Can new tech prevent disasters? │The Science of Disasters with Ilan Kelman

Explore how AI and digital tech can help prevent disasters, with examples like PEACESAT and Haiti crisis mapping in the final Science of Disasters episode.

Key Takeaways

Digital technologies can enhance disaster prevention and response but require careful alignment with user needs.
Long-term trust and consistent training improve the effectiveness of disaster tech programs like PEACESAT.
Crowdsourced data is valuable but must be carefully verified to avoid misinformation.
AI tools can assist but are not foolproof and need contextualization and oversight.
Technology empowers communities but raises ethical and access challenges.

What the video covers

The video discusses the use of artificial intelligence and digital technologies in disaster prevention and management.
Technologies have both advantages and disadvantages and must align with users' needs and capabilities.
PEACESAT in the Pacific uses remote education and training for disaster preparedness over vast island communities.
Consistency, long-term commitment, user feedback, and funding are key to successful technology implementation.
Crowdsourcing and open-source crisis mapping were used after the 2010 Haiti earthquake to gather real-time data.
Volunteers play a major role in updating and sharing disaster information, but quality control and trustworthiness are concerns.
Digital devices and internet connectivity empower people but also raise issues with misinformation and fake news.
AI and neural networks can assist disaster response but algorithms may have flaws or lack proper context.
Power and authority issues arise around who controls data quality and censorship in digital disaster tech.
Digital technologies complement but do not replace traditional disaster management approaches.

Chapters

How does PEACESAT contribute to disaster prevention?

PEACESAT provides remote education and training for disaster preparedness across diverse Pacific island communities, relying on consistency, long-term engagement, and user feedback to build trust and effectiveness.

What role does crowdsourcing play in disaster response?

Crowdsourcing collects real-time information from volunteers during disasters, such as after the Haiti earthquake, helping relief organizations identify immediate needs, though it requires quality control to ensure accuracy.

What are the challenges of using AI in disaster management?

AI can assist in analyzing disaster data but may have flaws or lack proper contextualization. Additionally, decisions about data quality and censorship raise ethical and power-related concerns.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

How can we use artificial intelligence and other new technologies to prevent disasters? Stay with me, Elaine Kelman, to find out in the final episode of The Science of Disasters. And don't forget, you can still subscribe if you want to watch the back episodes.

Speaker A

in this series [Music] like all technologies digital approaches have applications for dealing with disasters displaying advantages and disadvantages the balance is always ensuring that the technologies match the interests scope and capabilities of those using the technologies and being served by them as an example

Speaker A

In this series [Music], like all technologies, digital approaches have applications for dealing with disasters, displaying advantages and disadvantages. The balance is always ensuring that the technologies match the interests, scope, and capabilities of those using the technologies and being served by them. As an example,

Speaker A

challenging expensive and unreliable the psat program attributes its success to consistency being long-term and taking feedback from users building up trust and establishing a positive reputation for distance learning and exchange updating technology is important meaning having the funds available while

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around the Pacific, PEACESAT, based in Honolulu, has conducted remote education and training for disasters and development for over 30 years. The Pacific country spans such vast distances and so many diverse island communities that in-person approaches would be

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also uses digital technologies such as crowdsourcing following the haiti earthquake on 12 january 2010 an open source crisis mapping software was applied to collect masses of real-time information on immediate needs through digital media including social media an international group of self-organized

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challenging, expensive, and unreliable. The PEACESAT program attributes its success to consistency, being long-term, and taking feedback from users, building up trust and establishing a positive reputation for distance learning and exchange. Updating technology is important, meaning having the funds available while

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handheld digital devices combined with high internet connectivity give information power to the people how trustworthy is the people's information especially when fake news malicious bots and viral misinformation are so prevalent it is exciting to have so many volunteers helping to collect consort

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not exceeding the technological capabilities of people using the services. Consistent training is particularly useful for emphasizing pre-disaster actions such as prevention, mitigation, preparedness, readiness, and risk reduction, helping to avoid the need for response and recovery. Nonetheless, disaster response

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what humanitarian organizations usually obtain with the added burden of having to enact quality control here artificial intelligence and neural networks can assist but any algorithm can have flaws or it might not be contextualized properly we further need to consider how to

Speaker A

also uses digital technologies such as crowdsourcing. Following the Haiti earthquake on 12 January 2010, an open-source crisis mapping software was applied to collect masses of real-time information on immediate needs through digital media, including social media. An international group of self-organized

Speaker A

as soon as someone decides that using digital technologies requires quality control then someone has the authority or power to censor including when developing automatic algorithms who makes these decisions when and how one major power issue as alluded to

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volunteers updated the information and made it publicly available online. Some relief organizations were soon relying on it, with concerns raised that affected people without links to mobile phones or the internet would not have their needs fully identified or met. Quality control was queried.

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society and technology many who can afford a mobile phone and internet access now would not be able to afford upgrading each one every few years overall digital technologies bring similar conclusions as using other technologies for dealing with disasters these technologies

Speaker A

Handheld digital devices combined with high internet connectivity give information power to the people. How trustworthy is the people's information, especially when fake news, malicious bots, and viral misinformation are so prevalent? It is exciting to have so many volunteers helping to collect, consort

Speaker A

complementing enhancing supporting and combining with but never replacing other approaches it's not too late to subscribe and watch all the episodes in the series the science of disasters and before i go remember it's humans not nature that create

Speaker A

through the material and data, but triangulating, corroborating, and filtering it in a rapid, consistent manner is important. Analyses for Haiti suggested that it was unclear how much using external volunteers produced information which was actually new or different from

Topics:disaster preventionartificial intelligencedigital technologycrowdsourcingPEACESATcrisis mappingHaiti earthquakedisaster responsefake newshumanitarian technology

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