Moving Towards Crowd Tasking for Disaster Mitigation

Advancements in information and communication technology (ICT) offer new possibilities when dealing with crisis situations. In this paper we present the design for a crowd tasking tool (CTT) that is currently under development. We describe how the tool can assist disaster relief coordinators during a crisis by selectively distributing tasks to a crowd of volunteers. We also compare the CTT with an already existing ICT based solution for supporting volunteerism during crisis. The differences between these two tools are addressed and the implications for volunteerism are discussed. The paper concludes with an outlook on future work emphasizing a form of volunteer involvement that offers potential for gathering information that is more relevant and easier to digest for decisionmaking than information provided solely by self-organised volunteers through social media.