Louise K. Comfort, Brian Colella, Mark Voortman, Scott Connelly, Jill L. Drury, Gary L. Klein, et al. (2013). Real-time decision making in urgent events: Modeling options for action. 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. 571–580). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: Decision making in extreme events presents a difficult challenge to emergency managers who are legally responsible for protecting life, property, and maintaining continuity of operations for their respective organizations or communities. Prior research has identified the benefits of gaining situation awareness in rapidly changing disaster contexts, but situation awareness is not always sufficient. We have investigated “option awareness” and the decision space to provide cognitive support for emergency managers to simulate computationally possible outcomes of different options before they make a decision. Employing a user-centered design process, we developed a computational model that rapidly generates ranges of likely outcomes for different options and displays them visually through a prototype decision-space interface that allows rapid comparison of the options. Feedback from emergency managers suggests that decision spaces may enable emergency managers to consider a wider range of options for decisions and may facilitate more targeted, effective decision making under uncertain conditions.
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Jill L. Drury, Gary L. Klein, Mark Pfaff, & Steven O. Entezari. (2012). Establishing collaborative option awareness during crisis management. 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: This paper presents empirical results of the use of a novel decision support prototype for emergency response situations, which was designed to enhance the understanding of the relative desirability of one potential course of action versus another. We have termed this understanding “option awareness.” In particular, this paper describes the process employed by pairs of experiment participants while performing emergency responder roles using different types of “decision space” visualizations to help them collaborate on decisions. We examined the decision making process via a detailed analysis of the communication between the cooperating team members. The results yield implications for design approaches for visualizing option awareness. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Jill L. Drury, Gary L. Klein, Jennifer Mathieu, Yikun Liu, & Mark Pfaff. (2013). Sympathetic decisions: Incorporating impacts on others into emergency response decision spaces. 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. 199–209). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: We designed two decision support tools and employed them during a one-week, simulation-driven experiment that included emergency responders acting in their real-life roles. Each tool visualized a “decision space”: A diagrammatic depiction of the relative desirability of one option versus another, including the inherent uncertainty in the potential outcomes. One requirement was to develop a tool accounting for the impacts of decisions on others, so that emergency responders can make “sympathetic decisions.” For example, one decision space enabled responders to request resources from surrounding jurisdictions while also considering the potential negative effects on the lending organizations. Another decision space enabled responders to engage in a strategic dialogue with the public: “listening” to the public's greatest concerns by mining social media to measure emotion, and thereby suggesting strategic communications addressing those concerns. We report how we designed the decision spaces and the qualitative results of using these spaces during the experiment.
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