  Quality humanitarian information is essential for efficient, effective and
coordinated humanitarian responses. During crises, however, humanitarian
responders rarely have access to quality information in order to provide the
much-needed relief in a timely fashion. Traditional methods for the acquisition
and evaluation of humanitarian information typically confront challenges such
as poor accessibility, limited sources, and the capacity of monitoring and
documentation. The more recent emergence of user generated content from online
social platforms addressed some challenges faced by traditional methods, but it
also raised many concerns regarding information quality and verifiability,
among others, that affect both the public and humanitarian actors. This paper
provides an overview of information verification methods in literature and
reviews information collection and verification practices and tools used by
news agencies and humanitarian organizations. Twenty crowd-sourced information
projects in humanitarian and human rights nature are surveyed. We discuss the
findings and give recommendations for future research.
