Abstract
Contextualised in public health and environmental literacy frameworks, this interdisciplinary research applies the epidemiological concept ‘infoveillance’ to show how major pollution events can be mitigated by better use of information communication technologies (ICTs). Findings from statistical analysis of Google Trends™ data during a major Australian air pollution event (2019–2020 Summer bushfires) are presented to compare community environmental and health concerns, as manifested by Google searches, in three affected states. Internet searches related to air purifiers, air quality, and P2 face masks increased as the measured air quality decreased. The commonality of internet search activity found across states, in response to pollution emergencies, presents a valuable, yet underutilised, information source for disaster management and response by health authorities and businesses. Significant correlations between the public’s keyword searches and pollution risk suggest Google Trends™ are an underutilised ICT for identifying public health literacy, needs, and emergency response. The 2019-2020 bushfire infoveillance analysis suggests earlier intervention/awareness of predictable community response to risk-management may mitigate insufficient supply of personal protective equipment (i.e., air purifiers) and alert authorities of illiteracies requiring immediate, urgent ramification to reduce public health risk and improve emergency response, including for vulnerable populations.
Highlights
Air pollution is a growing concern globally [1]
Is there a relationship between measured/personally experienced hazardous air quality and residents’ internet search activity for these terms? Collectively, these questions contribute to the broader research aim: to identify if conducting infoveillance analysis of Google TrendsTM data may alert public health authorities, and inform emergency response activities, of key science illiteracy areas and mitigation actions residents explored for an event
Had authorities and/or consumer product suppliers in ACT and VIC conducted infoveillance analysis by using Google TrendsTM data to identify what NSW residents were searching for - to augment their science/health literacy and locate event-mitigating action needs in response to increased PM2.5 levels and external indicators - it may have been possible to better predict the likely increased demand for Government-recommended items
Summary
Air pollution is a growing concern globally [1]. While air pollution derives from multiple and varied sources, ‘bushfires’, alternatively termed ‘wildfires’, pose a sizable risk to human, environmental, and economic protection. This paper presents findings from a study employing ‘infoveillance’ [2], the use of internet-based information often for epidemiological assessment, to illustrate how and why a collaborative approach between government and public risk knowledge may better mediate emergency action responses to events. Australian government air quality data is analysed alongside the public’s expression of science/health literacy and risk-management response by information-searching in a global social environment, namely the ‘internet’. Limited public science literacy, coupled with perceptions that the State will suitably protect citizens in emergency events can, and does, leave society ‘at risk’ when disaster strikes. With internet ‘googling’ a common contemporary response, large improvements in public literacy and response can be gained from better health authority ICT management and analysis
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