Aladdin Shamoug, Stephen Cranefield, & Grant Dick. (2018). Information Retrieval for Humanitarian Crises via a Semantically Classified Word Embedding. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 132–144). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: Decision-makers in humanitarian crisis need information to guide them in making critical decisions. Finding information in such environments is a challenging task. Therefore, decision-makers rely on domain experts who possess experience and knowledge from previous humanitarian crises to provide them with the information they need. In this paper, we explore the ability of the existing computing technologies to augment the capabilities of those experts and help decision-makers to make faster and better decisions. Among many computing technologies we have today, word embedding and the semantic web are able to support such augmentation of the domain expert. In this paper, we train a word embedding model using word2vec, transform words and terms from news archive to entities in domain ontology, annotate those entities with their equivalent concepts from upper ontologies, and reason about them using semantic similarity and semantic matching, to represent and retrieve knowledge, and answer questions of interest to decision-makers in humanitarian crises. The approach was evaluated by comparing the use of word embeddings with and without semantic classification for the retrieval of information about the current humanitarian crisis in Syria.
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Briony Gray, Mark Weal, & David Martin. (2018). Supporting Situational Awareness during Disasters: The Case of Hurricane Irma. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 123–131). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: In a rapidly globalizing world, disasters and the way in which they are managed are changing. Social media, in conjunction with other online resources, now provide a wealth of information throughout the lifecycle of disasters and are relied upon by individuals and emergency responders alike. The study of such data as a lens for analysis has proved valuable in recent years, with many contributing to targeted emergency response protocols and improved methods for the management strategies of future crises. This study seeks to make a similar contribution by reporting on the use of such data for situational awareness during the case of hurricane Irma, which occurred between September and August 2017. Using a mixed methods approach the paper examines data from social media such as Twitter, as well as other online sources such as blogs and news media, to provide original insight into the disaster. A conceptual framework is then applied to determine the uses and users of social media, and to identify how these change throughout the course of the disaster, thus demonstrating situational awareness over time. The paper concludes with proposed improvements for disaster management and emergency response for future similar disasters, specifically in the hurricane season, in addition to more generalized hazards which are predicted to increase in their frequency and severity due to underlying issues such as climate change.
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Emma Hudson-Doyle, Douglas Paton, & David Johnston. (2018). Reflections on the communication of uncertainty: developing decision-relevant information. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 166–189). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: Successful emergency management decision-making during natural hazard events is fundamentally dependent upon individual and team situation awareness (i.e., how selection, interpretation, and understanding of available information defines the problem and identifies solutions) while operating under high time and risk pressures. The development and evolution of SA, and response effectiveness during a crisis, depends upon information and advice from external experts. This advice is characterised by stochastic (system variability) and epistemic (lack of knowledge) uncertainty, constraining decision-making and blocking or delaying action. How this uncertainty is communicated, and managed, varies throughout the phases of emergency management. Through this 'Insight' paper, we review how people cope with uncertainty, individual and team factors that affect uncertainty communication, and inter-agency methods to enhance communication. We propose communicators move from a one-way dissemination of advice, towards two-way and participatory approaches that identify decision-relevant uncertainty information needs pre-event, for communication efforts to focus on in-event.
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Gavin Treadgold, James Gunn, Paul Morton, & Simon Chambers. (2018). Developing a regional approach and strategy for geographical information systems for emergency management. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 190–199). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: This paper outlines practitioner work-in-progress in Canterbury, New Zealand, to develop a regional approach for geographical information systems (GIS) for emergency management. This is based upon recent events in Canterbury including earthquakes, floods, and fire; as well as New Zealand-wide work that is being done under the NZ GIS4EM banner. It introduces our approach, discusses a mind map that is being used to track desired data sets, plans to develop applications to support response functions in emergency operations centres, and the goal of using the common data sets as the basis of a common operating picture for Canterbury. Risks and issues associated with this work are highlighted, and then the draft strategy is introduced with desired outcomes and principles to achieve this goal. While initial work is primarily focused on GIS, the expectation is that the approach will be expanded to take a broader information management perspective in future.
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Ilan Noy, Jacob Pastor Paz, Olga Filippova, & Ken Elwood. (2018). A Building Inventory for Seismic Policy in an Earthquake-Prone City. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 145–152). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: We describe the creation of a building inventory database that is created for Wellington, New Zealand's earthquake-prone capital city. This database aims to assist the generation of research on the risks, impacts, and viable solutions for reducing the seismic risk of existing multi-story concrete buildings in Wellington's Central Business District. The database includes structural, economic and market information on every building in the CDB. Its primary purpose is to inform a multi-disciplinary project whose aims are: (1) to provide best scientific knowledge about the expected seismic performance of concrete buildings; (2) to assess the impact of multiple building failures including the downstream consequences of associated cordoning; (3) to provide a path for seismic retrofitting that includes prioritization of retrofits; and (4) to inform the design of a regulatory structure that can facilitate the reduction of risk associated with earthquake vulnerable concrete buildings as described in aims (1)-(3).
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Joanne Stevenson, Ellie Kay, Chris Bowie, Vivienne Ivory, & John Vargo. (2018). The Data Challenges of Monitoring Resilience. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 153–165). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: There is a growing global demand for planning and development interventions aimed at enhancing the resilience of human systems. Coinciding with this demand for resilience enhancement is the demand for rigorous monitoring and evaluation of resilience and of the efficacy of resilience interventions. The aim of these assessments is to help decision makers prioritise inputs in a way that will result in the greatest reduction of mortality, health effects, and economic losses. As a result, there is an almost insatiable hunger for data that can improve our understanding of the resilience of human systems in the face of disasters. This paper reflects on two ongoing projects that are part of the 'Resilience Trajectories' programme of the Resilience to Nature's Challenges National Science Challenge. The first project, the creation of a New Zealand Resilience Index, is used to illustrate the data-related challenges and limitations of quantitative resilience assessments. We argue that composite indicators are useful aids for having a robust discussion about resilience, but high-level indicators must be supplemented with local knowledge and contextual information to facilitate meaningful decision making. The second project, the Data Integration and Visualisation En Masse (DIVE) web-based data catalogue, presents a partial solution to some of the resilience data challenges we have observed in the creation of the national index.
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Nadeera Ahagama, & Raj Prasanna. (2018). Disaster Knowledge Transfer in Networks: Enablers and Barriers. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 110–122). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: Most countries are now establishing multi-stakeholder, multi-institutional networks and partnerships to respond to flood disasters. The paucity of research directed towards knowledge transfer in networks keeps some important research questions unanswered. These include (1) how the knowledge of a certain disaster management stakeholder (or a group) is transferred to other stakeholders during the disaster response, and (2) what are the barriers and enablers of knowledge transfer in multi-stakeholder environments. This article analyses knowledge transfer practices employed by a selected local government agency and a community group in Sri Lanka and reflects on the practices with the help of Hedlund's Knowledge Management Model (1994). The grounded theory analysis was used in this study to present the enablers and barriers of knowledge transfer in this context and the findings have a great potential to be used in future research towards developing knowledge management models specific to disaster response.
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