6th
International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Leveraging social media and
digital volunteers for building
cross-border disaster resilience
Dr. Kate Kaminska
Defence Research and Development Canada

6th
International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Motivation
• Popularity of social and mobile technologies and public expectations
• Opportunities to: connect with the public, improve situational awareness, and reach
people quickly with alerts, warnings and preparedness messages
• The role and impact of citizen action increasing – how do we partner with the public to
build and leverage their capacity to prepare for, respond to and recover from crisis?

6th
International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
How can digital volunteers help?
Digital volunteers use technology to help disaster survivors and to assist disaster
management organizations who may not have the capacity to process big (crisis) data

6th
International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
• Hypothesis: Technologically enhanced multi-agency
and cross-border situational awareness measurably
improves regional resilience
• Recurring border region communications
interoperability experiment in collaboration with
DHS S&T, DRDC CSS and Public Safety Canada:
– CAUSE I, June 2011 – British Columbia/Washington,
earthquake scenario
– CAUSE II, June 2013 – New Brunswick/Maine,
train derailment and industrial accident scenario
– CAUSE III, November 2014 – East and West locations,
hurricane and grassland fire scenarios
– CAUSE IV – April 2016 – Sarnia/Port Huron Tornado scenario
Canada-U.S. Enhanced Resilience Experiment (CAUSE)
CAUSE
is about
the three
key aspects of
interoperability:
people,
process
and
technology

6th
International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Social media and digital volunteers in CAUSE
• Tested integration of social media and digital
volunteers into disaster response and recovery
• Used a closed social media platform:
5
• Participants
coordinated actions
and resources,
addressed rumours
and misinformation
and carried out other
disaster management
strategies in real-time
in response to
evolving conditions

6th
International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Evaluation and measurement
Essential
Element Basic Intermediate Advanced
Stakeholders
Culture
Expertise
Leadership
Policy & Legislation
Cooperation
Tools & platforms
Data
Development
EM officials and public
Closed, reactive
Awareness
Volunteer engagement
Open, learning
Interaction, monitoring
Whole of society
Innovative, experimental
Analytics, automation
Not assigned
Limited guidance
Ad-hoc, weak
Passive support
Operational plans
Experimental, limited
Buy-in & active support
Implementable strategy
Strong partnerships
Dedicated accounts
Closed, unstructured
Existing tools
Multi-platform
Structured
Customization, apps
Interoperable
Open and standardized
Participatory innovation
Dimension
GOVERNANCE
PEOPLE
TECHNOLOGY
Outcome
Networked
and
resilient
community
Trusted
partnership
and
collaboration
Accessible
data
and
effective tools
Training
Activity
Best Practices
Self-taught
Alerting
Not implemented
For EM officials
24/7 monitoring & alerts
Awareness
Standardized
Continuous interaction
Tested and followed
IMPLEMENTATION
Deliberate
use and
development

6th
International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Main findings
• Social media aided cooperation along with deliberate engagement with the public
leads to improved response and recovery outcomes
• CAUSE demonstrated effective cross border ‘virtual mutual aid’- digital volunteers
provided simultaneous aid to multiple stakeholders
• Digital volunteers provide valuable ‘surge capacity’ in a major event,
BUT there is a need for disaster management agencies to develop their own capacity
and capability in this domain

6th
International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016
‘Integrative Risk Management – Towards Resilient Cities‘ • 28 Aug – 1 Sept 2016 • Davos • Switzerland
www.grforum.org
Questions?
kate.kaminska@forces.gc.ca
@katekaminska1