There is an interesting article on the BBC web site about how twitter feeds are being analysed and used for disasters (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24993953). This approach is very human-centric and resource intensive and I cannot help thinking that some simple automated technology would really help them. I know the journalist well and he’s on the look out for similar stories in this vein. So don’t be shy if you think you’ve got something that he’d be interested in covering then just drop me a line.
When considered together with a range of other posts that have been made on this list, I’m becoming increasingly confident that disaster response was a good choice for the project and we really can add value in a practical as well as a scientific context.