The Durkheim Project

Co.Labs: “A new project, newly launched by DARPA and Dartmouth University, is trying something new: Data-mining social networks to spot patterns indicating suicidal behavior.
Called The Durkheim Project, named for the Victorian-era psychologist, it is asking veterans to offer their Twitter and Facebook authorization keys for an ambitious effort to match social media behavior with indications of suicidal thought. Veterans’ online behavior is then fed into a real-time analytics dashboard which predicts suicide risks and psychological episodes… The Durkheim Project is led by New Hampshire-based Patterns and Predictions, a Dartmouth University spin-off with close ties to academics there…
The Durkheim Project is part of DARPA’s Detection and Computational Analysis of Psychological Signals (DCAPS) project. DCAPS is a larger effort designed to harness predictive analytics for veteran mental health–and not just from social media. According to DARPA’s Russell Shilling’s program introduction, DCAPS is also developing algorithms that can data mine voice communications, daily eating and sleeping patterns, in-person social interactions, facial expressions, and emotional states for signs of suicidal thought. While participants in Durkheim won’t receive mental health assistance directly from the project, their contributions will go a long way toward treating suicidal veterans in the future….
The project launched on July 1; the number of veterans participating is not currently known but the finished number is expected to hover around 100,000.”