Konstantinos Konstantoudakis, Georgios Albanis, Emmanouil Christakis, Nikolaos Zioulis, Anastasios Dimou, Dimitrios Zarpalas, et al. (2020). Single-Handed Gesture UAV Control for First Responders – A Usability and Performance User Study. 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. 937–951). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have increased in popularity in recent years and are now involved in many activities, professional and otherwise. First responders, those teams and individuals who are the first to respond in crisis situations, have been using UAVs to assist them in locating victims and identifying hazards without endangering human personnel needlessly. However, professional UAV controllers tend to be heavy and cumbersome, requiring both hands to operate. First responders, on the other hand, often need to carry other important equipment and need to keep their hands free during a mission. This work considers enabling first responders to control UAVs with single-handed gestures, freeing their other hand and reducing their encumbrance. Two sets of gesture UAV controls are presented and implemented in a simulated environment, and a two-part user study is conducted: the first part assesses the comfort of each gesture and their intuitive association with basic flight control concepts; and the second evaluates two different modes of gesture control in a population of users including both genders, and first responders as well as members of the general populace. The results, consisting of both objective and subjective measurements, are discussed, hindrances and problems are identified, and directions of future work and research are mapped out.
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Mahshid Marbouti, Craig Anslow, & Frank Maurer. (2018). Evaluation results for a Social Media Analyst Responding Tool. In Kees Boersma, & Brian Tomaszeski (Eds.), ISCRAM 2018 Conference Proceedings – 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 480–492). Rochester, NY (USA): Rochester Institute of Technology.
Abstract: We take a human-centered design approach to develop a fully functional prototype, SMART (“Social Media Analyst Responding Tool”), informed by emergency practitioners. The prototype incorporates machine learning techniques to identify relevant information during emergencies. In this paper, we report the result of a user study to gather qualitative feedback on SMART. The evaluation results offer recommendations into the design of Social Media analysis tools for emergencies. The evaluation findings show the interest of emergency practitioners into designing such solutions; it reflects their need to not only identify relevant information but also to further perceive the outcome of their actions in social media. We found out there is a notable emphasis on the sentiment from these practitioners and social media analysis tools need to do a better job of handling negative sentiment within the emergency concept.
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Delia Berrouard, Krisztina Cziner, & Adrian Boukalov. (2006). Emergency scenario user perspective in public safety communication systems. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 386–396). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: In the area of emergency response communication technologies, consideration of organization structure is critical in order to begin the understanding of user needs and optimize the development of effective technologies. User studies were carried out during the Wireless Deployable Network System European project-WIDENS. This paper discusses the information flow and spatial distribution of different European organizations involved in emergency response for various large-scale scenarios. The paper presents the operational view of emergency situation and related communication flows in several countries. Key results revealed that similarities exist in organizational roles, holding specific responsibilities in terms of location and task. Hierarchical arrangements and information flow may also be similar. However, difficulties lie in the efficient transmission of information due to slow information flow. Spatial distribution of personnel varies for scenarios. Future European studies are recommended for the advancement of our understanding of these newly addressed issues in public safety communication technologies and the needs of users in Europe.
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Mohammadreza Khalilbeigi, Immanuel Schweizer, Dirk Bradler, Florian Probst, & Jürgen Steimle. (2010). Towards computer support of paper workflows in emergency management. 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: A crucial aspect for large-scale disaster management is an efficient technology support for communication and decision-making processes in command and control centers. Yet, experiences with the introduction of novel technologies in this setting show that field professionals tend to remain attached to traditional workflows and artifacts, such as pen and paper. We contribute the results of a comprehensive field study which analyzes how the information flow is currently performed within different units and persons in the command and control center. These findings provide insights into key aspects of current workflows which should be preserved by novel technological solutions. As our second contribution, by using a participatory design approach and based on our findings, we present a novel approach for computer support in command and control centers. This relies on digital pens and paper and smoothly integrates traditional paper-based workflows with computing, thereby combining the advantages of paper and those of computers.
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Christoph Endres, Andreas Wurz, Marcus Hoffmann, & Alexander Behring. (2010). A task-based messaging approach to facilitate staff work. 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: A central part of the work in Incident Commands (ICs) deals with handling messages that contain relevant information. Classification schemes for messages can be exploited by command staff and assisting tools to support this work, given that a common understanding of the scheme is shared among participants. We present user studies on two such classifications, which imply some disagreement among participants. Interpretations of the studies and a revised scheme are presented. All users in our studies are highly trained experts and represent the state of the art in german IC work.
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