Motivation
We seek to better understand the flow of critical information during crises to build systems that leverage social media to support existing processes.
Project Description
We intend to conduct detailed interviews with emergency responders to better understand their roles with the intent to integrate social media into emergency response efforts. During our interviews, we will explore areas in which social media information aggregation, analysis, and visualization could aid emergency workers’ daily tasks. Based off of these results, we will prototype a social media tool or visualization that would integrate well into their current workflow.
Study Participation
Target Users
Our target users are emergency responders that are interested in integrating social media data into their routine. Participants must already be utilizing social media or have an interest in utilizing social media in their response efforts. An example group would be the Seattle Police department who routinely tweet about wanted suspects and investigations.
Benefits
Tools exist for emergency responders who utilize social media data in their processes, however low adoption rates and lack of formal user research have plagued the development of these potential solutions. Your participation will help define the tool that we prototype. If implemented, it will be free and open-source, and study participants will be the first group notified of its release.
Logistics
Participant interviews will last around an hour. For participants located in the greater Seattle area, we will travel to the participant’s location to conduct the interview. For those located outside of driving distance, screencast options to conduct the interview are also available. If permitted, we would like to observe the participant’s workspace and any tools they use.
Contact Information
For more information about the project and/or to participate in the study please contact:
- John Robinson: soco@uw.edu
- Jim Maddock: maddock@uw.edu
- Jonthan Lee Russo: jleeruss@uw.edu
- Megan Torkildson: mtorkild@uw.edu
