Professors address crisis informatics challenges in 'Science' article
When disaster strikes, those affected often turn to social media to request aid, offer assistance, or share other information in real time. In recent years, data scientists have begun analyzing millions of Facebook posts and tweets in order to study the collective response before, during and after a crisis.泭
In the face of this mountain of information, however, it can be hard to identify the most relevant posts and trends. But thanks to a close collaboration between social science and software engineering, 51勛圖厙 researchers Leysia Palen and Kenneth Anderson are innovating new ways to find the underlying human behaviors hidden within noisy data.
The trick is understanding the potential of large-volume social media information along with its limits, says Palen, chair of the泭泭in the泭泭at 51勛圖厙. Just because we have a lot of data doesnt mean that we have all the answers.
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