Alexandre Ahmad, Olivier Balet, Jesse Himmelstein, Arjen Boin, Maaike Schaap, Paolo Brivio, et al. (2012). Interactive simulation technology for crisis management and training: The INDIGO project. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: To face the urgent need to train strategic and operational managers in dealing with complex crises, we are researching and developing an innovative decision support system to be used for crisis management and interactive crisis training. This paper provides an overview of current decision-support systems, simulation software and other technologies specifically designed to serve crisis managers. These findings inform the design of a new interactive simulation technology system, where a 3D Common Operational Picture (COP) is shared between tactile digital whiteboard in the command center and mobile devices in the field. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Brugghemans Bert, Milis Koen, & Van de Walle Bartel. (2013). Impact of the distribution and enrichment of information on the management and coordination of a human-made fast-burning crisis. In J. Geldermann and T. Müller S. Fortier F. F. T. Comes (Ed.), ISCRAM 2013 Conference Proceedings – 10th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 89–93). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: Post hoc evaluations made of crisis situations and exercises often point at communication as an important reason for the failure of the management and coordination of the crisis. Crisis managers have to deal with the problem that they (and all other actors in the field) don't have the right information to coordinate the efforts and solve the crisis situation. This paper examines the relation between the information available – more specifically the richness of the information and the distribution of the information – And the management and coordination of a typical man-made fast-burning crisis. The literature on decision making and situation awareness is reviewed and an experiment is conducted with 40 crisis managers in Belgium to assess the impact of the information. Initial results indicate a relationship between the ways a crisis team receives information and the achieved level of situation awareness, the difficulty of making decisions and the perceived complexity of the crisis.
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Nitesh Bharosa, & Marijn Janssen. (2009). Reconsidering information management roles and capabilities in disaster response decision-making units. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: When disaster strikes, the emerging task environment requires relief agencies to transform from autonomous mono-disciplinary organizations into interdependent multidisciplinary decision-making units. Evaluation studies reveal that adaptation of information management to the changing task environment is difficult resulting in poor information quality, indicating information was incorrect, outdated or even unavailable to relief workers. In this paper, we adopt a theory-driven approach to develop a set of information management roles and dynamic capabilities for disaster management. Building on the principles of advance structuring and dynamic adjustment, we develop a set of roles and capabilities, which we illustrate and extend using two field studies in the Netherlands. By studying regional relief workers in action, we found that in tactical disaster response decisionmaking units, several information management roles are not addressed and that information managers are preoccupied with information gathering and reporting, whereas information quality assurance is not on the agenda.
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Nitesh Bharosa, Jaco Appelman, & Peter De Bruin. (2007). Integrating technology in crisis response using an information manager: First lessons learned from field exercises in the Port of Rotterdam. In K. Nieuwenhuis P. B. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Intelligent Human Computer Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM 2007 Academic Proceedings Papers (pp. 63–70). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Integrating information technology (IT) in crisis management networks is a difficult and long-term endeavor. First responders must establish situational awareness and take decisions under time pressure with incomplete information. Partly, this can be mitigated by adopting more advanced IT, however practice shows that adoption is hampered because of the required change in routines and procedures. We believe that we can moderate a change in routines and stimulate the adoption of technology by introducing a new role: the information manager (IM). This paper presents some results of the first round of field observations. The main conclusion is that the IM is instrumental where it concerns, speeding up the process of establishing situational awareness and improving the information structures. In order to further improve the production of situational awareness we suggest that further research should address the issues of the internalization of process guidelines and enhancing the adaptability of information systems.
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Nitesh Bharosa, Sebastiaan Meijer, Marijn Janssen, & Fritjof Brave. (2010). Are we prepared? Experiences from developing dashboards for disaster preparation. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Relief agency managers show growing interest in dashboards for assessing multi-agency disaster preparedness. Yet, there is a dearth of research on the development and use of dashboards for disaster preparation. Consequently, information system architects in the disaster management domain have little guidance in developing dashboards. Here, dashboards refer to digitalized visualizations of performance indicators. In this paper, we discuss the experiences gained from an action research project on the development of dashboards for assessing disaster preparedness. The objective of this paper is to discuss experiences and tradeoffs extracted from the development of dashboards in practice. We organized a two-day gaming-simulation with relief agency managers for the evaluation of the dashboards. While the relief agency managers acknowledged the usefulness of dashboards in the disaster preparation process and expressed their intention to use these in practice, they suggested that the formulation and clustering of performance indicators requires further research.
