Knox tornado research and social media

Research by associate professor of geography John Knox on the use of Facebook to track tornado debris was one of our biggest stories of last year. A nice story this week on Knox and his research in his hometown paper in Birmingham, AL:

Knox's research can be applied to more than household debris. Toxic waste, for example. What would happen if a tornado hit a Superfund site?

"So maybe at some deep point in the future we'll be issuing watch boxes or warnings or something like that having to do with debris," he said. "That sounds kind of crazy, but it's one of those things that sounds dumb until it actually happens.

"So maybe it's a good thing we've done our research. Because if a tornado hits something where you really care where that stuff is going to fall -- it's not just shingles or photographs but something else -- it'll be something where they need to Google it real quick. And maybe they find our research … maybe someday that's going to happen. Maybe there will be a polygon having to do with debris."

Nice going. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.