Abbas Ganji, Tom Wilson, Sonia Saveli, Dharma Dailey, & Mark Haselkorn. (2019). Cause and Effect: A Qualitative Analysis of Obstacles to Information Sharing During a Regional Disaster Exercise. 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 large-scale disasters, diverse partner agencies rely heavily on an information-sharing environment that supports collaborative work. In the U.S., this occurs under the Incident Command System (ICS), a structured organizational framework for coordinated action. We explore obstacles to information sharing and coordinationobserved at a county-level Emergency Operations Center (EOC) operating under ICS during the response phase of a large-scale regional disaster exercise. Textual observations collected in situ are analyzed for both the effect/manifestation and cause/source of barriers to information sharing. Two-thirds of barriers that manifest as computational issues are not caused by technology breakdowns, and a third caused by unclear processes manifest as computational issues. Overall, obstacles to collaborative work that appear to be related to computational issues are generally attributable to non-technical causes. This indicates that resources directed at improving collaborative management of disasters by enhancing technological capabilities are likely to be misdirected.
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Margunn Indreboe Alshaikh, & Helena Puig Larrauri. (2012). Building resilience through crisis mapping, community engagement and recovery planning in Sudan. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: Understanding that disasters and conflicts do not occur in a vacuum, but are integrally linked to the broader context in which they take place, building resilience within both state and society structures becomes a crucial tool to speed recovery and lessen the likelihood of recurrence as local and institutional capacities are put in place to respond to, manage and reduce emerging risks. Since, 2008, United Nations Development Programme in Sudan has through its Crisis and Recovery Mapping and Analysis Project been developing a participatory mapping and analysis methodology to enhance crisis responsiveness and evidence-based strategic planning both within the United Nations system and national government. Using innovative technologies and GIS, sensitive issues are contextualized and depoliticized through novel correlations and visualisations, allowing previously contesting state and society actors to jointly identify priorities for intervention and response. The process has fostered an open dialogue, strengthening the capacities of local actors to respond to emerging crises in a timely and appropriate manner. Participatory mapping has thus become a key tool in managing complexities in peacebuilding and recovery in post-crisis settings. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Andreas Lotter, Philipp John, Patricia Schütte, Florian Brauner, & Frank Fiedrich. (2020). Field Observation of Parallel Working Coordination Groups and Command and Control Centres to Understand and Improve Inter-organizational Information Management – A Methodical Approach. 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. 303–314). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: In emergency response, parallel working coordination groups and command and control centres are responsible to deal with complex events. A well-functioning exchange of information between organizations, officials and these coordination groups is the basis for an efficient risk management. This paper describes a methodical ap-proach for field observation to understand and improve the inter-organizational information management be-tween the involved partners. The method was tested within a practical approach and possible occurring problems during the observation were identified and solutions for these problems are provided.
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Arjen Schmidt, Jeroen Wolbers, Kees Boersma, Julie Ferguson, & Peter Groenwegen. (2016). Are you Ready2Help? Dilemmas in organizing citizen response to disaster. 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: Over the last decade, the disaster response landscape is increasingly complemented by voluntary citizen initiatives on digital platforms. These developments have opened up opportunities for response agencies and NGOs to organize local community involvement. In this paper we focus on the question how citizen involvement can be proactively organized toward disaster relief and what kind of dilemmas may arise in this process. We studied Ready2Help, an online platform developed by the Dutch Red Cross. Bringing together 36.000 volunteers, the platform plays a significant role in addressing the current refugee crisis. In our analysis we demonstrate the platform?s potential, but also note a tension between control and cooperation. Our results indicate that, in contrast to their initial objective, during the crisis the Red Cross falls back on principles of control to organize citizen response efforts. We end by discussing our future research agenda aimed at bridging formal and emergent citizen responses.
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Aurélie Congès, Frédérick Bénaben, Olivier Pierre, Francis Savic, Olivier Chabiron, & Matthieu Lauras. (2019). On the usage of Virtual Reality for Crisis Management exercises in Critical Industrial Sites. 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: EGCERSIS is a starting research program aiming at defining a virtual collaborative training space for crisis management. It should provide the users (first and second aid, firefighters, etc.) with a way to virtually perform operational and strategic tasks of crisis management in digital twins of critical infrastructures. The training system is structured according to four main components: (i) protocol and tools for digital twins generation, (ii) scenario editor dedicated to defining crisis use-cases within the modeled digital twins, (iii) integration with the technological crisis management platform (RIO-Suite), and (iv) monitoring component in charge of the continuous edition of dashboards (real-time and afterward). The main expected benefit of the EGCERSIS program is to create a breakthrough in the way training and exercises are performed in critical sites.