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Seyed Hossein Chavoshi, Mahmoud Reza Delavar, Mahdieh Soleimani, & Motahareh Chavoshi. (2008). Toward developing an expert GIS for damage evaluation after an earthquake (case study: Tehran). In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 734–741). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In an earthquake disaster, having proper estimation about destructed buildings and the degree of destruction, can considerably facilitate decision-making and planning for disaster managers. Using this information, the managers can estimate disaster area and number of victims to determine and allocate required resources. Scientific studies and historical data show that the faults around Tehran, the capital of Iran, are capable to create strong earthquakes which would bring the largest damages in the world history to the city. So it is necessary to be prepared for a rapid and knowledge-based response to such an earthquake. Therefore, development of a knowledge-based model to estimate destruction of buildings is ongoing. The model is going to be developed by using different spatial data obtained from the buildings and its environment in Tehran. This paper outlines the initial results of this research.
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Louise K. Comfort, Brian Colella, Mark Voortman, Scott Connelly, Jill L. Drury, Gary L. Klein, et al. (2013). Real-time decision making in urgent events: Modeling options for action. In J. Geldermann and T. Müller S. Fortier F. F. T. Comes (Ed.), ISCRAM 2013 Conference Proceedings – 10th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 571–580). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: Decision making in extreme events presents a difficult challenge to emergency managers who are legally responsible for protecting life, property, and maintaining continuity of operations for their respective organizations or communities. Prior research has identified the benefits of gaining situation awareness in rapidly changing disaster contexts, but situation awareness is not always sufficient. We have investigated “option awareness” and the decision space to provide cognitive support for emergency managers to simulate computationally possible outcomes of different options before they make a decision. Employing a user-centered design process, we developed a computational model that rapidly generates ranges of likely outcomes for different options and displays them visually through a prototype decision-space interface that allows rapid comparison of the options. Feedback from emergency managers suggests that decision spaces may enable emergency managers to consider a wider range of options for decisions and may facilitate more targeted, effective decision making under uncertain conditions.
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Sherri L. Condon, & Jason R. Robinson. (2014). Communication media use in emergency response management. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 687–696). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: The communications of emergency response managers were tracked during simulated catastrophic events at a university campus in the Washington, D.C. region. Local, state, and federal response managers interacted with each other and with students using a variety of communication media in order to investigate the utility of new communication channels for emergency response management. Students and emergency managers interacted using a Twitter-like platform and a portal built with Ushahidi crowd-sourcing software. The emergency managers also used a chat interface that included private instant messaging, telephone, and the county's existing emergency web portal. Their media use was analyzed along with the functions of their communications, and the patterns that emerged are described and quantified.
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Dragos Datcu, & Leon J.M. Rothkrantz. (2008). A Dialog Action Manager for automatic crisis management. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 384–393). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: This paper presents the results of our research on the development of a Dialog Action Manager-DAM as part of a complex crisis management system. Imagine the utility of such an automatic system to detect the crisis and to provide support to people in contexts similar to what happened recently at the underground in London and Madrid. Preventing and handling the scenarios of terrorism and other crisis are nowadays maybe the most important issues for a modern and safe society. In order to automate the crisis support, DAM simulates the behavior of an employee at the crisis centre handling telephone calls from human observers. Firstly, the system has to mimic the natural support for the paradigm 'do you hear me?' and next for the paradigm 'do you understand me?'. The people witnessing the crisis event as well as human experts provide reports and expertise according to their observations and knowledge on the crisis. The system knowledge and the data communication follow the XML format specifications. The system is centered on the results of our previous work on creating a user-centered multimodal reporting tool that works on mobile devices. In our paper we describe the mechanisms for creating an automatic DAM system that is able to analyze the user messages, to identify and track the crisis contexts, to support dialogs for crisis information disambiguation and to generate feedback in the form of advice to the users. The reasoning is done by using a data frame and rule based system architecture and an alternative Bayesian Network approach. In the paper we also present a series of experiments we have attempted in our endeavor to correctly identify natural solutions for the crisis situations.
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Jerome A. Duval. (2008). WebEOC Resource Manager® a collaborative framework: Developing standard Resource Management processes for disaster relief. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (127). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: I will demonstrate ESi's WebEOC Resource Manager® tool, which enables users to catalog and deploy resources in a manner that is compliant with FEMA's National Incident Management System (NIMS). The system is a proven and tested deployed in over 25 states throughout the U.S. The tool provides real-time data sharing in a collaborative and fast-paced environment.
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Nicklaus A. Giacobe, & Pamela J. Soule. (2014). Social media for the emergency manager in disaster planning and response. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 570–574). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: This practitioner paper outlines some of the benefits for the use of social media, from the perspective of a local-level or county-level emergency manager (EM). As compared to state and national level emergency management, because local level EMs have limited manpower and resources, social media can positively or negatively impact the effectiveness of communication before, during and after disaster strikes. Outlined in this paper are six key points where local EMs have specific needs that could be addressed by the effective use of social media and, in the opinion of the authors, represent the top issues that EMs face when considering how to leverage Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other social media platforms. The six needs addressed in this paper include: 1) Best practices for general social media use by EMs, 2) Social media use for internal command and control within the EM group, 3) Developing situation awareness by monitoring social media, especially prior to predicable events, 4) Communicating disaster preparedness messages through social media, 5)Using social media for gathering damage assessment information during, or immediately following a crisis,and 6) Leveraging social media volunteer groups. This short paper picks up where the Federal Emergency Management Agency's social media training leaves off and attempts to represent these six needs as use cases for researchers and developers to address in future publications and products.
