Automated Information Acquisition for Incident Research and Situational Awareness

NC4: The National Center for Crisis and Continuity Coordination Computer Science, 2006-07

Liaison(s): Karl Kotalik, Ted Sheibar
Advisor(s): Melissa O’Neill
Students(s): Russ Rutledge (PM), Martin Hunt, Josh Utter-Leyton, Micah Lamdin

Given a summary report about an âincidentâÂ_x009d_ (fire, traffic accident, etc.), the Clinic team’s system automatically finds nearby news outlets likely to publish Internet articles about the incident. The system also searches these outlets to find specific articles covering the incident. Key elements of the project involve spatial search and text classification. This system will assist NC4’s information analysis to research current incidents quickly, ensuring up-to-date incident information in the hands of NC4’s clients.