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Irma Becerra-Fernandez, Weidong Xia, Arvind Gudi, & Jose Rocha. (2008). Task characteristics, knowledge sharing and integration, and emergency management performance: Research agenda and challenges. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 88–92). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Emergency management tasks are inherently complex and dynamic, requiring quick knowledge sharing and decision coordination among multiple organizations across different levels and locations. However, there is a general lack of understanding about how to describe and assess the complex and dynamic nature of emergency management tasks and how knowledge integration help managers improve emergency management task performance. This paper describes a research project that aims at (1) developing the concepts of task complexity and uncertainty of emergency management tasks and (2) testing the mediating role of knowledge sharing and knowledge integration between emergency management task characteristics and performance. The overall research agenda, approaches, challenges and the advantages of utilizing a virtual Emergency Operations Center (vEOC) for this line of research are discussed.
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Betke, H., Bosse, M., Sackmann, S., & Reusch, C. (2023). Towards a Taxonomy for Classification of Coordination Systems for Spontaneous Volunteers. In Jaziar Radianti, Ioannis Dokas, Nicolas Lalone, & Deepak Khazanchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 751–760). Omaha, USA: University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Abstract: Spontaneous volunteers have always been a relevant factor in disaster management. Digitalization and modern technologies such as social media and mobile devices had a great impact on the quality of spontaneous volunteer engagement and their mobilization. However, their targeted integration into official disaster management measures remains often challenging. In the last decade, there were different scientific and practical approaches to develop information systems for coordination of spontaneous volunteers addressing different scopes and scenarios. In this article, we have analyzed the current state of the art and use a methodological approach to develop a taxonomy for classifying existing and emerging developments in the field. The taxonomy is intended to assist practitioners in selecting appropriate systems for their respective purposes as well as support researchers in identifying research gaps. The resulting research artifact has undergone an initial evaluation and can support maintaining a better overview in a growing subject area.
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Loïc Bidoux, Jean-Paul Pignon, & Frédérick Bénaben. (2014). A model driven system to support optimal collaborative processes design in crisis management. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 245–249). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: This paper presents a system dedicated to support crises managers that is focused on the collaboration issues of the actors involved in the response. Based on context knowledge, decision makers' objectives and responders' capabilities, the system designs in a semi-automatic way a set of collaborative process alternatives that can optimize coordination activities during an ongoing crisis resolution. The technical design of the system mixes optimization algorithms with inference of logical rules on an ontology. Candidate processes are evaluated through multi-criteria decision analysis and proposed to the decision-makers with associated key performance indicators to help them with their choice. The overall approach is model driven through a crisis meta-model and an axiomatic theory of crisis management.
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Briony Gray, Mark J. Weal, & David Martin. (2017). Social Media during a Sustained Period of Crisis: The Case of the UK Storms. In eds Aurélie Montarnal Matthieu Lauras Chihab Hanachi F. B. Tina Comes (Ed.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management (pp. 633–644). Albi, France: Iscram.
Abstract: This paper analyses the social media communications surrounding the 2015 – 2016 series of winter storms in the UK. Three storms were selected for analysis over a sustained period of time; these were storms Desmond, Eva and Frank which made landfall within quick succession of one another. In this case study we examine communications relating to multiple hazards which include flooding, evacuation and weather warnings using mainstream media content such as news stories, and online content such as Twitter data. Using a mixed method approach of content analysis combined with the application of a conceptual framework, we present (i.) the network of emergency responders managing events, (ii.) an analysis of crisis communications over time, and (iii.) highlight the barriers posed to effective social media communications during multi-hazard disasters. We conclude by assessing how these barriers may be lessened during prolonged periods of crisis.
