Hi All,
We have an unconventional, but well-vetted idea for tackling this pandemic that needs your help! Imagine if people could compare the virus exposure risks associated with different daily travel destinations? Would you drive an extra mile for beer if it meant going to a store with a lower coronavirus infection risk? The single greatest determinant of a pandemic’s toll is human behavior, not how contagious or deadly a virus is. We think there's a way to reduce global risks while increasing individual autonomy, avoiding compulsory lockdowns and other extreme measures with questionable effectiveness. For example, if a person intends to shop for groceries and is provided with alternative destinations that have lower exposure risks, they might be sufficiently motivated to drive further so they can shop at a location where they are less likely to become infected. So one implementation of this approach involves extending a navigation app to display the estimated transmission risks associated with a set of similar destinations. This is where we need your help. We (including an epidemiologist, virologist, and population flow scientist) are developing an open source destination risk estimator that relies on a virus model, venue model (grocery store, movie theater, etc), and real-time population flow data. We’d like to embed that in navigation apps so people can make informed decisions about where (and when) to go places to reduce their virus exposure risks. Here's an example of what this might look like: If there is anyone interested in this idea, perhaps you could help us identify an OSM-based platform that could be used to pilot this? And, of course, we'd welcome any other feedback. Ultimately, we would like this capability to be deployed in as many navigation apps as possible. Microsoft is supporting the development of our risk model without any strings attached, and through that relationship, we may be able to provide access to realtime population data via a traffic flow API. I realize some may view corporate involvement as antithetical to the open source movement, but we envision an inclusive future for data science that derives successes from synergies between the cathedral *and* the bazaar. Read more about our approach at civium.io. If you are on board, we'd love to have you involved to help pioneer this pandemic intervention. As they say, "it takes a village". Best wishes, Pietro [image: Human Computation Institute] <http://hcinst.org/> Pietro Michelucci, PhD / Director [email protected] / 571.235.3288 Human Computation Institute http://humancomputation.org [image: Facebook] <https://about.me/pmichelu>[image: Twitter] <https://twitter.com/pmichelu>[image: Linkedin] <https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelucci>
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