On building special-purpose social networks for emergency communication

In this paper we propose a system that will allow people to communicate their status with friends and family when they find themselves caught up in a large disaster (e.g., sending "I'm fine" in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake). Since communication between a disaster zone and the non-affected world is often highly constrained we design the system around lightweight triggers such that people can communicate status with only crude infrastructure (or even sneaker-nets). In this paper we provide the high level system design, discuss the security aspects of the system and study the overall feasibility of a purpose-built social networking system for communication during an emergency. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.2.1 [Computer Communication Networks]: Network Architecture and Design General Terms Design Keywords Emergency communication, Social networks

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: CCR
• Authors: Mark Allman
• Keywords: CCR 2010, Communication, Computer Communication Networks, Distributed And Parallel Computing, Keywords Emergency Communication