Amphan: analyzing experiences of extreme weather events using online data
International Water Management Institute
27 followers.
Cyclone Amphan made landfall in South Asia on May 20, 2020. It was the most damaging storm in the history of the Indian Ocean, rendering hundreds of thousands of people homeless, ravaging agricultural lands and causing billions of dollars in damage. How were people affected by the storm? What were the responses of individuals, governments, corporates and NGOs? How was it covered by local, national and international media, as opposed to individuals' accounts? Who has created the dominant narratives of Cyclone Amphan; and whose voices go unheard? We aim to use online data -- such as Twitter posts, news headlines and research publications -- to analyze people's experiences of Cyclone Amphan.
Project scope (as of July 15, 2020, 8:04 a.m.)
Project goal(s)
Short-term objectives: 1) Investigate the social, political and economic effects of Cyclone Amphan. 2) Test this new methodology of using online data to characterize people's experiences of extreme weather events. It will be a learning experience for us! 3) In the spirit of reciprocity, we hope to co-author a peer-reviewed publication with the volunteers who we realize are donating their time and effort (if they'd like).
Longer-term objectives: 1) Better match the needs of people affected by extreme weather events with context-specific responses (e.g. humanitarian aid, funding, research) through a research tool that enables users to access more voices and perspectives on water-related issues. 2) Humanize the impacts of extreme weather events.
Interventions and Actions
This project involves data collection (via Twitter, Media Cloud and perhaps other APIs), data analysis and data visualization.
Data
We can scrape data from Twitter and Media Cloud using the search term "Cyclone Amphan." We could also include additional data sources, if time allows: - Social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube - Impacts on tourism and/or small businesses: TripAdvisor, Google Reviews - News headlines: MIT's Media Cloud aggregates these - Research publications: Google Scholar, Scopus - Public interest/curiosity: Google Search history
Analysis Needed
We would need to apply natural language processing -- we hope to agree upon the exact types and methodology with the volunteers. Some options may be aspect-based sentiment analysis, thematic analysis or intent classification.
Validation Methodology
The project will be successful if 1) we reach a more nuanced understanding of the diversity of experiences of and needs following Cyclone Amphan, 2) we investigate how narratives around Cyclone Amphan were constructed, by whom and why and 3) IWMI develops a better idea of what is and isn't possible with regard to using online data to characterize experiences of extreme weather events.
Implementation
This project is a proof-of-concept. If it demonstrates the usefulness of leveraging online data to characterize people's experiences of and needs following extreme weather events, IWMI then hopes to develop a research tool that scrapes online water-related discourse, which could be used by donors, governments, aid organizations, research institutes, etc. to incorporate more data inputs into their decision-making processes.