Abstract: This paper describes the Disaster Portal, a multi-faceted information portal for use by citizens and emergency personnel during disasters and emergency response. This portal is the result of a collaboration between the RESCUE project at UC-Irvine and the City of Ontario, California Fire Department (OFD). The portal provides a wide range of real-time information in disaster situations, such as situation summaries, announcements, shelter information, and aggregated services such as family reunification and donation management. A first version of this portal was developed and deployed by the City of Ontario in September 2007. The current system serves as a base to develop and refine results from several areas of research which are being incorporated into the existing system to provide additional or advanced capabilities. We provide an overview of the portal's capabilities, followed by technical details on the system architecture and implementation. We describe the experience of deployment of the system in the recent California wildfires. Finally we describe work in progress on several advanced capabilities.

Abstract: The need for better team measurement in realistic environments has been recognized as one of the key challenges that characterize the field of team work studies (Salas, Cooke, & Rosen, 2008). This challenge is particularly hard to address in the context of emergency response, due to the inherent complexity and dynamism of the domain. Emergency response is part of the emergency management cycle, and refers to the mobilization of the adequate actors and resources to mitigate the impact of an incident on the public and on the environment (Abrahamsson, Hassel, and Tehler, 2010). Emergency response often requires the cooperation of multiple agencies such as police, medical, and fire services, consequently increasing the complexity of such operations. We report of how SYnRGY – a human-centered emergency response technological tool – is embedded with extensive measurement and simulation capabilities to allow tracing of experts' task models in a silent and reliable way. We describe how these capabilities; combined with an innovative modeling technique – dynamic cognitive task modeling – can be used to extract experts' representations of the task. We discuss the importance of such a model for training, improvement of emergency response procedures and development of emergency response tools. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: The semantics of things represent the central problem of the heterogeneous domain of emergency response. Both the communication between human actors and the interface between information systems face this hurdle with high impact on the efficiency in mission and time critical command and control processes. The integration of applications and information sharing based on semantic technologies promise added value for a solution to this problem. Therefore a model of the domain is essential; this paper contributes a domain ontology for fire protection. The scientific discussion as well as expert interviews built the basis for a new modeling approach. The selection of ontology languages is one of the important design issues presented in this paper.

Abstract: We have been investigating new decision support methods for emergency responders. Most recently, we have added to our decision support prototype the concept of “badges”: symbols that cue decision makers to the top-ranked option(s) that are the recommended alternatives for a particular decision. This paper provides the rationale for badges, a description of the initial implementation, results from our first experiment with badges, and a discussion of the next steps. As a report on work-in-progress, the primary contribution of this paper is the description of the concept of badges and its proposed use for emergency response decision making. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: In this paper, methodological issues in research and training of complex command and control structures in emergency management are addressed. In particular, a methodological approach combining real-time role-playing exercise, after action review and observations is presented. An explorative study-ALFA-05-utilizing this approach is described. A brief overview of methodological aspects of preparation and execution is given. Further, experience gained and methodological lessons learned are also discussed. Finally, real-time role-playing exercise in combination with other methods is suggested as a feasible method for researchers and exercise managers to tackle present and future command and control in complex settings, where interaction and communication are in focus. In addition, areas for further development of the real-time role-playing exercises as a research method are suggested.

Abstract: This paper presents results from a field experiment of IT-use in emergency response work of a fire crew. A prototype has been developed to probe for instances of sensemaking supported by IT-use in such work. The findings have been analyzed in relation to research on design of emergency management information systems and sensemaking theory. Key findings from the field experiment suggest that there is a potential conflict between the role-based emergency management information systems and the shared use of information technology of first responders. Further it is advocated that prototypes should be used to explore the extrinsic of the work practice difficult to uncover using only direct-observation or interviews.

Abstract: We describe a co-design method for emergency response scenario creation, to support the evaluation of new information technologies. The aim of our use of the method were to achieve scenarios that could be used in experiments or training sessions with professional emergency response personnel. We have analyzed how the method facilitated the design of scenarios (events, resource demands, communication between players), and the description of constraints in a resource management matrix. Our research indicates that the resource management matrix could be an important complement to function-centric analysis methods such as Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM). We also illustrate how the interplay between play and situation description allowed us to simultaneously design and validate the scenarios with respect to playability versus resource demands. We discuss how the resource matrix can be used to adjust the validated scenarios after the design sessions. © 2012 ISCRAM.

