ORS’s Peterson Speaks in Spain on Crisis Response
Steve Peterson, an emergency management specialist in the Office of Research Services, was the keynote speaker for the 16th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management held in Valencia, Spain, from May 19-22. His presentation provided insights on complexities associated with analyzing near real-time social media data during disasters.
The audience consisted mostly of practitioners and academic researchers. He highlighted the work of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Disaster Research Response Program and the National Library of Medicine’s Disaster Information Management Research Center.
Peterson also participated on a panel forum providing insights that could aid in bridging the divide between the practitioner and researcher professions. He discussed the 2016 NIEHS-sponsored special workshop that identified recommendations for review boards related to public health emergencies and disasters.
Additionally, Peterson presented his co-authored paper on an operational framework for identifying social media calls for help pertaining to evacuations during disasters. The paper has been requested by a number of researchers within the international community to assist in tackling the growing challenge of identifying and acting on calls for help that are communicated on social media platforms.