Title: Riskr: a web 2.0 platform to monitor and share disaster information

Authors: Jess Farber; Trina Myers; Jarrod Trevathan; Ian Atkinson; Trevor Andersen

Addresses: School of Business (Information Technology), James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia ' School of Business (Information Technology), James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia ' School of Information and Communication Technology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia ' e-Research Centre, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia ' School of Business (Information Technology), James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia

Abstract: Disaster management that uses web-based technology to enhance user collaboration around disasters is an emergent field. A number of dedicated 'disaster portals' exist but they do not integrate large social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. These social networking sites can facilitate the analysis and sharing of collective intelligence around disaster information on a far greater scale by increasing accessibility to, and the use of, a disaster portal. This paper presents the 'Riskr' project, which applies a low-technological solution to creating a disaster portal fed by social networking messages. The system has been implemented using Twitter and tested by users to determine the feasibility. Results suggest the combination of online services and interoperability between disaster portals; and social networks can further enhance disaster management initiatives as 70.5% of the users were able to estimate the correct location of a disaster (e.g. fallen power lines, fire).

Keywords: web 2.0; disaster management; social networks; cloud computing; utility computing; emergency management; information monitoring; information sharing; disaster information; emergency information; social networking sites; SNS; collective intelligence; Twitter; interoperability; disaster portals; disaster location.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGUC.2015.068825

International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing, 2015 Vol.6 No.2, pp.98 - 112

Received: 10 Aug 2013
Accepted: 14 Jan 2014
Published online: 14 Apr 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article