Operationalizing crowdsourcing through mobile applications for disaster management in India

Vibhas Sukhwani; Rajib Shaw

doi:10.1016/j.pdisas.2019.100052

Operationalizing crowdsourcing through mobile applications for disaster management in India

Vibhas Sukhwani, Rajib Shaw

Graduate School of Media and Governance

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The lack of real-time data on emergent disasters often restrains the decision maker's ability to counter its impacts, especially in developing countries like India. In this regard, the idea of leveraging mobile applications ‘apps’ for crowdsourcing disaster-related information has recently gained high prominence. To operationalize app-based crowdsourcing, this paper methodically investigates the current state of 33 freely-accessible disaster-related mobile apps in India. The study finds that majority of these apps are primarily educational, and their overall outreach is highly limited. It concludes with specific suggestions for enhancing community outreach, ensuring user-friendly interface and promoting Global Positioning System ‘GPS’ based apps.

Original language	English
Article number	100052
Journal	Progress in Disaster Science
Volume	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2019.100052
Publication status	Published - 2020 Jan

Keywords

Citizen science
Crowdsourcing
Disaster management
India
Information and communication technology
Mobile applications

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development
Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
Safety Research
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)

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10.1016/j.pdisas.2019.100052

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title = "Operationalizing crowdsourcing through mobile applications for disaster management in India",

abstract = "The lack of real-time data on emergent disasters often restrains the decision maker's ability to counter its impacts, especially in developing countries like India. In this regard, the idea of leveraging mobile applications {\textquoteleft}apps{\textquoteright} for crowdsourcing disaster-related information has recently gained high prominence. To operationalize app-based crowdsourcing, this paper methodically investigates the current state of 33 freely-accessible disaster-related mobile apps in India. The study finds that majority of these apps are primarily educational, and their overall outreach is highly limited. It concludes with specific suggestions for enhancing community outreach, ensuring user-friendly interface and promoting Global Positioning System {\textquoteleft}GPS{\textquoteright} based apps.",

keywords = "Citizen science, Crowdsourcing, Disaster management, India, Information and communication technology, Mobile applications",

author = "Vibhas Sukhwani and Rajib Shaw",

note = "Funding Information: The first author is thankful to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan for the scholarship. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Authors",

year = "2020",

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AU - Shaw, Rajib

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Operationalizing crowdsourcing through mobile applications for disaster management in India

Abstract

Keywords

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