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Axel Bürkle, Florian Segor, Sven Müller, Igor Tchouchenkov, & Matthias Kollmann. (2012). Advantages of an integrated open framework for immediate emergency response. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: Recent disasters have shown that wireless sensors and unmanned systems are increasingly becoming a valuable aid for first responders. Depending on the kind of incident and its extent, different assets are to be used. The more diverse these assets are, the more complex their simultaneous use and coordination. Therefore, integrated solutions are needed which comprise all necessary components such as power supply, communication infrastructure, data acquisition and processing, decision support and information dissemination. In this paper, an architecture for an open framework is proposed and its advantages over dedicated solutions are discussed. The flexibility of the universal control station presented here is demonstrated using the example of integrating a smartphone as an additional mobile sensor. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Cendrella Chahine, Thierry Vidal, Mohamad El Falou, & François Pérès. (2022). Multi-Agent Dynamic Planning Architectures for Crisis Rescue Plans. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 243–255). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: We are interested in rescue management in crises such as in terrorist attacks. Today, there are emergency plans that take into account all the stakeholders involved in a crisis depending on the event type, magnitude and place. Unfortunately, they do not anticipate the evolution of the crisis situation such as traffic and hospital overcrowding. In addition, decisions are taken after the information has been passed from the operational level to higher levels. This work focuses on the operational level of the emergency plan. What will happen if the actors at this level, can make certain decisions without escalating the information to higher levels? To answer this question, a multi-agent dynamic planning approach is proposed and it will be tested in two different architectures in order to see how much autonomy can be given to an agent and how they coordinate to save the victims.
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Christian Uhr, Björn J E Johansson, Jonas Landgren, Martin Holmberg, Fredrik Bynander, Samuel Koelega, et al. (2016). Once upon a time in Västmanland – the power of narratives or how the “truth” unfolds. 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: In 2014 a small fire started in a forest in central Sweden. Within a few days it developed into the largest wildfire in Sweden in the last 50 years. As the scale of the fire increased, so did the need for direction and coordination of the resources engaged in the response operation. Both official investigators and the research community have studied the challenges and come up with recommendations for improvements of the Swedish crisis management system. All authors of this paper have been involved in such efforts. This paper is a result of us trying to formulate lessons learnt based on several written reports and official discussions. The development of the narratives constructed by individuals involved in the response, investigators and researchers is analyzed. We conclude that researchers need to pay attention to their own role in this development. Maybe there is a need for a game changer on the methodological side?
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Louise K. Comfort, Brian A. Chalfant, Jee Eun Song, Mengyao Chen, & Brian Colella. (2014). Managing information processes in disaster events: The impact of superstorm sandy on business organizations. In and P.C. Shih. L. Plotnick M. S. P. S.R. Hiltz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2014 Conference Proceedings – 11th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 230–239). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: Building community resilience to natural disasters represents a major policy priority for the United States as hazards impact vulnerable urban regions with increasing frequency and severity. Applying network analysis techniques, we examine the dynamics of emergency response to Superstorm Sandy, which struck the United States east coast in late October 2012 and caused over $72 billion in damages. Drawing on a variety of data sources and analytical techniques, we document the storm's impact on a system of interacting private, public, and nonprofit organizations. We find that the storm's response network exhibited clear patterns of information gaps and flows among different types of organizations. Our findings suggest a general lack of communication between government agencies and businesses, an area of potential improvement in future regional-scale emergency response systems.
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Tom De Groeve, Luca Vernaccini, & Alessandro Annunziato. (2006). Modelling disaster impact for the global disaster alert and coordination system. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 409–417). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, jointly developed by the European Commission and the United Nations, combines existing web-based disaster information management systems with the aim to alert the international community in case of major sudden-onset disasters and to facilitate the coordination of international response during the relief phase of the disaster. The disaster alerts are based on automatic hazard information retrieval and real-time running of impact models. This paper describes impact models for earthquakes, tsunamis and tropical cyclones.
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Tom De Groeve, Zsofia Kugler, & G. Robert Brakenridge. (2007). Near real time flood alerting for the global disaster alert and coordination system. In K. Nieuwenhuis P. B. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Intelligent Human Computer Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM 2007 Academic Proceedings Papers (pp. 33–39). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: A new flood monitoring module is in development for the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS). GDACS is an information system designed to assist humanitarian responders with their decisions in the early onset after a disaster. It provides near-real time flood alerts with an initial estimate of the consequences based on computer models. Subsequently, the system gathers information in an automated way from relevant information sources such as international media, mapping and scientific organizations. The novel flood detection methodology is based on daily AMSR-E passive microwave measurement of 2500 flood prone sites on 1435 rivers in 132 countries. Alert thresholds are determined from the time series of the remote observations and these are validated using available flood archives (from 2002 to present). Preliminary results indicate a match of 47% between detected floods and flood archives. Individual tuning of thresholds per site should improve this result.
