LINKS “Strengthening links between technologies and society for European disaster resilience” is a comprehensive study on disaster governance in Europe. The overall aim of the LINKS project is to strengthen links between technologies and society for improved European disaster resilience, by producing sustainable advanced learning on the use of social media and crowdsourcing (SMCS) in disasters.
In recent years, social media and crowdsourcing (SMCS) have been integrated into crisis management for improved information gathering and collaboration across European communities. The effectiveness of SMCS on European disaster resilience, however, remains unclear owing to the diversity among disaster risk perception and vulnerability (DRPV), disaster management processes (DMP) and disaster community technologies (DCT) across Europe today. From this point of departure, LINKS sets out to achieve four core objectives:
Objective 1:
Produce sustainable advanced learning on SMCS in disasters
Objective 2:
Achieve a consolidated understanding of SMCS in disasters
Objective 3:
Govern the diversity of SMCS in disasters
Objective 4:
Bring multidisciplinary SMCS stakeholders together
The LINKS project will develop a Framework to understand, measure and govern SMCS for disasters. The LINKS Framework consists of scientific methods, practical tools, and guidelines addressing researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. It will be developed and evaluated through five practitioner-driven European cases, representing different disaster scenarios (earthquake, flooding, industrial disaster, terrorism, drought), cutting across disaster management phases and diverse socioeconomic and cultural settings in four countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands). Furthermore, LINKS sets out to create the LINKS Community, which brings together a wide variety of stakeholders, including first-responders, public authorities, civil society organisations, business communities, citizens, and researchers across Europe, dedicated to improving European disaster resilience through the use of SMCS both online (LINKS Community Center) and in person (LINKS Community Workshops).