ABSTRACT
This chapter examines empirical evidence surrounding the intersection between big data, crisis response and surveillance to identify the extent to which issues of concern to surveillance studies are emerging within crisis response. Social media has been recognised as an important source of data to aid crisis response activities. More recently, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and the growing emphasis of big data within crisis informatics have been recognised as an emerging field of activity within crisis response literature. The specific case study represents a clear opportunity to examine potential benefits of big data processing in crisis situations, as well as potential negative impacts. Specifically, it provides an opportunity to understand how issues related to discrimination, privacy, consent and data inaccuracy manifest in real-world examples of big data processing. The collection and processing of social media data on a large scale is associated with significant gains and improvements related to the 'care' of those caught up in disasters.
