Research Project
AI-Enhanced Flood Storytelling
Mobilizing action and building resilience in underserved communities through narrative-driven AI.
The University of Alabama · Department of Computer Science
The Problem
Warnings don’t save lives. Stories do.
Current flood warning systems leave communities vulnerable due to a critical breakdown in risk communication. Despite robust scientific data, warnings fail to translate into protective behavior.
Our Approach
From data silos to actionable knowledge
A closed-loop pipeline: listen, explore, broadcast.
Listen
Social Media Analysis maps community sentiment, identifies confusion, and captures lived experiences in real time.
Explore
Conversational AI Geospatial Assistant synthesizes map layers on demand through plain-language dialogue.
Broadcast
Automated Infographic Generator produces clear, tailored public warnings grounded in verified data.
Goal: Empower decision-makers to mobilize equitable community resilience in real time.
System Design
Core Architecture
Knowledge Graph ("Heart")
- Serves as the core repository, grounds flood-risk explanations in validated concepts.
- Seed ontology expanded with LLM extraction and expert refinement; normalized structure enables semantic grounding and personalization.
Social Media Synthesizer ("Passages")
- Automatically gather public discussion based on users’ interests in flood-related topics from platforms such as Reddit and X/Twitter.
- Performs thematic + sentiment analysis.
- Extracts useful semantic triples to enrich the Knowledge Graph.
Storytelling Mode 1: AI-Powered Geospatial Assistant
- Conversational AI assistant enabling users to perform geospatial and conversational exploration using plain language.
- Graph Synthesis: Aggregates diverse data layers in real time to answer complex, multi-variable queries.
- Combined Reasoning: Leverages the Knowledge Graph to translate raw spatial data into coherent, context-aware advisories.
Storytelling Mode 2: Automated Infographic Generator
- Public Broadcasting: Distills raw data into diverse narratives for immediate public consumption (e.g., situation reports, warnings).
- Tailored Synthesis: Users customize tone and content, while the generator arranges synthesis across cards and visuals.
- Strictly Grounded: All generated content is anchored in the FLAI KG.
Key Contributions
What we built
A novel Human-in-the-Loop Knowledge Graph as the semantic brain for community-level flood resilience.
Social Media Surveillance pipeline to extract user interests, barriers, and lived experiences.
Dual AI Storytelling Modes—Conversational Assistant and Automated Infographic Generator—bridging technical flood data with plain-language narratives.
End-to-end platform connecting KGs and LLMs to transform scattered flood data into actionable, localized knowledge for underserved communities.
Publications
Research Output
Unifying Flood-Risk Communication: Empowering Community Leaders through AI-Enhanced, Contextualized Storytelling
Gong, J., et al. — Under review
Flood Ontology Construction through Human–AI Collaboration
Molnar, Shenglin Li, et al. — Under review
The People
Research Team
Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Project Lead
PI: PI
Dr. Shenglin Li
NLP & Ontology
PI: Co-PI
Margulan Baizhakiyp
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Spence Hanegan
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Austin Schrimsher
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Caleb Erickson
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Connor Kulawiak
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Fabricio Gutierrez Juarez
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Andrea Ramirez Molina
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Julian Garcia
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Project Lead
PI: PI
Dr. Shenglin Li
NLP & Ontology
PI: Co-PI
Margulan Baizhakiyp
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Spence Hanegan
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Austin Schrimsher
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Caleb Erickson
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Connor Kulawiak
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Fabricio Gutierrez Juarez
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Andrea Ramirez Molina
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Julian Garcia
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Project Lead
PI: PI
Dr. Shenglin Li
NLP & Ontology
PI: Co-PI
Margulan Baizhakiyp
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Spence Hanegan
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Austin Schrimsher
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Caleb Erickson
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong
Connor Kulawiak
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Fabricio Gutierrez Juarez
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Andrea Ramirez Molina
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Shenglin Li
Julian Garcia
Research Assistant
PI: Dr. Jiaqi Gong