Analysis of Public Interest in Rip Currents using Google Trends
Standing
Undergraduate
Type of Proposal
Visual Presentation (Poster, Installation, Demonstration)
Faculty
Faculty of Science
Faculty Sponsor
Chris Houser
Proposal
Each year more people die due to rip current related drownings than to sensationalized natural hazards including avalanches and volcanos, however, the awareness and interest in rip currents is far less. Newspaper articles of various rip current related events both rescues and deaths were collected. The dates of the articles and events were matched in a google trend search to observe how the public reacted to the event verse the news article, and how the interest decayed over time. Hydrographs were plotted with a baseline of interest around the event and the public responded over time is studied. Preliminary results suggest that a lag period of one day after the article is released occurs. The data also suggests that the public responds to the article rather than the event itself and the interest decays to baseline values within one week. The next step will be to complete the same study on other natural hazards, to determine if there is a need to increase rip current awareness.
Location
University of Windsor
Grand Challenges
Viable, Healthy and Safe Communities
Analysis of Public Interest in Rip Currents using Google Trends
University of Windsor
Each year more people die due to rip current related drownings than to sensationalized natural hazards including avalanches and volcanos, however, the awareness and interest in rip currents is far less. Newspaper articles of various rip current related events both rescues and deaths were collected. The dates of the articles and events were matched in a google trend search to observe how the public reacted to the event verse the news article, and how the interest decayed over time. Hydrographs were plotted with a baseline of interest around the event and the public responded over time is studied. Preliminary results suggest that a lag period of one day after the article is released occurs. The data also suggests that the public responds to the article rather than the event itself and the interest decays to baseline values within one week. The next step will be to complete the same study on other natural hazards, to determine if there is a need to increase rip current awareness.