Tim J. Grant, & Ariën J. Van Der Wal. (2012). A taxonomy of market mechanisms for information sharing in crisis response coalitions. 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: Information sharing is crucial in responding to and managing crises. A great variety of organizations respond to crises, ranging from international organizations, through non-governmental organizations, commercial suppliers, government ministries, and the media, to individual volunteers. At best, they collaborate to combine their respective strengths in creating synergy. At worst, they deconflict their operations so that the one does not get in the way of the other. In either case, the organizations must communicate with one another. Previous research has shown that this communication takes the form of an information market. This paper considers the possible mechanisms for information markets in humanitarian and military coalitions. While there has been work on market mechanisms in the economics literature, this needs to be adapted for the exchange of information and information services instead of physical goods and services. This paper proposes a taxonomy of market mechanisms that is tailored to information sharing within coalitions. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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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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Lucy T. Gunawan, Martin Voshell, Stijn Oomes, & David D. Woods. (2007). Envisioning collaboration at a distance for the evacuation of walking wounded. 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. 431–437). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: The “walking wounded” is a category of disaster victims that can help themselves in finding their way to safety. The problem we address here is how first responders, walking wounded, and other rescue personnel can coordinate their joint activities more efficiently in order to accomplish the evacuation as quickly as possible. We focus our design on the “coordination loops” in the disaster response organization, both vertically across levels of authority, and horizontally among responders in the same echelon. In our envisioned scenario of a chemical accident we identify the most important interactions through which activities are coordinated that are crucial for a successful evacuation. We propose three different “coordination devices” that can be used by the walking wounded, the rescuers in the fields, and the people in the command center. We believe our approach, explicitly designing support systems for coordination first, will lead to important improvements in the daily practice of disaster response.
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Hans Jochen Scholl, & Sarah L. Carnes. (2017). Managerial Challenges in Early Disaster Response: The Case of the 2014 Oso/SR530 Landslide Disaster. In eds Aurélie Montarnal Matthieu Lauras Chihab Hanachi F. B. Tina Comes (Ed.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management (pp. 961–972). Albi, France: Iscram.
Abstract: The larger the scale, scope, and duration of a disaster, the higher is the number of response units. However, with more units involved in the response also the heterogeneity of responder units drastically increases in terms of capabilities, experiences, practices, techniques, tactics, and procedures. As a result, the coordination and overall management of the response becomes an increasingly challenging endeavor. In the response to the 2014 Oso/SR530 landslide disaster in Washington State over one hundred agencies were involved, which presented a huge coordination task for the incident command. This empirical study is exploratory and focuses on the activities and interactions of professional responders, particularly, in the early phases of the response. It amends and complements previous studies on the subject by identifying and describing in detail various challenges in the early response. It also discusses recommendations on how to tackle and potentially mitigate the challenges identified in future responses.
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Henke, S., Widera, A., & Hellingrath, B. (2023). Evaluation-driven Disaster Management Exercises: A Collaborative Toolkit. In Jaziar Radianti, Ioannis Dokas, Nicolas Lalone, & Deepak Khazanchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 989–999). Omaha, USA: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Abstract: Disaster management exercises are a core component of humanitarian organizations’ preparedness strategies. They entail diverse purposes, from training capabilities of participants to testing response plans to enhancing collaboration between organizations and many more. However, it is uncertain how much exercises contribute to preparedness. Rigorous evaluation is needed to exploit learning opportunities of an exercise. Therefore, exercises must target evaluable objectives, which is complicated by the socio-technical openness of the exercise system, the heterogeneity of organizational needs, and the scarcity of resources. Many different tools aim to support evaluation but are limited to specific use cases, resulting in a fragmented overview for practitioners. Due to the excessive effort involved, practitioners often consider exercise evaluation to be of secondary importance. This study thus proposes the conceptual design of a combined toolkit that supports the practitioners in a more rigorous but resource-efficient evaluation to make disaster management exercises more evaluation-driven.
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Ivar Svare Holand, Peter Mozelius, & Trond Olav Skevik. (2021). A structured and dynamic model for emergency management exercises. In Anouck Adrot, Rob Grace, Kathleen Moore, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2021 Conference Proceedings – 18th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 186–197). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Emergencies are management challenges, and emergency exercises that involve multiple collaborating parties is a means towards mastering them. Such exercises are often conducted in a virtual training environment based on complex disaster scenarios. The reported study was carried out using a requirement-focused design approach. The aim was to describe and discuss a relevant design for lean, dynamic, and cost-efficient emergency management exercise systems. Data were gathered from a literature study and analyses of earlier emergency management projects in which the authors had participated. Despite the complexity of many current emergency management exercises, the scenarios usually involve only the response phases and have a linear structure that hinders both didactic aspects and the software structure. The conclusion drawn from the study is that an emergency management exercise model should focus on managing the activities that correspond to alternatives that unfold from a dynamic scenario. Finally, the authors recommend the principles of alternate reality games as a way towards more dynamic and cost-efficient emergency exercise systems.