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Lisette De Koning, Van Buul-Besselink, K., Dianne Van Hemert, Mirjam Huis In 'T Veld, Kees Van Dongen, & Rosie Paulissen. (2012). MIRROR: Improving coordination in multidisciplinary crisis management teams. In Z.Franco J. R. L. Rothkrantz (Ed.), ISCRAM 2012 Conference Proceedings – 9th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Vancouver, BC: Simon Fraser University.
Abstract: In crisis situations different organizations have to cooperate to gain shared situation awareness and to take accurate decisions. However, several evaluation studies of crisis mitigation processes indicate that it is hard to effectively coordinate efforts of all organizations involved. The goal of our project is to improve coordination in crisis management teams, by improving the interaction processes in a crisis management team. The project consists of two main steps. First, the development of MIRROR, i.e. an overview of 16 relevant factors that influence team interaction. Second, the development of a training based on MIRROR. We expect MIRROR and its training module to be a useful tool for team members of crisis teams. In addition, MIRROR has the advantage that it can be applied in non-crisis teams, during daily situations, as well. This enlarges the chances for potential team members of crisis teams to increase their team interactions skills. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Alvaro Pemartin De La Calle, & Murray Turoff. (2011). Three hundred decisions a day: A case study of local crisis management. 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: This paper is a case study of an emergency medical dispatch system that describes its operations and difficulties Emergency Management in Andalusia is the responsibility of the Internal Affairs Authority that operates in each province a Coordination Center that receives Emergency Calls and in cases where there is a medical emergency, passes the information to the Emergency Coordination Centers. The 112 Centers gather all the information generated in emergency situations and supposedly coordinate the response of the several emergency services (Police, and Fire Departments) that operate their own coordination centers. If necessary they send a medical request to the 112 Center that, acting as a hub, sends to EPES the information about the medical incident.
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Duco N. Ferro, Jeroen M. Valk, & Alfons H. Salden. (2007). A robust coalition formation framework for mobile surveillance incident management. In K. Nieuwenhuis P. B. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Intelligent Human Computer Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM 2007 Academic Proceedings Papers (pp. 479–488). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: Given unexpected incidents on routes of guards that check security objects, like banks, one of the most challenging problems is still how to support improvisation by security personnel in taking decisions to prevent or resolve such incidents. Another as important associated problem is how a security company can naturally take advantage of its existing and novel knowledge about its organizational and ICT infrastructures, and the introduction of a decision support system to help leverage of improvisation by humans. To tackle all this, on the one hand we present a dynamic coalition formation framework that allows the (re)configurations of agents that are associated with joint tasks in situational contexts to be evaluated by appropriate value functions. On the other hand, we present a dynamic scale-space paradigm that allows a security company to distill ranked lists of robust context-dependent reconfigurations at critical scales. We highlight the merits of ASK-ASSIST as a solution to the problem of supporting human improvisation.
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Eric Rigaud, Anouck Adrot, Frank Fiedrich, Nour Kanaan, Miriam Klein, Farnaz Mahdavian, et al. (2020). Borderland Resilience Studies. 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. 338–355). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: This article describes the definition and characteristics of borderland resilience studies as an academic field, and precisely its core phenomenon, major themes or components and challenges. The phenomenon of borderland resilience is firstly defined. The results of empirical studies complete the conceptual description. Finally, the article proposes a set of research and development challenges.
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Jörn Franke, Adam Widera, François Charoy, Bernd Hellingrath, & Cédric Ulmer. (2011). Reference process models and systems for inter-organizational ad-hoc coordination – Supply chain management in humanitarian operations. 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: In this work we present a general framework for process-oriented coordination and collaboration in humanitarian operations. Process management has been proven useful in many business domains, but humanitarian operations and disaster response management in general require different process management approaches. Related work has only recently introduced traditional process management approaches for emergency management. These traditional approaches have several limitations with respect to the domain of humanitarian operations and disaster management. Our approach points to design, run-time and monitoring of inter-organizational humanitarian logistics processes. It consists of two parts: A reference model for humanitarian logistics tasks and a system for ad-hoc process management of these tasks. We discuss how they can be integrated to provide additional benefits.
