Social Sensing of volcanic crisis

COLLABORATORS: Dr James Hickey (CSM), Prof. Hywel Williams (Alan Turing Fellow & Comp. Sci.) & Dr Rudy Arthur (Comp. Sci.); Co-I = Michelle Spruce (Comp. Sci.); External Collaborator: USGS
IDSAI Research Fellow: Dr Ravi Pandit

Description: Volcanic crises cause significant damage, casualties and economic loss. Social sensing is the systematic analysis of unsolicited social media data to observe real world events. Our project aim is to use social sensing to analyse the social and economic impact of volcanic crises through space and time, and the change in emotional response to a crisis as it unfolds, from pre-eruption warnings through to post-eruption recovery. Current understanding of social impacts of volcanoes are poorly understood and there is no widely-accepted best practice in communicating volcano hazard information; our proposed analyses will contribute to solving these problems. We will initially focus on the 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawaii, USA, in collaboration with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), before looking at volcanic crises from a more global standpoint. By developing a set of tools to socially sense the economic and social impact of volcanic hazards, and societal reaction to official hazard management communications, we will help define best-practise in this area to benefit the 10% of the world’s population living with volcanic hazards.