From the Colorado Springs Business Journal:
Faculty researchers at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the University of California Irvine have received a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the effects of using online informal communication during disasters. The universities will create Project Hazards, Emergency Response and Online Information Communication, or HEROIC, to understand the role and effectiveness of informal communication. One of the topics under study is the role of micro-blogging sites, such as Twitter. The principal investigators -  Jeannette Sutton, senior research associate, UCCS Trauma, Health and Hazards Center, and Carter T. Butts, associate professor of sociology, UC Irvine, are already studying the aftermath of events from the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil spill along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

For the full story, please visit http://csbj.com/2011/02/01/uccs-uc-irvine-researchers-win-grant-to-study....