How cell phones can predict where Ebola strikes next

[MHSC]

Swedish non-profit organization Flowminder has been using cell phone data to map population movements in West Africa. This is helping authorities estimate where the Ebola virus could appear next.

In Senegal, for example, local cell phone carrier Orange Telecom supplied Flowminder with data from 150,000 handsets, which it was able to use to develop maps of travel patterns in the region and help the government and health agencies anticipate the trajectory of the virus. The data had been stripped of information that could identify the user.

...

In Sierra Leone, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has been using a text messaging system called Trilogy Emergency Relief Application (TERA) to send alerts and advice about Ebola to people living in a specific region.

To work, TERA requires local cell phone network operators to install the software in their network. Once installed, TERA can detect which handsets are switched on and which cell towers they are connected to. The TERA operator then selects a region on a map and sends text messages to cell phones in that zone.

"It's been doing an excellent job in Sierra Leone, sending out in the region of two million messages per month, helping the communities there to prepare themselves, try to avoid getting infected, and then if they do, to know what to do about it," Robin Burton from the IFRC told the BBC.

"Unlike TV and radio, if we send them a text message it's retained on the phone."


http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story.../cellphones-predicting-ebola-spread/17836127/

 

[Dani]

Re: How cell phones can predict where Ebola strikes next

I have been quite fascinated about data mining and epidemics ever since I read about the possibility of using an analysis of internet searches for flu symptoms to anticipate where to send the limited supplies of tamiflu during the SARS scare. I don't recall the actual article, but it seemed they thought they could beat the official reporting by two or three days and get the supplies to affected areas right about the time the patients started to show up in the office & the ER! To me, that was just amazing. What ever became of that idea?

This article has a little more negative take on the concept: Why Big Data Missed the Early Warning Signs of Ebola Basically, the short answer is that most of the information was popping up in French, and the algorithms were in English!

But that's the kind of kink that could be easily worked out, and, as in the article you linked to, sometimes it doesn't require language at all. It's a very exciting tool

Edit: Aw rats, I guess Google flu hasn't worked out so well. Google Flu trends the Limit of Big Data? But I do believe it or something like it will eventually work out. Big data is a little frightening at times, but it also has the power to really wonderful things in the right hands.

 

[MHSC]

Re: How cell phones can predict where Ebola strikes next

The WhatsApp referenced near the end of the article is a texting app that offers free international texting. This could be a huge help to anyone abroad that needs to text home.

Whatsapp (one word) is free for the first year and 0.99 cents after that on the apple appstore.

 

[Dani]

Re: How cell phones can predict where Ebola strikes next

The WhatsApp referenced near the end of the article is a texting app that offers free international texting. This could be a huge help to anyone abroad that needs to text home.

Whatsapp (one word) is free for the first year and 0.99 cents after that on the apple appstore.

That is actually very timely, thank you. My daughter is in Europe this semester and her first month phone bill was $400. (I know all the perils of iPhones abroad, but let's just say it got lost in translation). Since then she has been using imessaging, but that's only if there is wifi. This is great, thanks again.:tiphat: