LINKS

In recent years, social media and crowdsourcing (SMCS) have been integrated into crisis management for improved information gathering and collaboration across European communities. The effectiveness of SMCS on European disaster resilience, however, remains unclear owing to the diversity among disaster risk perception and vulnerability LINKS sets out to understand and assess the effects of social media and crowd-sourcing (SMCS) on European disaster resilience. LINKS will develop a framework which can be used to understand, measure and govern SMCS for disasters, taking into account the diversity among disaster risk perception and vulnerability (DRPV), disaster management processes (DMP) and applied disaster community technologies (DCT) across European communities. The LINKS Framework consists of scientific methods, practical tools, and guidelines addressing researchers, practitioners and policy makers. The Framework will be developed and evaluated through five practitioner-driven European cases, representing different disaster scenarios (earthquake, flood, industrial, terror, drought), cutting across disaster management phases and diverse socioeconomic and cultural settings in four countries (Italy, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands). Furthermore, LINKS sets out to create a community of stakeholders, the LINKS Community, which brings together first-responders, public authorities, civil society organizations, business communities, citizens and researchers across Europe dedicated to improving European disaster resilience through the use of SMCS. The execution and success of the project relies on multiple levels of stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange within the LINKS Community, facilitated online through the LINKS Community Center and in person through the LINKS Community Workshops. Overall, LINKS will provide sustainable, advanced learning on SMCS in disasters, in order to strengthen links between technologies and society for improved European disaster resilience.