. Nature, 438(7066):281, [5] PICnet. Who s Behind This. Washington Snow Cleanup. [6] Pittsburgh Independent Media Center. The Pittsburgh Independent Media Center Releases Crows [7] Raento, M., Oulasvirta, A., Eagle, N. Smartphones: An Emerging Tool for Social Scientists. Sociological Methods and Research, 37(3): , [8] Sahana Software Foundation. About the Sahana Software Foundation. Sahana Home of the Free and Open Source Disaster Management System. [9] Ushahidi. SwiftRiver: A Ushahidi Initiative. [10] Ushahidi. [11] Vukovic, M., Laredo, J., & Rajagopal, S. Challenges and Experiences in Deploying Enterprise Crowdsourcing. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6189, , 2010.