Crowdsourcing in Crisis and Disaster Management – Challenges and Considerations

Abstract

With the rise of social media platforms, crowdsourcing became a powerful tool for mobilizing the public. Events such as the earthquake in Haiti or the downfall of governments in Libya and Egypt indicate its potential in crisis situations. In the scope of this paper, we discuss the relevance of crowdsourcing in the area of crisis and disaster management (CDM). Starting with a general overview of the topic, we distinguish between different types of crowds and crowdsourcing and define what is meant by crowdtasking in the area of CDM. After considering technological, societal and ethical challenges for using crowdsourcing in crisis management, applications of crowdsourcing tools in ongoing projects are described and future developments outlined.

Gamified crowdsourcing for disaster risk management

“…Nevertheless, the connection between the crowd and DRM professionals is not easy, due to the extremely different nature of the involved subjects. From one side, the emergency organizations are hierarchical, while on the other side, the crowd is non-hierarchical and self-organized by definition [7]. This is also valid for digital environments.…”

“…Human activities are driven by motivations, which are the core psychological aspects to be taken into account when designing a gamified experience. In comparison to external ones, inner motivations result more effective to engage people, both in normal conditions as well during the emergency response phase, when the motivation to act is expected to be stronger than in other phases [7]. Nevertheless, from a DRM perspective, the willingness of people to cooperate is very important also in the prevention and the preparedness phases, when crowdsourcing monitoring activities may results particularly helpful.…”

“…The word gamification has come to the attention of the world in 2010 7 . Recently it has become a trending topic in a number of fields related to user engagement, service design, marketing [26] and also in the academia, which has been producing more studies in this subject.…”

Mobile Crowd Sensing of Water Level to Improve Flood Forecasting in Small Drainage Areas

“…There are already many different crowdsourcing applications, especially in nature conservation, environmental protection, and disaster management [5]. In disaster management, mobile crowdsourcing can be used to great effect both during and after a catastrophe [11,14]. For example, in a catastrophe, residents and rescue and emergency personnel can gather information about the current situation in the affected area so that aid and rescue workers can target the most critical zones.…”

ENSURE - Integration of Volunteers in Disaster Management

“…Modern (i.e., interactive, collaborative, and mobile) technologies can help to effectively involve spontaneous unbound volunteers in disaster management in case of an emergency [6]. Web 2.0 has created concepts of participation, such as crowdsourcing [7], which facilitate the engagement of volunteers and which have successfully been used in crisis management [8], [9]. In addition, the widespread use of mobile devices among the population offers a high potential to change the means of communicating with citizens in the event of a disaster, and to simplify the participation of the citizens as active volunteers [10].…”