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David Paulus, Kenny Meesters, & Bartel Van de Walle. (2018). Turning data into action: supporting humanitarian field workers with open data. In Kees Boersma, & Brian Tomaszeski (Eds.), ISCRAM 2018 Conference Proceedings – 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 1030–1039). Rochester, NY (USA): Rochester Institute of Technology.
Abstract: In the aftermath of disasters, information is of the essence for humanitarian decision makers in the field. Their concrete information needs is highly context-influenced and often they find themselves unable to access the right information at the right time. We propose a novel ICT-based approach to address these information needs more accurately. First, we select a group of in-field decision makers and collect their concrete information needs in the disaster aftermath. We then review to what extent existing data and tools can already address these needs. We conclude that existing solutions fall short in meeting important information needs of the selected group. We describe the design of an information system prototype to address these gaps more accurately. We combine data of the International Aid Transparency Initiative and the Humanitarian Data Exchange to form the data-backend of our system. We describe our implementation approach and evaluation plan.
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David Paulus, Kenny Meesters, Gerdien de Vries, & Bartel Van de Walle. (2019). The reciprocity of data integration in disaster risk analysis. In Z. Franco, J. J. González, & J. H. Canós (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management. Valencia, Spain: Iscram.
Abstract: Humanitarian organizations are increasingly challenged by the amount of data available to drive their decisions. Useful data can come from many sources, exists in different formats, and merging it into a basis for analysis and planning often exceeds organizations? capacities and resources. At the same time, affected communities? participation in decision making processes is often hindered by a lack of information and data literacy capacities within the communities. We describe a participatory disaster risk analysis project in the central Philippines where the community and a humanitarian NGO worked towards a joint understanding of disaster risks and coping capacities through data integration and IT-supported analysis. We present findings from workshops, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews, showing the reciprocal effects of the collaborative work. While the community valued the systematically gathered and structured evidence that supported their own risk perceptions and advocacy efforts, the humanitarian NGO revisited established work practices for data collection for analysis and planning.
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Dick Ooms, Willem-Jan van den Heuvel, & Bartel Van de Walle. (2018). A Conceptual Framework for Civil-Military Interaction in Peace Support Operations. In Kees Boersma, & Brian Tomaszeski (Eds.), ISCRAM 2018 Conference Proceedings – 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 1003–1015). Rochester, NY (USA): Rochester Institute of Technology.
Abstract: In complex emergencies, civil and military organizations often find themselves being partners in an international effort aimed at peace keeping, humanitarian relief, and development support. Civil and military partners need to exchange information and to cooperate as required. This assumes effective and efficient Civil-Military Interaction (CMI). However, CMI research literature shows that, in practice, this is far from a reality. In particular, our research indicates that deficiencies in knowledge processes and knowledge management within international civil and military organizations contribute to the causes of ineffective and inefficient CMI. Our research aims to investigate the feasibility of developing technical solutions exploiting knowledge engineering, to support fieldworkers in overcoming these CMI problems. As a first step, this paper introduces a Conceptual Framework (CF) that captures reference models of the CMI domain. The CF has been developed to analyze CMI problems and underlying KM deficiencies. It is being illustrated, explored and validated using real-world case studies.
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Erica Gralla, Jarrod Goentzel, & Bartel Van de Walle. (2015). Understanding the information needs of field-based decision-makers in humanitarian response to sudden onset disasters. In L. Palen, M. Buscher, T. Comes, & A. Hughes (Eds.), ISCRAM 2015 Conference Proceedings ? 12th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Kristiansand, Norway: University of Agder (UiA).
Abstract: The development and spread of new technology and the internet has opened a new world of possibilities to gather data and create information in a crisis. However, it is not clear which information field managers require to make the best possible decisions. As a result, it is difficult for volunteers, technology developers, and others, to collect and analyze data that results in information that is accessible and actionable for decision makers. To understand the information requirements of humanitarian responders, a workshop was conducted, bringing together eighteen experienced humanitarian responders. The results of the workshop include preliminary frameworks for decisions and information requirements that are common during the initial phases of a sudden onset disaster. These frameworks will help volunteer and technical communities to understand the information field decision-makers require to make the best possible decisions.
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Laura Laguna Salvadó, Matthieu Lauras, Tina Comes, & Bartel Van de Walle. (2015). Towards More Relevant Research on Humanitarian Disaster Management Coordination. In L. Palen, M. Buscher, T. Comes, & A. Hughes (Eds.), ISCRAM 2015 Conference Proceedings ? 12th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Kristiansand, Norway: University of Agder (UiA).
Abstract: Humanitarian crisis require a responsive and agile response. The number of professional and volunteer organization involved in the response to humanitarian disasters has increased over the past year, making coordination more important than ever before. This paper discusses the main issues of Humanitarian Disaster Management (HDM) coordination and the different modes applied on the field. We argue that while these challenges have been addressed by scientific literature with dedicated solutions, there is still a considerable gap between humanitarian best practice and academic state of the art.
This paper proposes a field-oriented methodology to bridge this gap. We analyze the findings from field research on the Typhoon Haiyan response (Philippines, 2013) and deduce practitioners? requirements for HDM coordination support systems. Then we suggest a research agenda from a gap analysis comparing requirements with the existing solutions and the scientific approaches.
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