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Jörn Franke, François Charoy, & Cédric Ulmer. (2010). A model for temporal coordination of disaster response activities. 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: One problem for public safety organizations in a disaster is the management of response activities and their dependencies on an intra-and inter-organizational level. Our interviews with end users have shown that current solutions for managing activities are complicated to use in the crisis by teams in the field and also in operation centers, when facing continuous unexpected events and cross-organizational activities. We propose an activity centric system for managing crisis response activities for such situations. We give an example how this system is used in a crisis within one organization and cross-organizations. Afterwards, we explain the evaluation of the solution. This research contributes not only to the crisis management domain, but also to the business process management domain by providing an alternative view on activities in highly dynamic scenarios.
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Gerhard Rauchecker, & Guido Schryen. (2018). Decision Support for the Optimal Coordination of Spontaneous Volunteers in Disaster Relief. In Kees Boersma, & Brian Tomaszeski (Eds.), ISCRAM 2018 Conference Proceedings – 15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 69–82). Rochester, NY (USA): Rochester Institute of Technology.
Abstract: When responding to natural disasters, professional relief units are often supported by many volunteers which are not affiliated to humanitarian organizations. The effective coordination of these volunteers is crucial to leverage their capabilities and to avoid conflicts with professional relief units. In this paper, we empirically identify key requirements that professional relief units pose on this coordination. Based on these requirements, we suggest a decision model. We computationally solve a real-world instance of the model and empirically validate the computed solution in interviews with practitioners. Our results show that the suggested model allows for solving volunteer coordination tasks of realistic size near-optimally within short time, with the determined solution being well accepted by practitioners. We also describe in this article how the suggested decision support model is integrated in the volunteer coordination system, which we develop in joint cooperation with a disaster management authority and a software development company.
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Rafael A. Gonzalez. (2009). Crisis response simulation combining discrete-event and agent-based modeling. In S. J. J. Landgren (Ed.), ISCRAM 2009 – 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives. Gothenburg: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: This paper presents a crisis response simulation model architecture combining a discrete-event simulation (DES) environment for a crisis scenario with an agent-based model of the response organization. In multi-agent systems (MAS) as a computational organization, agents are modeled and implemented separately from the environmental model. We follow this perspective and submit an architecture in which the environment is modeled as a discreteevent simulation, and the crisis response agents are modeled as a multi-agent system. The simultaneous integration and separation of both models allows for independent modifications of the response organization and the scenario, resulting in a testbed that allows testing different organizations to respond to the same scenario or different emergencies for the same organization. It also provides a high-level architecture suggesting the way in which DES and MAS can be combined into a single simulation in a simple way.
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Lucy T. Gunawan, Martin Voshell, Stijn Oomes, & David D. Woods. (2007). Envisioning collaboration at a distance for the evacuation of walking wounded. In K. Nieuwenhuis P. B. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Intelligent Human Computer Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM 2007 Academic Proceedings Papers (pp. 431–437). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: The “walking wounded” is a category of disaster victims that can help themselves in finding their way to safety. The problem we address here is how first responders, walking wounded, and other rescue personnel can coordinate their joint activities more efficiently in order to accomplish the evacuation as quickly as possible. We focus our design on the “coordination loops” in the disaster response organization, both vertically across levels of authority, and horizontally among responders in the same echelon. In our envisioned scenario of a chemical accident we identify the most important interactions through which activities are coordinated that are crucial for a successful evacuation. We propose three different “coordination devices” that can be used by the walking wounded, the rescuers in the fields, and the people in the command center. We believe our approach, explicitly designing support systems for coordination first, will lead to important improvements in the daily practice of disaster response.
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Hans Jochen Scholl, & Sarah L. Carnes. (2017). Managerial Challenges in Early Disaster Response: The Case of the 2014 Oso/SR530 Landslide Disaster. In eds Aurélie Montarnal Matthieu Lauras Chihab Hanachi F. B. Tina Comes (Ed.), Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management (pp. 961–972). Albi, France: Iscram.
Abstract: The larger the scale, scope, and duration of a disaster, the higher is the number of response units. However, with more units involved in the response also the heterogeneity of responder units drastically increases in terms of capabilities, experiences, practices, techniques, tactics, and procedures. As a result, the coordination and overall management of the response becomes an increasingly challenging endeavor. In the response to the 2014 Oso/SR530 landslide disaster in Washington State over one hundred agencies were involved, which presented a huge coordination task for the incident command. This empirical study is exploratory and focuses on the activities and interactions of professional responders, particularly, in the early phases of the response. It amends and complements previous studies on the subject by identifying and describing in detail various challenges in the early response. It also discusses recommendations on how to tackle and potentially mitigate the challenges identified in future responses.
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