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Anna Gryszkiewicz, & Fang Chen. (2010). Design requirements for information sharing in a crisis management command and control centre. In C. Zobel B. T. S. French (Ed.), ISCRAM 2010 – 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Defining Crisis Management 3.0, Proceedings. Seattle, WA: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Good support for information sharing and processing is essential for successful crisis management. A crisis manager handles information from many different sources and collaborates with many different actors. This study is therefore focusing on specifying some needs and requirements for information support systems for crisis management command and control centres. The study is based on case studies and interviews in Sweden with the aim to understand how information processing best can be supported from a crisis manager's perspective. The needs and requirements found in the study can be used in future system design or improvement.
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Rita Kovordanyi, Rudolf Schreiner, Jelle Pelfrene, Johan Jenvald, Henrik Eriksson, Amy Rankin, et al. (2012). Real-time support for exercise managers' situation assessment and decision making. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: Exercise managers and instructors have a particularly challenging task in monitoring and controlling on-going exercises, which may involve multiple response teams and organizations in highly complex and continuously evolving crisis situations. Managers and instructors must handle potentially incomplete and conflicting field-observation data and make decisions in real-time in order to control the flow of the exercise and to keep it in line with the training objectives. In simulation-based exercises, managers and instructors have access to a rich set of real-time data, with an increased potential to closely monitor the trainees' actions, and to keep the exercise on track. To assist exercise managers and instructors, data about the on-going exercise can be filtered, aggregated and refined by real-time decision-support systems. We have developed a model and a prototype decision-support system, using stream-based reasoning to assist exercise managers and instructors in real-time. The approach takes advantage of topic maps for ontological representation and a complex-event processing engine for analyzing the data stream from a virtual-reality simulator for crisis-management training. Aggregated data is presented both on-screen, in Twitter, and in the form of topic maps. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Kathleen A. Moore, Andrea H. Tapia, & Christopher Griffin. (2013). Research in progress: Understanding how emergency managers evaluate crowdsourced data: A trust game-based approach. In J. Geldermann and T. Müller S. Fortier F. F. T. Comes (Ed.), ISCRAM 2013 Conference Proceedings – 10th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 272–277). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: The use, or barriers to use, of crowdsourced data by emergency managers has been a significant topic of scholarly discussion during the past several years. The single strongest barrier to use has been identified as one of data quality (Tapia, et. al, 2011). We argue that within this environment the Emergency Manager (EM) acts as a decision-maker and evaluator of crowdsourced data. The final judgement on whether to incorporate crowdsourced data into a Crisis response lies with the EM. In this paper we make a brief argument for the role of EM as trustworthy data analyst and then propose a model for capturing the trust-analytical behavior through game theory (Griffin, et. al, 2012). Lastly, we propose a simple computer game, which uses our model through which we will capture EM trust-analytical behavior though a future empirical data collection effort.
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Willem J. Muhren, & Bartel A. Van De Walle. (2009). Sensemaking and information management in humanitarian disaster response: Observations from the TRIPLEX exercise. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: The United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) system is designed to assist the United Nations in providing information during the first phase of a sudden-onset emergency and in the coordination of incoming international relief at the site of the emergency. In the immediate aftermath of such an emergency, the UNDAC team will set up an On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC) from where the operational activities of the humanitarian organizations responding to the emergency are coordinated. Information management is a key aspect in this phase as the information gathering, processing, and disseminating activities will determine the timeliness and appropriateness of the response by the international humanitarian community. Through participatory observation in the international humanitarian “TRIPLEX” exercise we explore how information managers in the OSOCC make sense of the disaster, how the immediate needs are assessed, and discuss how information systems could improve Sensemaking in these activities.
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Tommi Juhani Tapanainen, & Olivier Lisein. (2016). IT manager leadership during crisis situations: Lessons from real-life crisis management in IT functions during natural disasters. In A. Tapia, P. Antunes, V.A. Bañuls, K. Moore, & J. Porto (Eds.), ISCRAM 2016 Conference Proceedings ? 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Abstract: Natural disasters are destructive events, but can also give opportunities for learning in crisis management for organizational information technology (IT) functions. In their role as stewards of company data and IT, it is important that IT managers participate in crisis management activities. However, the role of IT managers in crisis management is not well understood, particularly in crisis response. An understanding on how IT managers lead during crisis situations, not only on how they prepare for these events, can help in devising recommendations and training that improves IT manager crisis response.
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