Societal benefits of network science.

The News Story “Stepping away from the trees for a look at the forest” (17 December 2010, Science News staff, special section on Insights of the Decade, p. [1612][1]) describes the potential of network science to solve complex problems, including the use of crowd-sourcing. Network science has also been applied to disaster response, such as the aftermath of the magnitude 7.0 M W earthquake in Haiti in 2010. An open-source technology named Ushahidi (“testimony” in Swahili) ([ 1 ][2]) was used to create high-resolution maps of accessible roads through integration of more than 80,000 text messages and geographic information systems. This platform can also process voice messages, making it a useful tool for the illiterate. These aggregated data allowed more rapid transport of earthquake victims to hospitals, given the paucity of reliable road maps before the disaster. Similar open source tools such as Geo-Chat ([ 2 ][3], [ 3 ][4]) have been applied to disease outbreaks globally and to human rights issues in Burma ([ 4 ][5]), facilitating anonymous reporting of sexual violence, human trafficking, and child soldiers. Societal benefits of these technologies will broaden as more users revise methods for uploading, processing, visualizing, and interpreting data to inform public policy. 1. [↵][6] 1. C. C. Freifeld 2. et al ., PLoS Med. 7, e1000376 (2010). [OpenUrl][7][CrossRef][8][PubMed][9] 2. [↵][10] Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases, and Disasters (InSTEDD) ( ). 3. [↵][11] 1. D. Butler , Nat. News 10.1038/news.2009.187 (25 March 2009). doi:10.1038/news.2009.187 [OpenUrl][12][CrossRef][13] 4. [↵][14] Handheld Human Rights ([www.handheldhumanrights.org][15]/). [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.330.6011.1612 [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #ref-3 [5]: #ref-4 [6]: #xref-ref-1-1 "View reference 1 in text" [7]: {openurl}?query=rft.stitle%253DPLoS%2BMed%26rft.aulast%253DFreifeld%26rft.auinit1%253DC.%2BC.%26rft.volume%253D7%26rft.issue%253D12%26rft.spage%253De1000376%26rft.epage%253De1000376%26rft.atitle%253DParticipatory%2Bepidemiology%253A%2Buse%2Bof%2Bmobile%2Bphones%2Bfor%2Bcommunity-based%2Bhealth%2Breporting.%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1371%252Fjournal.pmed.1000376%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F21151888%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [8]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000376&link_type=DOI [9]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=21151888&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fsci%2F331%2F6020%2F1010.2.atom [10]: #xref-ref-2-1 "View reference 2 in text" [11]: #xref-ref-3-1 "View reference 3 in text" [12]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DNat.%2BNews%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1038%252Fnews.2009.187%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [13]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1038/news.2009.187&link_type=DOI [14]: #xref-ref-4-1 "View reference 4 in text" [15]: http://www.handheldhumanrights.org