Aurélie Congès, Alexis Evain, Olivier Chabiron, Col. Jacob Graham(USMC, R.), & Frédérick Benaben. (2020). Virtual Reality to Train for Crisis Management. In Amanda Hughes, Fiona McNeill, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2020 Conference Proceedings – 17th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 1100–1112). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: The EGCERSIS project aims at using virtual reality to improve the efficiency of the crisis management preparation phase. The idea is to tackle the drawbacks of regular crisis management exercises thanks to fully configurable scenarios taking place in digital twins of real critical sites. Virtual exercises will improve, among other things, the frequency, efficiency, and modularity of crisis management preparation, while reducing its costs. In this article, we demonstrate the idea of the project through a simple use-case taking place in a metro station and involving three crisis responders. By linking virtual exercises to our crisis management platform, we also want to demonstrate the usefulness of decision-support systems during a crisis.
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Henrik Berndt, Daniel Wessel, Lennard Willer, Michael Herczeg, & Tilo Mentler. (2018). Immersion and Presence in Virtual Reality Training for Mass Casualty Incidents. In Kees Boersma, & Brian Tomaszeski (Eds.), ISCRAM 2018 Conference Proceedings – 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 806–817). Rochester, NY (USA): Rochester Institute of Technology.
Abstract: Preparation for mass casualty incidents (MCIs) is highly important but difficult to accomplish. Incidents are rare, often complex, and training is costly. However, with the development of consumer grade virtual reality (VR) hardware, immersive training simulations have become affordable for competency training. To make simulations effective, users have to be immersed and feel present in the simulation. We have developed a VR training system for MCIs in a user centered design process with emergency personnel and further improved the system to increase immersion and presence. In an evaluation with eighteen paramedic trainees, we compare six hypothesized design improvements between the two simulations, such as using a menu or a simulated emergency bag for interaction. Results indicate clear user preferences of interaction styles related to immersion and presence in MCI VR simulations.
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Aurélie Congès, Frédérick Bénaben, Olivier Pierre, Francis Savic, Olivier Chabiron, & Matthieu Lauras. (2019). On the usage of Virtual Reality for Crisis Management exercises in Critical Industrial Sites. 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: EGCERSIS is a starting research program aiming at defining a virtual collaborative training space for crisis management. It should provide the users (first and second aid, firefighters, etc.) with a way to virtually perform operational and strategic tasks of crisis management in digital twins of critical infrastructures. The training system is structured according to four main components: (i) protocol and tools for digital twins generation, (ii) scenario editor dedicated to defining crisis use-cases within the modeled digital twins, (iii) integration with the technological crisis management platform (RIO-Suite), and (iv) monitoring component in charge of the continuous edition of dashboards (real-time and afterward). The main expected benefit of the EGCERSIS program is to create a breakthrough in the way training and exercises are performed in critical sites.
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Peng Xia, Ji Ruan, & Dave Parry. (2018). Virtual Reality for Emergency Healthcare Training. 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. 494–503). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
Abstract: Given the rising trend of natural and technological disasters in recent years, the demands for emergency responders are on the rise. One main challenge is how to cost-effectively train emergency responders. In this research, we aim to explore of the usage of Virtual Reality (VR) technology in an emergency healthcare training setting. We start with the following two research questions: (1) how to implement the VR technology to be used in the emergency healthcare training; and (2) how to evaluate the effectiveness of our implementation. To address the question (1), we construct emergency healthcare workflows from reference sources, convert them into process diagrams, and develop a VR software that allows users to carry out the processes in a virtual environment. To address question (2), we design an experiment that collect participants's personal data (features such as Age, Technical background etc.) and the performance data (such as timespan, avatar moving distance, etc.) generated during the training sessions. Ten participants were recruited and each performed three training sessions. We evaluate the data collected and have the following three conclusions: (a) despite the different personal features, the participants, after repeated trainings, can improve their performance with reduced timespan and moving distance; and (b) the technical background plays the most significant role among other features in affecting timespan in our VR-based training.
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Guido Te Brake, Rick Van Der Kleij, & Miranda Cornelissen. (2008). Distributed mobile teams: Effects of connectivity and map orientation on teamwork. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 642–650). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Fielded first responders are currently being equipped with support tools to improve their performance and safety. Novel information technology provides opportunities for improvement of task efficiency and situation awareness, but people can get in trouble when data networks fail. In this paper, we examine the effect of glitches in the data network on team performance and look into the strategies people use to cope with these disruptions. Teams of three responders collaborated in a search and rescue task, supported by a map showing their positions and the locations of victims. Data communication required for this support was interrupted, verbal communication remained possible. Two variants were used for the map: a north-up version and a heading-up version that was aligned with the orientation of the responder. Negative effects and changing strategies were found for the condition with interruptions, no differences were found for the two map variants.
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