Authors: By Sara Smith and Kelly Bennett, Division of Fusion, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
If you want to know what’s going on in a community, just listen to the community. That’s the advice given in a recent paper published in Public Library of Science (PLOS) Currents: Disasters and authored by a team of researchers from ASPR, HealthMap and NIH. This may seem like simple advice but in the midst of a response it can be easy to forget that local news reporters and citizens know their neighborhoods and communities best.
In the article, The Perfect Storm of Information: Combining Traditional and Non-Traditional Data Sources for Public Health Situational Awareness during Hurricane Response, researchers reviewed tweets, news reports, press releases, and federal situation reports sent during Hurricane Isaac and analyzed them for relevancy and timeliness. Researchers wanted to find out if non-traditional data (i.e., tweets and news reports) fill a void in traditional data reporting during hurricane response, as well as whether non-traditional data improve the timeliness for reporting identified issues of concern.
During Hurricane Isaac, analysts monitored social and news media in near real-time for information relevant to HHS Essential Elements of Information (EEI). Throughout the course of the storm, 143 tweets and news articles were tagged as containing information that was potentially relevant to the public health response. These 143 tweets and news reports were used as the initial data set for this paper. Researchers compared the reporting and timeliness of these events to their appearance in more traditional forms of reporting including federal situation reports and local government press releases.
The study found that when looking for critical situational awareness in the midst of a hurricane response, go local. Citizen tweets were responsible for almost all reports of environmental hazards, while local government was the only source of carbon monoxide reports. Additionally, local news consistently provided fatality reporting ahead of official federal reports. In all circumstances where citizens were reporting along with other sources, the citizen tweet was the earliest notification of the event.
Critical information is being shared by citizens, news organizations, and local government representatives. Enhanced situational awareness can help provide timelier, life-saving public health and medical response following a hurricane. This study indicates that non-traditional data sources should supplement traditional data sources and can fill some of the gaps in traditional reporting. During a hurricane response where early event detection can save lives and reduce injuries and illness, tweets can provide a source of information for early warning.
Interested in learning more? Check out the full article, The Perfect Storm of Information: Combining Traditional and Non-Traditional Data Sources for Public Health Situational Awareness during Hurricane Response.
