Crowdsourcing roles, methods and tools for data-intensive disaster management

Abstract

Mobile technologies, web-based platforms, and social media have transformed the landscape of disaster management by enabling a new generation of digital networks to produce, process, and analyse georeferenced data in real time. This unprecedented convergence of geomobile technologies and crowdsourcing methods is opening up multiple forms to participate in disaster management tasks. Based on empirical research, this paper first proposes a conceptualisation of crowdsourcing roles and then analyses methods and tools based on a combination of two variables: (i) types of data being processed; (ii) involvement of the crowds. The paper also surveys a number of existing platforms and mobile apps leveraging crowdsourcing in disaster and emergency management with the aim to contribute to the discussion on the advantages and limits of using crowdsourcing methods and tools in these areas.