Rebecca Walton, Robin E. Mays, & Mark P. Haselkorn. (2011). Defining fast: Factors affecting the experience of speed in humanitarian logistics. 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: Speed is a central value for emergency logistics stakeholders. Emergency response literature makes a compelling case for rapid logistics processes to provide goods and services in humanitarian emergencies. However, speed is not well-defined concept. While situational demand contributes to the need for speed, an important factor is the perception of speed given the experience of the response stakeholders. Unfortunately, the literature lacks complex, situated pictures of how logistics stakeholders experience speed (i.e., what does it mean for a logistics process to be “fast”? What factors affect whether stakeholders perceive a logistics experience as fast?) To address this gap, we explored how logistics stakeholders in a large international humanitarian organization experience and perceive speed of operations. Our findings suggest that (1) the experience of speed is often comparative, not solely objective; (2) close communication between internal clients (field requestors) and service providers (logistics team) can make clients more likely to experience the logistics process as fast; and (3) feeling in control of decision-making can make both clients and service providers more likely to experience the logistics process as fast.
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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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Kenny Meesters, & Bartel A. Van De Walle. (2013). Towards an impact evaluation framework for the collaborative information supply chain in humanitarian crisis 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. 536–545). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: Emerging technologies provide opportunities for the humanitarian responders' community to enhance the effectiveness of their response to crisis situations. A part of this development can be contributed to a new type of information supply chains -driven by collaboration with digital, online communities- enabling organizations to make better informed decisions. However, how exactly and to what extend this collaboration impacts the decision making process is unknown. To improve these new information exchanges and the corresponding systems, an evaluation method is needed to assess the performance of these processes and systems. This paper builds on existing evaluation methods for information systems and design principles to propose such an impact evaluation framework. The proposed framework has been applied in a case study to demonstrate its potential to identify areas for further improvement in the (online) collaboration between information suppliers and users.
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Satria Hutomo Jihan, & Aviv Segev. (2013). Context ontology for humanitarian assistance in crisis 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. 526–535). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: Massive crisis open data is not fully utilized to identify humanitarian needs because most of it is not in a structured format, thus hindering machines to interpret it automatically and process it in a short time into useful information for decision makers. To address these problems, the paper presents a method which merges ontologies and logic rules to represent the humanitarian needs and recommend appropriate humanitarian responses. The main advantage of the method is to identify humanitarian needs and to prioritize humanitarian responses automatically so that the decision makers are not overwhelmed with massive and unrelated information and can focus more on implementing the solutions. The method is implemented on real data from the Hurricane Wilma crisis. The use of the method in the hurricane Wilma crisis shows the potential abilities to identify the humanitarian needs in specific places and to prioritize humanitarian responses in real time.
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Tao Bo, & Bartel A. Van De Walle. (2013). Meeting the sphere standards: An analysis of earthquake response in China. 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. 517–525). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: As a country which frequently suffers from natural disasters, especially earthquakes, China has implemented its own disaster management system to respond to them. The Chinese government gained practical experiences on how to respond to severe earthquakes after the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake and 2010 Yushu Earthquake. Although China has done a lot to improve its response operations, challenges remain. This paper analyses what these challenges are by using the Sphere Standard as a benchmark to measure the Chinese response operations. The Sphere project was launched in 1997 by Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It framed a Humanitarian Charter and established the Minimum Standards for response which emphasize meeting the urgent survival needs of people in the affected regions, while asserting their basic human right to a life with dignity. Based on this analysis, suggestions are provided to improve China's earthquake response operations.
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