Press Reaction to Crowd Modelling Behaviour Paper

There has been quite a lot of press coverage on this research. There has been international press and other coverage where some journalists have completely missed the point!

Moral of story is that journalists may not be that intelligent and be careful what you say to the press.

It all started with the paper, A particle model of crowd behavior: Exploring the relationship between alcohol, crowd dynamics and violence (PDF), being published in the Journal of Aggression and Violent Behavior and another presented a paper at theÊInternational Crime Science Conference , London, July Ê17-18, 2008. "Exploring the effect of alcohol on simulated crown dynamics and violence using a particle model"

New Scientist and Science then picked up on this work and have reported on this research (July 2008).

Other examples of good press coverage are here:

Cardiff University Press Release.
Wales Online (PDF
New Zealand Herlad. (PDF)
Australian Herald Sun
Discovery Magazine
www.gizmodo.com.au
Simon Moore being interviewed on Nine To Noon Show, Radio New Zealand: "Redesigning Streets To Make Them 'Drunk Friendly' "

This work has recently been cited by South Wales Police/Cardiff City Council as an influence on their decision to pedestrianise St Mary Street and minimise trouble due to crowding in the nighttime economy. The Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College highlighted the work in the strategy documents, "Understanding Crowd Behaviour"as key in modelling and managing intoxicated crowds.

Unfortunately although the New Scientist Article covered the research well in the main text of the article the Headline "Designing Streets to Help Drunk People Get Home" misrepresents to work.

Here is the printed copy of the Aritcle (PDF version here) as it appears in New Scientist - please consult the online version (you have to subscrive to the New Scientist though) for more complete report and demo videos:

Now Welsh people have a reputation for being big drinkers and also just the "humour" of trying to help drunk people home was enough for many journalists around the world to take the misrepresentation to extremes:

Here are a few I have collected from around the world:

The funniest is the one on Anorak News (PDF of article here)
Another cracking one is from idle.slashdot.org (PDF of article here):
The UK free paper Metro noted the Welsh angle and refered to "Boffins to Redesign the Streets for Drunks" (PDF)
The Skwib insults the Welsh and hopes we can sort out london too!

Key Paper: A particle model of crowd behavior: Exploring the relationship between alcohol, crowd dynamics and violence (PDF), Moore, S. C., Flajslik, M., Rosin, P. L. & Marshall, D. (2008). Aggression and Violent Behavior, 13, pp413-422. ISSN 0162-8828