News-Extracting Reader and Filter for Helping Emergency Responders Deliver Effective Results (NERFHERDER)

The frequency with which tweets are generated often increases during emergencies or major incidents, representing an external source of information that could be tapped by responders; however, accessing the right information at the right time to make actionable decisions is challenging due to the massive volume of data. To address this technology gap, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate funded the development of the News-Extracting Reader and Filter for Helping Emergency Responders Deliver Effective Results (NERFHERDER) tool. NERFHERDER was developed by ExoAnalytics Solutions Inc. to be a data-sifting social media ingestion system capable of helping first responders gain improved situational awareness from Twitter feeds without the persistent attention of the user. National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) conducted a technology demonstration of the NERFHERDER technology with emergency responders. This report provides results and feedback on the usability and functionality of the technology.