Emergency communicationGraduate student develops emergency communication Twitter app
A graduate student at the University of Colorado has developed a smartphone app that makes it easier for first responders and emergency personnel to communicate via Twitter during disasters; without a standardized syntax, emergency personnel, affected individuals, information officers, and journalists were having trouble communicating on Twitter
A graduate student at the University of Colorado has developed a smartphone app that makes it easier for first responders and emergency personnel to communicate via Twitter during disasters.
Following last year’s Fourmile Fire, Daniel Schaefer, a doctoral student in communication, noticed that while Twitter was a popular mode of communication during disasters for emergency personnel, affected individuals, information officers, and journalists, individuals were having trouble communicating effectively as there was a lack of a standardized syntax.
Twitter subscribers were using hashtags incorrectly to mark their tweets making it more difficult for followers to find critical information.
In the same way that public safety communication codes were developed for citizens’ band (CB) radios, Schaeffer is helping to codify a common language for disaster communication on Twitter with his app.
“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if there were a keyboard for people using Twitter during a disaster to use standard codes?’” Schaefer said.
To that end, Schaeffer’s app translates everyday language into a common Twitter syntax for disaster communication with the help of a special smartphone keypad. Rather than a standard QWERTY keyboard, the disaster app, dubbed the Bucket Brigade Keyboard, displays a keyboard with a dozen message choices that include “help,” “location,” and “request.” Once a message is selected, corresponding tweets that carry a user’s status, needs, or ability to help are then queued for posting online.
For instance, the app transforms “I’m OK” into “#imok.”
The app’s syntax is based on the work of Kate Starbird from University of Colorado’s Empowering the Public With Information in Crisis (EPIC) research group.
Following the earthquake in Haiti, nearly 3,000 tweets were sent using Starbird’s “Tweak the Tweet” syntax, while in the aftermath of the tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri earlier this year more than 500 tweets used the syntax.
The Bucket Brigade Keyboard is currently only available on Android smartphones as a similar keyboard is not compatible with Apple’s iPhone.
Schaefer said he plans to update his app with more Twitter shortcuts and an auto-correct feature in the future.
