Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/233379
As Flickr Goes, So Goes the Storm CCAT82/TH I N KSTOCK; ALE KSEY ZALYN I N /TH I N KSTOCK IN OCTOBER 2012, Hurricane Sandy, one of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, swept across 24 states, with New Jersey at its epicenter. When researchers analyzed the number of images from Sandy posted on Flicker, an image-sharing website, they discovered a link between Flickr activity and dropping atmospheric pressure. "Quantifying the Digital Traces of Hurricane Sandy on Flicker" was authored by Tobias Preis, associate professor of behavioral science, and Suzy Moat, assistant professor of behavioral science, both of Warwick Business School in the United Kingdom; Steven Bishop and Philip Treleaven, in the mathematics and physics departments, respectively, at University College London in the U.K.; and H. Eugene Stanley in the physics department at Boston University in the U.S. The team searched for Flickr photos tagged either "Hurricane Sandy," "Hurricane," or "Sandy," posted in 2012 between October 20 and November 20. They counted approximately 32 million images—of those, most went live during the same hour that Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, when atmospheric pressure was dropping. Activity decreased as the pressure began to climb. Such online indicators could help policymakers iden- and online polling and survey platform Toluna. The observatory will explore the complex relationship between sports and the media via analysis of trends in sports diversity and consumption, study of media's impact on sports, and efforts to encourage youth participation in sports as a way to combat inactivity and obesity. ■ MAX CAPACITY Jonathan Patrick, an associate professor in healthcare management at the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management in Ontario, Canada, and Pedram Noghami, a master's candidate in the school's system sciences program, are developing research for the healthcare industry. The research will recommend ways that healthcare facilities can better determine their capacity, manage patient flow, and facilitate patient care in com- tify the impact of weather disasters more quickly, the authors suggest. Sites like Flicker could act as "largescale real-time sensors, documenting collective human attention," says Moat. She and her co-authors emphasize that, when seconds count and secondary information is scarce, emergency responders could use social media activity as one way to know where to focus their efforts. The study was published November 2013 in Nature Publishing Group's Scientific Reports. It is available at www.nature.com/srep/2013/131105/ srep03141/full/srep03141.html. munity service, acute, and long-term care settings. The research will be supported by CAN$50,000 from the Bruyère Research Institute and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. ■ ECO-EFFORTS Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, is collaborating with nine companies on a threeyear project to examine how they embed sustainability into their organizations. The group of companies—which includes firms such as ConocoPhillips Canada and Suncor—has been assembled by assistant professor Stephanie Bertels in partnership with the Network for Business Sustainability. These firms will share best practices as they design and implement sustainability initiatives. Bertels also has worked with SFU's School of Interactive Art and Technology to develop a visualization tool to assess how well these organizations integrate sustainability practices in their cultures. BizEd January/February 2014 55