Healthcare Magazine April 2015 | Page 10

TECHNOLOGY

‘ Social media data could potentially inform early warning systems and outbreak response ’

and the Skoll Global Threats Fund . The effort is supported with private funds to demonstrate its utility for multiple sectors that work together on pandemic preparedness . The information on the site is available to public health officials , researchers , disaster planning organizations and anyone else who may find the information useful .
“ There are real opportunities for using this data that is scattered across
the Web in news , blogs , chat rooms and social media ,” John Brownstein , HealthMap co-founder and associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School , told Emergency Management in a recent interview . “ We ’ re focused on collecting all that information using data scraping , machine learning and other processes and combining it into one platform that will enable clinicians , public health practitioners and consumers to see
10 April 2015