Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management 1 Running head: COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: SOCIAL MEDIA’S ROLE IN THE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management: Social Media's Emerging Role in the Emergency Operations Center Eric D. Nickel Novato Fire District Novato, California Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management 2 CERTIFICATION STATEMENT I hereby certify that this paper constitutes my own product, that where the language of others is set forth, quotation marks so indicate, and that appropriate credit is given where I have used the language, ideas, expressions, or writings of another. Signed: __________________________________ Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management 3 ABSTRACT The problem was that the Novato Fire District did not utilize social media technology to gather or share intelligence during Emergency Operations Center activations. The purpose of this applied research project was to recommend a social media usage program for the Novato Fire District’s Emergency Operations Center. Descriptive methodology, literature review, two personal communications and a statistical sampling of fire agencies utilizing facebook supported the research questions. The research questions included what were collective intelligence and social media; how was social media used by individuals and organizations during events and disasters; how many fire agencies maintained a facebook page and used them to distribute emergency information; and which emergency management social media programs should be recommended for the Novato Fire District’s Emergency Operations Center. The procedures included two data collection experiments, one a statistical sampling of United States fire agencies using facebook, to support the literature review and research questions. This research is one of the first Executive Fire Officer Applied Research Projects that addressed this emerging subject. The results found the public has a sociological need to gather and share information, a desire to help after a disaster, increased public accessibility to social media technology and an expectation that government agencies provide information. The results also found few fire agencies maintained a facebook presence and even fewer distributed post-disaster information. These results supported the recommendation to adopt a social media program for the Novato Fire District’s Emergency Operations Center. Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract …………………………………………………………………………….…….3 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………...5 Background and Significance ……………………………………………………………6 Literature Review ……………………………………………………………………….12 Procedures ………………………………………………………………………………28 Results …………………………………………………………………………………..35 Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………40 Recommendations ………………………………………………………………………53 Reference List…………………………………………………………………………...56 Appendix A (Experiment 1 Data) ………....…………………….……………………...64 Appendix B (Experiment 2: Data Sample)…………..………………………………….82 Appendix C (Experiment 2: Population Size Data)………….………………………….89 Appendix D (Screenshot of Novato Fire District’s facebook page) ….…….…………148 Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management 5 INTRODUCTION The problem is that the Novato Fire District (NFD) does not utilize social media technology to gather or share intelligence during Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activations, which could cause unnecessary loss of life or increased injury, damage and suffering to community members and rescuers. The absence of a social media program could create scenarios where the EOC does not understand the magnitude of the emergency or disaster. The EOC could be unaware of emerging or expanding incidents; could conduct an inaccurate damage assessment; or create a sequence of events where emergency managers incorrectly select strategic priorities. The EOC could also be unable to provide critical or accurate information to the community through traditional media channels such as television or radio. Not doing so could create unnecessary risk to the community and its rescuers; create unanticipated challenges due to inaccurate damage assessment causing an improper response resulting in financial harm to the NFD, increase the workload of the EOC and ultimately a decline in public opinion and trust of the NFD. The purpose of this applied research project is to recommend a social media usage program for the NFD’s EOC. This research paper uses descriptive methodology to answer the following questions, what is collective intelligence and social media; how is social media used by individuals and organizations during events and disasters; how many fire agencies maintain a facebook page and use them to distribute emergency information; and which emergency management social media programs should be recommended for the NFD’s EOC. Literature review, two personal communications and two data collection experiments, one a statistical sampling of United States (US) fire agencies using facebook, support the research and recommendation to adopt a social media program for the NFD EOC. Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management 6 BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE The background to this study is that the NFD is a special district formed in 1926 pursuant to the California Fire Protection District Law. The District’s legal authority and responsibilities are contained in the State of California Health and Safety Code under the Fire Protection District Law of 1987. Five elected directors govern the NFD. The NFD provides all risk fire suppression, emergency medical service including paramedic ambulance transportation, basic and advanced rescue, hazardous materials response, emergency management, risk reduction, fire inspection, plans review, public education, and fire investigation services to approximately 65,000 people and a business hours service population estimated at 77,000 people. The Insurance Service Office (ISO) rates the NFD as a three in hydrant supplied areas and a nine in non-hydrant supplied rural areas. Located in Marin County, 20 miles north of San Francisco, the NFD encompasses 71 square miles that includes the City of Novato, a 23 square mile general-purpose governmental entity incorporated in 1960. The NFD is primarily a residential community with a variety of business including retail and light industrial and a redeveloped former US Air Force Base. Over 50 percent of the land in the NFD are undeveloped areas including farms, ranches, marshes and open spaces of seasonal grass and oak woodlands. A significant portion of the NFD is part of the coastal range foothills and restricted from development by permanent open space regulations. The NFD employs 83 career members including 65 suppression shift personnel, 8 staff and command chief officers and 10 non-sworn civilian personnel. A minimum daily staffing of 20 suppression shift personnel staff five paramedic engine companies, two transport paramedic ambulance companies, one truck company and one shift battalion chief officer. The NFD became an internationally accredited fire agency by the Center for Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) in August 2009. The CFAI is an independent organization Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management 7 who assists fire and emergency service agencies around the world to achieve organizational and professional excellence through a strategic self-assessment model and accreditation process. The outcome is to provide continuous quality improvement and enhancement of service delivery to the community. After the NFD completed a detailed self-assessment process, the CFAI measured the NFD on 244 performance indicators prior to recommending accreditation. A performance indicator is the designated level of accomplishment in relationship to a benchmark and the ability of the agency to demonstrate those specific tasks. The NFD is at risk for natural and manmade disasters and emergencies including seasonal flooding, wildland urban interface (WUI) fires and earthquakes. Manmade incidents include hazardous materials emergencies, primarily transportation-related emergencies, as one US Highway and one State Highway divides the NFD into four quadrants and serves as the hub for population concentration and community development. These natural or manmade disasters require support from an EOC. The San Pablo Bay and the Petaluma River form the eastern border of the NFD. Several seasonal and year-round urban and small streams bisect residential and commercial sections of the NFD and drain the coastal foothills watershed into the San Pablo Bay. These streams are subject to tidal influences, and during large winter rain events, they occasionally overrun their banks, and flood low-lying neighborhoods. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps have identified significant portions of the NFD as moderate to high risk for flooding. By FEMA’s definition, these communities have a one percent or greater chance of shallow flooding each year, usually in the form of sheet flow where water seeks a path to a channel by flowing overland with an average depth of two feet. These moderate to high risk areas have a 26 percent chance of flooding over the life of a 30-year mortgage (Federal Collective Intelligence in Emergency Management 8 Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], 2009). Elevations of these neighborhoods range from five to 20 feet above sea level. Designated WUI areas comprise the southern, western and northern boundaries. The WUI is