In this project we aim to demonstrate how volcanic environments exposed to multiple hazards tend to be
characterised by a lack of relevant data available both in real time and over the longer term (e.g. months
to years). This can be at least partially addressed by actively involving citizens, communities, scientists
and other key stakeholders in the collection, analysis and sharing of observations, samples and
measurements of changes in the environment. Such community monitoring and co-production of
knowledge over time can also build trusting relationships and resilience (Stone et al. 2014).
There are more than 100 institutions worldwide that monitor volcanoes and other natural hazards,
contribute to early warning systems and are embedded in communities. They have a key role in building
resilience alongside civil protection/emergency management agencies. In this report, we propose that
such institutions are involved in big data initiatives and related research projects. In particular, we suggest
that tools for crowd-sourcing may be of particular value. Citizen science, community monitoring and
analysis of social media can build resilience by supporting: a) coordination and collaboration between
scientists, authorities and citizens, b) decision-making by institutions and individuals, c) anticipation of
natural hazards by monitoring institutions, authorities and citizens, d) capacity building of institutions and
communities, and e) knowledge co-production.
We propose a mobile phone app with a supporting website as an appropriate crowd-sourcing tool for St
Vincent and the Grenadines. The monitoring institution is the key contact for users and leads on the
required specifications based on local knowledge and experience. Remote support is provided from the
UK on technical issues, research integration, data management, validation and evaluation. It is intended
that the app facilitates building of long-term relationships between scientists, communities and
authorities. Real-time contributions and analysis of social media support early warning, real-time
awareness and real-time feedback enhancing the response of scientists and authorities. The app has
potential to facilitate, for example, discussions on new or revised hazards maps, multiple hazard analysis
and could contribute to real-time risk monitoring. Such an approach can be scaled up to facilitate regional
use – and is transferable to other countries.
Challenges of such an approach include data validation and quality assurance, redundancy in the system,
motivating volunteers, managing expectations and ensuring safety. A combination of recruiting a core
group of known and reliable users, training workshops, a code of conduct for users, identifying
information influx thresholds beyond which external support might be needed, and continuing evaluation
of both the data and the process will help to address these issues. The app is duplicated on the website in
case mobile phone networks are down.
Development of such approaches would fit well within research programmes on building resilience.
Ideally such research should be interdisciplinary in acknowledgement of the diversity and complexity of
topics that this embraces. There may be funding inequality between national monitoring institutions and
international research institutions but these and other in-country institutions can help drive innovation and
research if they are fully involved in problem-definition and research design.
New innovations arising from increasing resolution (temporal and spatial) of EO products should lead to
useful near-real time products from research and operational services. The app and website can ensure
such diverse products from multiple sources are accessible to communities, scientists and authorities (as
appropriate). Other innovations such as machine learning and data mining of time-series data collected by
monitoring institutions may lead to new insights into physical processes which can support timely
decision-making by scientists in particular (e.g. increasing alert levels)