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John Sabou, & Simeon Videlov. (2016). An Analysis on the Role of Trust in Digital Humanitarian Actor Networks. 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: This paper explores the difficulties of collaboration between Volunteer and Technical Communities (V&TCs) and Humanitarian Response Organisations (HROs). The phenomenon of digital volunteers and their role in collecting and analyzing social media data provided by disaster affected populations has brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges to the humanitarian system. Central to these processes are the risks and vulnerabilities that these transformations might bring to existing humanitarian actors. Thus, this paper draws upon the work of Anthony Giddens regarding trust to account for the ongoing relational dynamics, and the unpacking of both it's institutional and inter-personal dimensions. The paper identifies two major approaches underlying their collaborative efforts. The first approach concerns a top-down and centralized process of developing a institutionalized forms of interfacing; while the second concerns the development of interpersonal relational infrastructure.
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Katrina Petersen. (2015). Visualizing Risk: making sense of collaborative disaster mapping. 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: This paper examines the relationship between collaborative disaster mapping and conceptions of risk. It looks at improvised mapmaking during the 2007 wildfires in Southern California to identify and analyze social and technological issues in creating a shared understanding through collaboration. By comparing and contrasting two different, yet intertwined, mapping practices this paper focuses on how the distribution of social and technological actors change how risk, threat, and uncertainty are approached. One, more centralized mapmaking collaboration produced risks related to managing authority and security. The other, more distributed collaboration, produced risks related to public trust and safety. This paper argues that map-making is characterized as a messy, distributed network of knowledge production in which the meaning of risk emerges through the unplanned collaborations that evolve as those involved work to make sense of the wildfires, not as an a-priori definition.
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Katrina Petersen. (2019). Managing Risk Across Borders: ethical implications of engaging information technology for transboundary disaster collaboration. 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: Disaster management is increasingly becoming a project in managing diversity, from cross-organisational collaboration to inclusivity of voices. This is particularly prevalent when dealing with transboundary risks. New information technologies support these transboundary interactions by compiling diverse information and sources to build collaborative insight beyond what any individual organisation can know. This paper explores the ethical concerns that planners and responders face as they work with these collaborative information technologies to engage with data from other organisations, based in different data frameworks, socio-political priorities, goals, and cultures of risk. It draws on the ethical impact assessment of a cross-border collaborative crisis planning platform currently under development in the H2020 project IN-PREP to examine ethical tensions around equity, inclusion, diversity, solidarity, accountability and transparency. It discusses the consequences of such design foci for an agency?s ability to notice ethical risks that emerge from working in diversity.
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Kristoffer Karl Darin-Mattsson, & Niklas Hallberg. (2019). Do's and Don'ts in Inter-Organizational Crisis Management Exercises. 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: It is commonly assumed that conducting exercises will contribute to better crisis management. However, the exact mechanisms of cause and effect are hard to isolate empirically. The objective of this paper is to compile and analyze the recommendations in the literature on inter-organizational exercises and learning. While not claiming to meet the strict scientific demand of empirical validation and general applicability, the compilation may nevertheless provide some guidance from research to practitioners. Forty-four papers about learning in interorganizational exercises were analyzed. Out of the analyzed papers, 28 discussed obstacles or success factors.
However, the recommendations applicable in one setting are not automatically valid in others, and some are even contradictory. The recommendations have therefore been categorized according to two criteria; when in the exercise cycle and for whom they apply. Several recommendations concern individual learning, but maximizing individual learning can sometimes hamper learning on the organizational level.
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Craig E. Kuziemsky, Ahsan Hadi, Tracey L. O'Sullivan, Daniel E. Lane, & Wayne Corneil. (2014). An ontology for contextual information system design. 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. 165–169). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: Collaborative teamwork is becoming more common in several domains including healthcare and disaster management. While collaborative teamwork can benefit from information system (IS) support, designing IS models to support collaboration is a significant challenge owing to the variations in tasks and people that must be supported, and the different contexts within which collaboration takes place. Collaborative teamwork can vary greatly because of context, which is the integration of diverse, dynamic, and heterogeneous needs for groups to achieve a specific goal. However in the literature there has been limited emphasis on how contextual underpinnings can be incorporated into IS design. This paper uses a case study of the design of a user-driven prototype disaster management IS. We used the think aloud method to capture participant thoughts while interacting with the IS prototype. The think aloud data was analyzed and used to develop an ontology of contextual considerations to support IS design.
