Item: The Wisdom of Crowds in Avalanche Forecasting
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Title: The Wisdom of Crowds in Avalanche Forecasting
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop 2014 Proceedings, Banff, Canada
Authors:
- Bruce Tremper [ Utah Avalanche Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA ]
- Paul Diegel [ Utah Avalanche Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA ]
Date: 2014-09-29
Abstract: Starting at least 28 years ago, the Utah Avalanche Center has strongly encouraged the public to submit avalanche observations and they have always been an important source of information to augment professional observations in the creation of the daily avalanche advisory. The arrival of Web 2.0 and especially social media, allowed for much more efficient, two-way communication, which has vastly increased the accuracy, geographic coverage and timeliness of avalanche hazard communication. Nonprofessional observations from volunteer observers and the public (crowdsourcing) now comprise the bulk of information used to create the Utah Avalanche Center advisory. Plus, new social mediums such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook provide continuous, two-way communication between the public, forecasters and traditional media outlets throughout the day. This paper details how the Utah Avalanche Center, as well as other avalanche centers, utilize crowdsourcing and social media to dramatically improve the accuracy, geographic coverage and avalanche communication between all entities concerned with avalanche hazard.
Object ID: ISSW14_paper_O4.01.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s):
Keywords: crowdsourcing, forecasting, public information, observations, social media
Page Number(s): 80-87
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