Science Magazine recently hosted a data stories visualization competition. I cobbled something together but there were some truly excellent submissions http://www.sciencemag.org/projects/data-stories/finalists. I think my favorite was the social network experiment on the campus in Denmark (How People Gather).
Below is my a 1-pager to put my submission (Crowd Intelligence in Disaster Response) into context.
This visualization is based on Ushahidi mobile phone and internet reports, submitted after the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. The reports were first interpreted. The data was then used to construct ad-hoc digital maps with details (structure integrity, road conditions, hazards, injuries, etc.) relevant to first responders and disaster relief staff in the post-earthquake situation.
Ushahidi was launched in 2008 when a group of scientists were motivated to use their technical expertise to assist with post-election violence occurring in Kenya. Any new technology often comes with new policy implications and crisis mapping is no exception. The following blog post by Patrick Meier, director of crisis mapping at Ushahidi (2009-2012) provides some of his final thoughts on some policy issues that emerged with the technology in the context of the Haiti disaster (https://www.ushahidi.com/blog/2010/04/15/crisis-mapping-haiti-some-final-reflections).
After seeing the data points come to life on the screen one might start wondering if first responders and disaster relief teams might even make use of the archived data long after a disaster and eventually gain insights to better understand for example how communication spreads after a disaster and if they might be able to identify patterns in the data (using time and content of the reports themselves) that would allow predictive modeling to help them develop strategies or procedures that would make them more effective in future disasters. This NSF video short provides an example of one team of researchers at the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center who are working in this area (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNkQZivo-Ag).
This type of crisis mapping work has continued to serve as a tool in everything from Snowmageddon to the Deep Water Horizon Disaster, to the Arab Spring, to Swine flu. Similar types of data are even provided by transportation systems such as Washington DC's capital bikeshare program. Scientists working with this data could help optimize transportation systems, focusing on the way in which kiosks are restocked with bikes, predicting future demand for bicycles, monitoring maintenance requests, or the data may be used to gain a better understanding how people migrate across a city (https://www.capitalbikeshare.com/system-data). There are other examples of how related technologies are being applied toward similar ends. Geospatial technologies are currently used to document cultural destruction that occurs as a result of conflict such as that occurring in Syria and Iraq (http://www.aaas.org/news/human-rights-day-highlights-scientific-contributions-prevent-cultural-heritage-destruction).
As our appliances, phones, and transportation systems become more sophisticated more opportunities for leveraging data will arise (as will the policy implications). The work of scientists is never done as they work endlessly to identify and leverage this emerging data while addressing the accompanying policy implications in a responsible and ethical manner.
The data used in this video is freely available from Ushahidi
(https://datahub.io/dataset/ushahidi/resource/81d058a8-173a-49d9-8ce9-4edf5e7cafc9).
Below is my a 1-pager to put my submission (Crowd Intelligence in Disaster Response) into context.
This visualization is based on Ushahidi mobile phone and internet reports, submitted after the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. The reports were first interpreted. The data was then used to construct ad-hoc digital maps with details (structure integrity, road conditions, hazards, injuries, etc.) relevant to first responders and disaster relief staff in the post-earthquake situation.
Ushahidi was launched in 2008 when a group of scientists were motivated to use their technical expertise to assist with post-election violence occurring in Kenya. Any new technology often comes with new policy implications and crisis mapping is no exception. The following blog post by Patrick Meier, director of crisis mapping at Ushahidi (2009-2012) provides some of his final thoughts on some policy issues that emerged with the technology in the context of the Haiti disaster (https://www.ushahidi.com/blog/2010/04/15/crisis-mapping-haiti-some-final-reflections).
After seeing the data points come to life on the screen one might start wondering if first responders and disaster relief teams might even make use of the archived data long after a disaster and eventually gain insights to better understand for example how communication spreads after a disaster and if they might be able to identify patterns in the data (using time and content of the reports themselves) that would allow predictive modeling to help them develop strategies or procedures that would make them more effective in future disasters. This NSF video short provides an example of one team of researchers at the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center who are working in this area (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNkQZivo-Ag).
This type of crisis mapping work has continued to serve as a tool in everything from Snowmageddon to the Deep Water Horizon Disaster, to the Arab Spring, to Swine flu. Similar types of data are even provided by transportation systems such as Washington DC's capital bikeshare program. Scientists working with this data could help optimize transportation systems, focusing on the way in which kiosks are restocked with bikes, predicting future demand for bicycles, monitoring maintenance requests, or the data may be used to gain a better understanding how people migrate across a city (https://www.capitalbikeshare.com/system-data). There are other examples of how related technologies are being applied toward similar ends. Geospatial technologies are currently used to document cultural destruction that occurs as a result of conflict such as that occurring in Syria and Iraq (http://www.aaas.org/news/human-rights-day-highlights-scientific-contributions-prevent-cultural-heritage-destruction).
As our appliances, phones, and transportation systems become more sophisticated more opportunities for leveraging data will arise (as will the policy implications). The work of scientists is never done as they work endlessly to identify and leverage this emerging data while addressing the accompanying policy implications in a responsible and ethical manner.
The data used in this video is freely available from Ushahidi
(https://datahub.io/dataset/ushahidi/resource/81d058a8-173a-49d9-8ce9-4edf5e7cafc9).