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Daniel E. Lane, Tracey L. O'Sullivan, Craig E. Kuziemsky, Fikret Berkes, & Anthony Charles. (2013). A structured equation model of collaborative community response. 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. 906–911). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: This paper analyses the collaborative dynamic of community in response to urgent situations. Community emergencies arising from natural or man-induced threats are considered as exogenous events that stimulate community resources to be unified around the response, action, and recovery activities related to the emergency. A structured equation model is derived to depict the actions of the community system. The system is described in terms of its resources including the propensity to trigger community action and collaboration among diverse groups. The community is profiled with respect to its ability to respond. The system defines the trigger mechanisms that are considered to be the drivers of collaborative action. A simulation model is presented to enact the system emergencies, community profiles, and collaborative response. The results develop an improved understanding of conditions that engage community collaborative actions as illustrated by examples from community research in the EnRiCH and the C-Change community research projects.
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Lauren Thévin, Julie Dugdale, Olivier Boissier, & Catherine Garbay. (2016). Evaluating Plans and Human Response Using a Normative Multi-Agent System. 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: We describe a socio-technical system designed to train different organisations in emergency management during the preparedness phase. In this system, both humans and the system work together in building organisational context awareness. The system uses a normative multi-agent system and a tangible table for user interaction. Real time virtual feedbacks are used to draw users? attention to the validity of their actions with respect to the emergency plan. Feedback allows the actors to be aware of the other factors that impact the validity of their action (actions of other actors, environment etc.) and to identify the behaviour that is expected of them by the other organisations. The system is still in its prototype phase. Its behaviour is illustrated by example scenarios, showing that it is possible to support collaboration amongst distant actors, in a way that only relevant information is shown.
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Benedikt Ley, Volkmar Pipek, Christian Reuter, & Torben Wiedenhöefer. (2012). Supporting inter-organizational situation assessment in crisis management. 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 assess current situation properly is crucial for effective decision-making in crisis management. However, gathering accurate information from incidence sites and providing appropriate support for assessment practices faces several challenges. The unique information demands of each crisis situation, the information availability or inter-organizational problems and obstacles to information exchange are important factors that need to be considered in designing ICT. In this contribution we present results from an empirical study about decision-making practices in scenarios of medium to large power outages in Germany. We focused on the needs and practices on information exchange at the level of inter-organizational cooperation. We examined the cooperation of fire departments, police, public administration, electricity infrastructure operators and citizens. Our empirical material reflects particularly conditions and challenges in current situation assessment practices, and we were able to derive design requirements for an inter-organizational situation assessment client as a complementary tool for existing crisis management infrastructures. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Benedikt Ley, Volkmar Pipek, Tim Siebigteroth, & Torben Wiedenhöefer. (2013). Retrieving and exchanging of information in inter- Organizational crisis management. 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. 812–822). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: Information is the most valuable resource for coping and recovery work in crisis management. It is the foundation for coordination, collaboration and decision-making. However, several challenges face information retrieval, evaluation and exchange processes in inter-organizational crisis management. On the one hand, due to the dynamic nature of crisis situations, information demands are hardly predictable and change in the course of time. Moreover, inter-organizational issues like terminology issues, policy constrains or even the lack of awareness about information available are influencing factors and need to be considered in designing appropriate ICT. In this paper we report from an empirical study, where we had a closer look on information retrieval and exchange practices in scenarios of medium to large power outages in Germany on an interorganizational level. Derived from these results, we were able to present a reference implementation of an interorganizational information repository (IOIR) and report our findings from a related evaluation.
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Lisette de Koning, Kees van Dongen, Floor Thönissen, Thom de Vries, & Peter Essens. (2017). A tool to quickly increase knowledge for effective coordination in crises. In eds Aurélie Montarnal Matthieu Lauras Chihab Hanachi F. B. Tina Comes (Ed.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management (pp. 220–233). Albi, France: Iscram.
