Grace, R., Montarnal, A., Petitdemange, E., Rutter, J., Rodriguez, G. R., & Potts, M. (2023). Collaborative Information Seeking during a 911 Call Surge: A Case Study. In Jaziar Radianti, Ioannis Dokas, Nicolas Lalone, & Deepak Khazanchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 649–662). Omaha, USA: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Abstract: This case study examines collaborative information seeking in a public-safety answering point during a 911 call surge that occurred when a man fired an assault rifle at police officers and evaded capture for nearly an hour in March 2020. Overwhelmed by questionable and imprecise reports from 911 callers, telecommunicators and on scene responders began working together to conduct broad and deep searches for the shooter. Whereas broad searches improved the scope of information gathering by identifying multiple, albeit questionable and imprecise, reports of the suspect’s location, deep searches improved the quality of information gathering by investigating 911 callers’ reports using drone, helicopter, and patrol units. These findings suggest requirements for collaborative information seeking in public-safety answering points, including capabilities to conduct broad and deep searches using next-generation 911 technologies, and command and control requirements for triaging these search tasks within inter-organizational emergency response systems.
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Hannah Van Wyk, & Kate Starbird. (2020). Analyzing Social Media Data to Understand How Disaster-Affected Individuals Adapt to Disaster-Related Telecommunications Disruptions. 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. 704–717). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Information is a critical need during disasters such as hurricanes. Increasingly, people are relying upon cellular and internet-based technology to communicate that information--modalities that are acutely vulnerable to the disruptions to telecommunication infrastructure that are common during disasters. Focusing on Hurricane Maria (2017) and its long-term impacts on Puerto Rico, this research examines how people affected by severe and sustained disruptions to telecommunications services adapt to those disruptions. Leveraging social media trace data as a window into the real-time activities of people who were actively adapting, we use a primarily qualitative approach to identify and characterize how people changed their telecommunications practices and routines--and especially how they changed their locations--to access Wi-Fi and cellular service in the weeks and months after the hurricane. These findings have implications for researchers seeking to better understand human responses to disasters and responders seeking to identify strategies to support affected populations.
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Yossi Nygate, William Johnson, Mark Indelicato, Miguel Bazdresch, & Clark Hochgraf. (2018). Intelligent Wireless Infrastructure Management for Emergency Communications. In Kees Boersma, & Brian Tomaszeski (Eds.), ISCRAM 2018 Conference Proceedings – 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 1156–1160). Rochester, NY (USA): Rochester Institute of Technology.
Abstract: This poster describes the research of a collaborative faculty-led research that will enable first responders to identify and visualize geo-located quality of service and coverage gaps in wireless and deployable networks during an emergency event and support the deployment additional LTE base stations within FirstNet to augment network coverage and capacity. Our crowd sourced cellular metrics system uses big data analytics to detect changes in coverage and usage patterns and recommends where to deploy additional communication assets. The approach uses machine learning methods to measure and model coverage gaps and automatically implement bandwidth prioritization on whatever communication assets are available.
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Hans C.A. Wienen, Faiza A. Bukhsh, Eelco Vriezekolk, & Roel J. Wieringa. (2019). Applying Generic AcciMap to a DDOS Attack on a Western-European Telecom Operator. 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: After a large incident on a telecommunications network, the operator typically executes an incident analysis to
prevent future incidents. Research suggests that these analyses are done ad hoc, without a structured approach. In
this paper, we conduct an investigation of a large incident according to the AcciMap method. We find that this
method can be applied to telecommunications networks with a few small changes; we find that such a structured
approach yields many more actionable recommendations than a more focused approach and we find that both the
onset of an incident and the resolution phase merit their own analysis. We also find that such an analysis costs a
lot of effort and we propose a more efficient approach to using this method. An unexpected outcome was that
AcciMap may also be very useful for analyzing crisis organizations.
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Michael Bartolacci, & Stanko Dimitrov. (2016). A Network Interdiction Perspective for Providing Emergency Communications: An Analysis for Promoting Resiliency Subject to Resource Constraints and Security Concerns. 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: Disasters, whether natural or manmade, and other types of emergencies create the need for immediate and secure communications between and among the affected populace, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other types of emergency responders. It is through these communications that the affected populace is able to show resilient behavior, both psychologically and economically. A network interdiction model is proposed that can be utilized to create a more reliable design for such a communications network against the motives of would-be attackers whose aim it is to disrupt emergency communications and inflict damage on the affected populace. The contribution of this work is the application of the network interdiction modeling framework to an emergency communication scenario.
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