The E-CITIJENS 2nd Project and Steering Committee Meeting was held online on Friday 11 December between 9:30 and 13:00.
Partners reviewed project progress and discussed the activities to be carried out in the future. The Consortium is now fully engaged with the creation of a cross-border Emergency Decision Support System (EDSS) based on different sources of information, including citizens’ text messages provided via social media channels. The system's hardware and software specifications are in their way to be defined by the scientific partners of the project, University of Bologna and University of Split. In particular, the two universities are creating an emergency taxonomy including keywords and tags classified into four specific risk categories: earthquakes, floods, forest fires and, following the Covid-19 crisis, health-related issues. The terminology will be adapted and translated to each project language (Italian and Croatian) and for a wider, cross-border dissemination in English as well.
Meanwhile the technical partners (Molise Region, project coordinator, Veneto Region and EuRelations EEIG) are developing a platform that, through a mathematical model, will collect and match these data with institutionally sourced ones, and that will later be tested and assessed through pilot activities coordinated by the Veneto Region. Afterwards, the Split and Dalmatia County will coordinate the release of the EDSS Platform and will make sure to transfer the related knowledge to stakeholders via capacity building actions. The goal of these actions will be to elaborate a cross-border Emergency Services Regulatory Framework and develop both an Adoption Plan of the EDSS Platform and related legislation.
Along with technical and scientific undertakings, the Consortium is also developing a Citizenship Awareness Campaign, coordinated by the Adriatic Ionian Euroregion and implemented in collaboration with a work group comprising the Split-Dalmatia County, the Veneto Region, the Municipality of Pescara and the Agency for Rural Development of Zadar County (AGGRA). The Campaign aims at activating selected subgroups of population as “active sensors” of emergencies and improving their knowledge of risks with a view to influencing their attitudes and behaviour during hazardous occurrences. The Campaign will thus stimulate the participation of Italian and Croatian citizens in risk prevention, monitoring and crisis management, using the information that they make public through the social media (citizen journalism). The Campaign foresees the organization of Work Cafés and Info Days as well as Pilot Deployments across the territories involved in the project.