Abstract: In complex crises, coordination between organizations is challenging. Knowledge needed to coordinate, like responsibilities, capabilities and interdependencies between tasks are often not known or not communicated systematically. As a result, coordination develops gradually and causes confusion. In this paper we describe an approach and tool called 'Profiler', that focuses on quickly increasing knowledge and understanding about the participating organizations while preparing for, or at the beginning of a crisis. Profiler was evaluated during an exercise of 1 Civil Military Coordination Battalion (1CIMICbat). Teams consisting of functional specialists performed a damage and needs assessments after a flooding. The results show that participants that used Profiler increased their knowledge and integrated understanding, when this was initially lacking. Further, participants with improved knowledge and integrated understanding, coordinated more within and between teams, when they perceived to be interdependent. Our results point in the direction that coordination effectiveness and efficiency may be improved with our approach.
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Rosemarijn Looije, Mark A. Neerincx, & Geert-Jan M. Kruijff. (2007). Affective collaborative robots for safety & crisis management in the field. 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. 497–506). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: The lack of human-robot collaboration currently presents a bottleneck to widespread use of robots in urban search & rescue (USAR) missions. The paper argues that an important aspect of realizing human-robot collaboration is collaborative control, and the recognition and expression of affect. Affective collaborative robots can enhance joint human-robot performance by adapting the robot's (social) role and interaction to the user's affective state and the context. Current USAR robots lack these capabilities. This paper presents theory, application domains, and requirements for affective collaborative robots based on the current state of the art. With methods from cognitive architectures, affective computing, and human-robot interaction, three core functions of affective collaborative robots can be realized: sliding autonomy, affective communication, and adaptive attitude. These robot functions can substantially enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of rescue workers and meanwhile reduce their cognitive workload. Furthermore, robots with such functions can approach civilians in the field appropriately.
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Faisal Luqman, & Martin Griss. (2011). Leveraging mobile context for effective collaboration and task management. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Collaboration and task management is challenging in distributed, dynamically-formed teams, typical in large scale disaster response scenarios. Ineffective collaboration may potentially result in poor performance and loss of life. The increased adoption of sensor rich mobile devices allow for mobile context to be leveraged. In this paper, we present Overseer, an agent-based system that exploits context information from mobile devices to facilitate collaboration and task allocation. We describe how mobile context can be used to create dynamic role-based assignments to enhance collaboration and effective task management.
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Ly Dinh, Sumeet Kulkarni, Pingjing Yang, & Jana Diesner. (2023). Reliability of Methods for Extracting Collaboration Networks from Crisis-related Situational Reports and Tweets. In V. L. Thomas J. Huggins (Ed.), Proceedings of the ISCRAM Asia Pacific Conference 2022 (pp. 181–195). Palmerston North, New Zealand: Massey Unversity.
Abstract: Assessing the effectiveness of crisis response is key to improving preparedness and adapting policies. One method for response evaluation is reviewing actual response activities and interactions. Response reports are often available in the form of natural language text data. Analyzing a large number of such reports requires automated or semi automated solutions. To improve the trustworthiness of methods for this purpose, we empirically validate the reliability of three relation extraction methods that we used to construct interorganizational collaboration networks by comparing them against human-annotated ground truth (crisis-specific situational reports and tweets). For entity extraction, we find that using a combination of two off-the-shelf methods (FlairNLP and SpaCy) is optimal for situational reports data and one method (SpaCy) for tweets data. For relation extraction, we find that a heuristics-based model that we built by leveraging word co-occurrence and deep and shallow syntax as features and training it on domain-specific text data outperforms two state-of-the-art relation extraction models (Stanford OpenIE and OneIE) that were pre-trained on general domain data. We also find that situational reports, on average, contain less entities and relations than tweets, but the extracted networks are more closely related to collaboration activities mentioned in the ground truth. As it is widely known that general domain tools might need adjustment to perform accurately in specific domains, we did not expect the tested off-the-shelf tools to perform highly accurately. Our point is to rather identify what accuracy one could reasonably expect when leveraging available resources as-is for domain specific work (in this case, crisis informatics), what errors (in terms of false positives and false negatives) to expect, and how to account for that.
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Gloria Mark, Ban Al-Ani, & Bryan Semaan. (2009). Repairing human infrastructure in a war zone. 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: People depend on human infrastructure for a range of activities in their daily lives, such as work and socializing. In this paper we consider three different intertwined types of infrastructures of a society that may be affected in crisis situations: The physical, technological, and human infrastructures. We argue that when the human infrastructure is damaged, e.g. in a natural catastrophe or war, then people can switch reliance to the technological infrastructure to be resilient. We conducted an empirical study of 85 people who lived in war zones during the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon war and the ongoing Gulf war in Iraq. In this paper, we report how information technology is used by our informants in new ways in their attempt to maintain social relationships and continue working. Our informants also used technology to help navigate safe routes for travel and for psychological support. We discuss implications of our results for disaster research.
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Christoph Markmann, Heiko A. Von Der Gracht, Jonas Keller, & Rixa Kroehl. (2012). Collaborative foresight as a meansto face future risks – An innovative platform conception. 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: Increasing market volatility and disruptions imply risks for companies and governments and have become therefore focus topics. Adequate tools to identify, assess and manage future developments are key to survive in a turbulent environment. In our paper, we present the systematic development process of an innovative, web-based foresight platform, which is a joint research project funded by the German Federal Government and aims to improve the robustness in decision making by collaborative foresight. Its four interlinked applications have the purpose to enable their users a collaborative generation, discussion, evaluation and development of future-oriented knowledge. Thereby, a special emphasis is on the relevance and the timeliness of the provided information. Within the multi-stage requirement analysis of the tool platform we analyzed existing concepts in order to identify strengths and weaknesses and conducted brainstorming sessions and interviews with professionals of 130 companies and organizations to account for different backgrounds, perspectives and intentions. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Andrea Marrella, Massimo Mecella, & Alessandro Russo. (2011). Collaboration on-the-field: Suggestions and beyond. In E. Portela L. S. M.A. Santos (Ed.), 8th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: From Early-Warning Systems to Preparedness and Training, ISCRAM 2011. Lisbon: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In disaster scenarios, emergency operators/first responders need to collaborate in order to reach a common goal. The use of mobile devices and applications in these scenarios is very valuable as they can improve collaboration, coordination, and communication amongst team members. But there are also risks involved while using these mobile applications, e.g., decreasing of performance. Most of the tasks are highly critical and time demanding, e.g., saving minutes could result in saving people's life. Therefore, it is unacceptable to use systems that lack proper interaction principles. In this paper, we provide some suggestions, in the form of lessons learned and/or hints for possible future research activities, on how to effectively support on-the-field collaboration of emergency operators. Such suggestions are based on the authors' experience in a recently concluded successful research project on the use of mobile devices for supporting first responders.
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Michael Holzhüter, & Ulrich Meissen. (2020). A Decentralized Reference Architecture for Interconnected Systems in Emergency 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. 961–972). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Optimal communication and information exchange are key elements for handling complex crises or disaster situations. With the increasing number of heterogeneous ICT systems, also raises the importance of adequate support for interconnectivity and information logistics between stakeholders to thoroughly gather information and to make quick but precise decisions. The main purpose of the information exchange is then to manage the crisis as quickly as possible, to provide full information to protect first responders' health and safety, to optimally dispatch resources, and to ensure coordination between different relief forces. Based on an end user survey with a particular focus on first responders, this paper introduces an evolutionary architecture to enable information exchange in crises situation or disasters. The aim is to provide a decentralized approach among heterogeneous ICT-systems which abstracts from the underlying communication technologies and heterogeneity of connected systems and fulfills the functional and non-functional requirements from end users.
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Monika Büscher, Sarah Becklake, Catherine Easton, Xaroula Kerasidou, Rachel Oliphant, Katrina Petersen, et al. (2016). ELSI Guidelines for Networked Collaboration and Information Exchange in PPDR and Risk Governance. 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: Networked collaboration and information exchange technologies have transformative potential for PPDR and risk governance. However, it is difficult to shape these transformations in a way that supports real world practices of collaboration and sense-making, and it is even more difficult to do so in ways that are ethically, legally and socially sensitive and proactive. This paper presents efforts to construct Ethical, Legal and Social Issues or ?ELSI? Guidelines for Networked Collaboration and Information Exchange in PPDR. The Guidelines would facilitate Risk Governance and serve as a living community resource to support the design and use of IT for PPDR and Risk Governance.
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Martijn Neef, Kees Van Dongen, & Marijn Rijken. (2013). Community-based comprehensive recovery: Closing collaboration gaps in urban disaster recovery. 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. 546–550). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: Disaster recovery in urban environments is a complex process. Because of high population densities and the presence of many societal and infrastructural dependencies, urban areas are prone to severe loss of self-reliance in case of a disaster. Rebuilding such areas to a self-sustaining state is a daunting task, and requires a high degree of community effort and comprehensive knowledge about the affected environment. All too often, these requirements are not properly met, leading to a long recovery trajectory and misalignments between recovery efforts and community needs. We suggest that most issues in disaster recovery stem from 'collaboration gaps': Flawed organisational structures between stakeholder parties that exist between levels of operation and between phases in the recovery process. We introduce two innovation pathways to close these gaps, and present the COBACORE project that will explore these pathways, and create a collaborative platform for effective community-based comprehensive disaster recovery.
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