EDIS/Northridge Database ProjectEDIS/Northridge Database Project
Goals:
The goal of the project is to facilitate research into communication patterns of both individuals and agencies during the time of natural and manmade disaster. There has been plenty of study in the area of telecommunications and the role of communications technology during disasters, but very little research into how these communications networks are actually used during the phases of a major event.
EDIS/Northridge attempts to answer this question by providing access to disaster related message traffic in a structured format. A database has been developed which stores the electronic message traffic generated by an event in a searchable format. The textual content of each message has been reviewed and coded in the database as a series of flags and data elements. While review and coding of message traffic in this manner is necessarily subjective, it is generally accurate and allows the researcher to peruse the database in a very convenient manner.
The database is accessible through any world wide web browser, and output may be captured in either simple textual format, or copied into spreadsheets or other databases for further analysis.
Database Content:
The database currently contains data from the Northridge earthquake, which occurred at about 4:20 AM on January 17, 1994, in Northridge, California. Northridge is just east of the city of Los Angeles.
Message traffic in the database starts on January 17th and currently concludes on January 31st. This is well into the recovery phase of the event. More data from Northridge will be added in the near future.
Using the Database:
The project home page, at http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca, contains a database search form. Searches may be performed based on date, time, message number, priority, source agency, destination, and on thirty-seven flags which have been coded in the database to reflect message content. Examples of flags are "Urban Search and Rescue", "Media Release", and "Telecommunications Technology". Any combination of flags and other criteria may be specified. The query is then submitted to the database and messages matching the stipulated criteria are returned for the user's review.
Full text search of the database is also provided. This will allow searches for words or phrases which have not been otherwise coded into the message flags.
Power users who are familiar with both the database structure and SQL (the Structured Query Language, on which the database retrieval is based) may compose and submit their own SELECT queries as required.
Help text is provided for each search field on the project home page.
Location:
The EDIS/Northridge database project is based at the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, BC, Canada. The database and servers are housed in Burnaby, BC in Kevin's basement.
Who's Behind It?
Assistant Professor Peter Anderson came up with the idea for the project. His graduate student, Kevin McQuiggin, has done the actual work and is currently perusing the database himself in the hope of reaching a profound conclusion of some sort.
Support for the project comes from Simon Fraser University, the School of Communication, the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology (CPROST), of which Peter is the director, and most importantly, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. It's their data, afterall!
Also of assistance is Art Botterell, of FEMA, who started the OES EDIS project in the first place. He's been helpful to both Peter and Kevin in regard to the structure of EDIS traffic.
Hardware and Software:
The database runs on a NetBSD Unix platform, currently on a Sun 4/110 box in Kevin's basement. The database server is MiniSQL, an excellent SQL-based product out of Australia.
The web server is on a 486-based FreeBSD machine, also in Kevin's basement. The server software is Apache. Support code for the project is written in C, Perl, and Lite, the miniSQL scripting language.
Kevin's machines are linked to the Internet via a 56K bps radio link that operates via Amateur Radio. This is an interesting project in itself, check out Peter's VEMIS page for more information!
Feedback:
Here's how to contact the principals:
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