CrowdEIM: Crowdsourcing emergency information management tasks to mobile social media users

Abstract

Crowdsourcing certain emergency information management (EIM) tasks to the general public has been proven to be effective during emergencies. To accelerate the diffusion of EIM crowdsourcing tools and quickly attract more participants, this work proposes a solution that takes full advantage of mobile social media platforms and their users. Specifically, a mobile crowdsourcing tool called CrowdEIM was designed and implemented based on the WeChat Official Accounts Platform. Formative studies were conducted to help design and evaluate a graphical mock-up, and summative evaluations were applied to investigate the effectiveness and usability of the runnable prototype. The findings indicate that EIM crowdsourcing tools based on mobile social media platforms are more likely to be disseminated and can provide more accurate and understandable emergency information, and that only those tools with simple operations can be widely accepted in emergency situations. Although limited to the WeChat platform, the CrowdEIM solution is expected to offer some valuable suggestions for the emergency management practitioners, and help explore more possibilities for the use of mobile social media during emergencies.