Abstract: Timely information is essential for better dynamic situational awareness, which leads to efficient resource planning, coordination, and action. However, given the scale and outreach of social media�a key information sharing platform during crises, diverse types of users participate in discussions during crises, which affect the vetting of information for dynamic situational awareness and response coordination activities. In this paper, we present a user analysis on Twitter during crises for three major user types�Organization, Organizationaffiliated (a person�s self-identifying affiliation with an organization in his/her profile), and Non-affiliated (person not identifying any affiliation), by first classifying users and then presenting their communication patterns during two recent crises. Our analysis shows distinctive patterns of the three user types for participation and communication on social media during crises. Such a user-centric approach to study information sharing during crisis events can act as a precursor to deeper domain-driven content analysis for response agencies.

Abstract: Stakeholder perspectives on crisis management provide a useful descriptive framework for analyzing crises and making crisis narratives. However, their actionability for crisis management, i.e. possibility to use stakeholder management models into operational crisis management processes, remains an under-investigated question. The purpose of this article is to discuss the operational value of stakeholder frameworks for crisis management. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a successful crisis management process in a public transportation company, we investigate the activities set up by the crisis cell to manage internal and external stakeholders during the crisis. In our case, successful stakeholder management relied on: 1) good diagnosis capabilities for the design of an appropriate corporate positioning; 2) an ability to manage coherently a set of emerging and heterogeneous issues involving stakeSholders ; 3) the capacity to set up a tightly coupled form of organization, involving both crisis cell members and various anchorage points, i.e. specific actors involved in the project before the crisis, who were already in contact with key stakeholders as part of their day-to-day activities. We then discuss the practical and theoretical implications of this analysis and the potential value stakeholder perspectives for crisis management.

Abstract: This paper describes the experiences of a West-European project group in Sri Lanka in March 2005, during a tsunami threat. They had previous disaster related knowledge and used both local guidance, global media and contacts back home, but could not get adequate information about how much time they had, how likely a tsunami was, or which countries had ordered evacuations. Their decision to evacuate was based on their own reasoning and influenced most by one trusted local resident. Their mobile phone communication with their relations in Europe created a de facto ad hoc mobile emergency announcement (MEA) system. Their decision to return relied heavily on the ad hoc MEA text messages, as local authorities had not yet issued an all-clear. The findings underline the importance of multiple early warning languages and delivery channels and suggest that when relevant, 'event onset time' should be explicit in early warning.

Abstract: Continuous Auditing systems require that human judgment be formalized and automated, which can be a complex, costly and computationally intensive endeavor. However, Continuous Auditing systems have similarities with Emergency Management and Response systems, which integrate Continuous Auditing's detection and alerting functions with the tracking of decisions and decision options for the situations that could be more effectively handled by human judgment. Emergency Management and Response systems could be an effective prototype to help overcome some of the implementation obstacles that are impeding Continuous Auditing systems' implementation rate. Continuous Auditing has the potential to transform the existing audit paradigm from periodic reviews of a few accounting transactions to a continuous review of all transactions, which thereby could vastly strengthen an organization's risk management and business processes. Although Continuous Auditing implementations are occurring, their adoption is slower than expected. With the goal of providing an empirical and methodological foundation for future Continuous Auditing systems and possibly inspiring additional investigation into merging the Continuous Auditing and Emergency Management streams of research, this paper provides several definitions of Continuous Auditing, suggests possible architectures for these systems, lists some common implementation challenges and highlights a few examples of how Emergency Management research could potentially overcome them.

Abstract: Vulnerable communities are disproportionately impacted by major disasters. Information scientists working to improve disaster planning and mitigation efforts in these communities often involve first responder (practitioner) groups in collaborative design; however, less emphasis has been placed on developing long-term, sustainable crisis informatics partnerships at the population level. Community-based participatory research approaches are gaining attention in the US as an important element in translational science efforts designed to move innovations “from the bench to the curbside.” Community Engagement in Research (CEnR) is a community research approach adopted US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to improve public health intervention. CEnR has implications for improving the generalizability of ISCRAM research, may provide a roadmap for Public/Private/Community disaster research partnerships, and suggests modifications to training for information scientists working in this arena. The CEnR approach also recognizes conflicts that can occur in community/government partnerships, emphasizing the importance of predicting and preventing these situations. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: Decision-making has been a subject actively investigated in several areas of knowledge such as Philosophy, Economics, Psychology, Computer Science, among others. This paper explores the potential opportunities offered by two methodologies to assess the team decision-making at the end of a simulated exercise (training). We present a case study showing how to measure the team decision-making combining both methodologies to assess a team of three experienced Officers from the Military Fire Brigade of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The simulated exercise was carried out within the Integrated Center of Command and Control of Rio de Janeiro. We intend this study provide a pathway that can be helpful in reducing the subjectivity generated during the observation of the team decision-making in Emergency Management environments.

Abstract: This paper presents the learning experiences from the development of a mobile-based communication platform, called OrdningsVaktsCentralen (OVC). OVC can be translated to Security Guard Central. OVC is designed to enable the Swedish Police Force (SPF) to comply with new legal requirements and enhance their collaboration with Appointed Security Guards (ASG). The focus of this paper is on the early phases of development; in particular on the specific technical issues such as interoperability and standards used in the development of mobile based systems. The learning experiences are as follows: firstly, when developing mobile based systems we suggest and recommend that the analysis phase should be enhanced and it should address the interoperability between mobile phones on one hand and operators on the other hand. Secondly, global and national standards, such as the MMS7 for sending multi-media messages, are not always standardized. It seems that operators and mobile phone manufacturers make minor alterations and interpretations of the standard and thereby some of the benefits found in standards disappear. Thirdly, mobile based communication platforms have a large potential for contributing to the field of emergency management information systems since they can be based on open and nationally accepted standards.

Abstract: The paper describes work-in-progress of an action research approach investigating command post exercises in disaster response organizations. The empirical basis of our approach is three command post exercises in Germa-ny. The main contribution of this paper is the framework for the conceptualization of command post exercises and an analysis of challenges in the conceptualization of command post exercises. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: Information is an essential part of disaster management. Information systems (IS) are a key means of providing the right information at the right time to support response to a disaster, and fostering collaborative facilitators such as situation awareness, common ground and communities of practice. However for these collaborative facilitators to support 'downstream events' (i.e. disaster response) they need to emerge and be grown from 'upstream' activities such as user engagement. Subsequently IS design requirements for disaster response are embedded in the community where a system will be used and it is from the community users and their needs that IS requirements must emerge. This paper presents an upstream-downstream approach for disaster management IS design. We describe four phases to user centered information systems design to support disaster management and provide a case study of using this approach in action to design an IS to enhance community resilience. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: Disaster exercises are intended to improve disaster responses effectiveness. Exercises exist in a wide variety, ranging from table-top scenarios to full-scale disaster simulations, offering participants different learning experiences. However these exercises can be overwhelming to newcomers, especially when involving large scale simulations, reducing the effectiveness of the learning experience. In order to make the learning experiences more effective to newcomers, researchers or professionals, a new exercise is proposed. This exercise, designed as a serious game, provides a new way to introduce people to the field of disaster management in general and information management in particular. The first version of the game was played during the 2012 ISCRAM summer school where it yielded positive reactions from both novice participants and experienced professionals.

Abstract: This paper introduces two concepts-dialogical emergency management and strategic awareness-as means to use and understand the content of social media for the purpose of emergency communication. Dialogical emergency management denotes that the emergency management organizations follow what people publish in various social media on emergencies and ongoing emergency response, and then adjust their information strategies in a way that matches the expectations and needs for emergency information of the public. The concept of strategic awareness suggests that it is essential to have an understanding of the receiver (public) of emergency information but also to have an understanding of the receivers' idea about the emergency and emergency response. Hence, the notion of strategic awareness incorporates structured awareness of how people interpret, value, and reacts on communication based on what they think about the sender's (emergency management organization's) actual intentions and motives.

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce Tweedr, a Twitter-mining tool that extracts actionable information for disaster relief workers during natural disasters. The Tweedr pipeline consists of three main parts: classification, clustering and extraction. In the classification phase, we use a variety of classification methods (sLDA, SVM, and logistic regression) to identify tweets reporting damage or casualties. In the clustering phase, we use filters to merge tweets that are similar to one another; and finally, in the extraction phase, we extract tokens and phrases that report specific information about different classes of infrastructure damage, damage types, and casualties. We empirically validate our approach with tweets collected from 12 different crises in the United States since 2006.