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: Epidemiological monitoring systems are used to control the evolution of disease spreading and to suggest action plans to prevent identified risks. In this domain, risk prediction is based on quantitative approaches that are hardly usable when data collection is not possible. In this paper, a qualitative approach based on an epidemiological monitoring ontology is proposed. We describe the design of this ontology and show how it fits into classical monitoring systems and helps overcoming limits related to quantitative approaches. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: Crisis informatics researchers have taken great interest in methods to identify information relevant to crisis events posted by digital bystanders on social media. This work codifies the information needs of emergency dispatchers and first responders as a method to identify actionable information on social media. Through a design workshop with public safety professionals at a Public-Safety Answering Point (PSAP) in the United States, we develop a set of information requirements that must be satisfied to dispatch first responders and meet their immediate situational awareness needs. We then present a manual coding scheme to identify information satisfying these requirements in social media posts and apply this scheme to fictitious tweets professionals propose as actionable information to better assess ways that this information may be communicated. Finally, we propose automated methods from previous literature in the field that can be used to implement these methods in the future.

Abstract: Much research and technical development has been conducted to make crisis management more efficient, especially regarding crisis information systems used to streamline operations of authorities during a crisis. Experts from the German Red Cross mention that there is a need for the development and improvement of specific training methods and structures for such new crisis information systems in command and control centers. They also say that computer simulations could be a practical possibility to train crisis management and response staff. To substantiate this information, interviews were conducted with key officials in the field of German civil protection: command and control center staff, command and control center software trainers and crisis information system managers. This paper presents a qualitative study in the field of training German response personnel in crisis management information systems. The results are presented in three sections: suitable training strategies and structures, challenges and best practices for the implementation of trainings and using simulation as a training method for crisis information systems. The results contain personal experiences, opinions and known best-practices of the interview partners.

Abstract: Emergency situations are chaotic in nature. It is however, necessary to understand the context in which Emergency Responders work such that information practice issues can be highlighted and addressed by the system designers. In this paper, Activity Theory is proposed as a methodological and analytical framework to study information practices in the context of Emergency Management. Activity Theory aids in achieving a holistic approach to understanding the work activities context unlike some other analytical methodologies, as it focuses on use of artifacts for the interaction of humans with their environment. In this paper, an activity system model is used to investigate information practice issues of response phase of the emergency services in the UK. Using Activity Theory as an analytical framework, several tensions and contradictions emerged which keep the system unstable but which are also a source of innovation. It is also argued that Activity Theory can usefully be applied to the analysis of information practices over short period of time.