Trinity Leads Emergency Social Media Project

Trinity College Dublin is leading a new €3m project to develop a social media information system for use in emergency situations. The three-year project (Project Slándáil) will receive almost €3m in funding and is sponsored by the European Union.

Project Slándáil, Security System for language and image analysis, is a collaboration of emergency operatives, academics, ethics and security-oriented NGOs and four small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Italy, Ireland, Germany and the UK.

Professor of Computer Science at Trinity and leader of the project, Khurshid Ahmad, said: "This project is well positioned because it includes front-line services from both jurisdictions in Ireland, as well as from Germany and Italy. New technology is to be developed addressing the needs and concerns of the general public as well as supporting the efforts of agencies that serve the public. The ethics of information gathering and dissemination is integral."

Vice-Provost, Chief Academic Officer and Deputy President, and Professor of Ecumenics at Trinity, Linda Hogan, who is a lead researcher in the project, added: "Major opportunities exist for the ethical collection and dissemination of the results of our analysis for substantially improving the security of citizens in a disaster zone."

Professor Bryan Scotney, an image processing and security expert at the University of Ulster, and a Slándáil partner, said: "Processing such social media can transform the way that emergency situations are managed, enabling citizens in general to play a central role, and adding speed and agility to emergency response infrastructures."

Project Slándáil’s partners include the Dublin-based Centre for Irish and European Security, Garda Siochána, Landeskommando Leipzig and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

A statement from An Garda Síochána read: "As a police service it is incumbent on us to make proactive use of new and emerging technologies including social media – whilst always remaining conscious of our Data Protection Code of Practice. We are particularly pleased to be working in project SLANDAIL alongside several EU partners, and especially our colleagues in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. This project is another example of progress being made under the Cross Border Policing Strategy, and represents an important all-island aspect of emergency management."

(IT)