Abstract: Having the right information at the right time is crucial to make decisions during emergency responses. To fulfill this requirement, emergency management systems must provide emergency managers with knowledge management and visualization tools. The goal is twofold: on one hand, to organize knowledge coming from different sources, mainly the emergency response plans (the formal knowledge) and the information extracted from the emergency development (the contextual knowledge); on the other hand, to enable effective access to information. Formal and contextual knowledge sets are mostly disjoint; however, there are cases in which a formal knowledge piece may be updated with some contextual information, constituting what we call the composite knowledge. In this paper, we extend a knowledge framework with the notion of composite knowledge, and use spatial hypertext to visualize this type of knowledge. We illustrate our proposal with a case study on accessing to information during an emergency response in an underground transportation system.

Abstract: Social Media and micro-blogging is being used during crisis events to provide live up-to-date information as events evolve (before, during and after). Messages are posted by citizens or public officials. To understand the effectiveness of these messages, we examined the content of geo-located Twitter messages (“tweets”) sent during the Moore, Oklahoma tornado of May 20th, 2013 (+/-1day) to explore the spatial and temporal relationships of real-time reactions of the general public. We found a clear transition of topics during each stage of the tornado event. Twitter was useful for posting and retrieving updates, reconstructing the sequence of events as well as capturing people's reactions leading up to, during and after the tornado. A long-term goal for the research reported here is to provide insights to forecasters and emergency response personnel concerning the impact of warnings and other advisory messages.

Abstract: Co-location as a form of network governance is a way of organizing response teams when responding to an emergency situation. At the 'Safety house' in the province of Jämtland in Sweden main emergency response actors and supporting actors work together in a shared physical place in order to facilitate the process of cooperation and joint decision making. In order to identify the strengths, weaknesses, obstacles, needs and information system role, we explored this case by looking at how the involved actors experience this new working context. We applied an analytical framework developed specifically for new forms of emergency response. It was found that co-location of actors increases the efficiency in using professional response resources and shortens the emergency response time. Information systems can have a significant role in improving the collaboration between actors at the 'Safety house'. However secrecy issues, the problem of control and politics and the evaluation of the performance of actors are major challenges which face further development of the co-location concept.

Abstract: During the last decades there has been a lot of attention to issues of safety, emergency response and crisis management. Emergency response rooms (ERRs) are interesting public sector organizational arrangements in this respect. In our paper we pay attention to emergency response rooms in the Netherlands and especially in Amsterdam. Using an ethnographic approach, we studied the fire brigades (red), the medical services (white) and the police (blue) including their back-office organizations, their habits, and the systems in-use. As could be predicted, the (technical) integration of ERR systems in the Netherlands was not unproblematic. In our contribution we will make clear that the organization of the safety response in Amsterdam is rather fragmented. The latest discussion in the field is about the introduction of net-centric work, a concept based upon the interactive internet 2.0. Yet, it is not so much the technology, as well as the institutional arrangements that are at stake.

Abstract: Contemporary information and wayfinding design often disregard the changing personal circumstances and mental state of the user. This paper explores concepts and methodologies in user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design to increase comprehension and retention through the inclusion of human centered design principles and a focus on the participants' individual context, mental state and abilities. The paper focuses on human factors and comprehension in fast changing situations demanding a sudden high cognitive load from the affected. In a highly stressed condition, visual perception and situation awareness may be restricted due to the impact of sensory symptoms (panic, tunnel vision or limited motor skills), thus calling for a linear course of action to enable the user to concentrate at the task at hand. Many user interfaces (UI) are designed for a specific task, but are limited in function if used in a context contrary to its original intent. Paired with the real-time data collecting abilities of current mobile devices, the model of calm technology can offer new ways of implementing anticipatory and adaptive UI in applications. Calm technology is capable of seamlessly moving in and out of the periphery of the experience and only comes into focus when needed. It can be consciously included, but intentionally unnoticeable features of a design utilising contextual information to adapt its behaviour and aid in calming an agitated person. Considering and incorporating the concepts of calm technology as a second layer into every day applications can not only aid in the perception of the displayed information but also offer an advantage in timely decision making.

Abstract: The availability of resources in the fire and ambulance services in Germany is facing a radical change. Demographic and social transition is reducing the availability of volunteer personnel, and increasing traffic congestion in cities is resulting in longer travel times for emergency vehicles. This paper presents the findings of the definition phase of a research project that addresses these changes. It shows the basic idea of how resilience of fire and ambulance services can be improved by analyzing operational data from past incidents using artificial intelligence (AI). The primary objective is the development of a decision support system for control center dispatchers, which ensures optimal use of available resources. As the result of the definition phase, this paper gives an overview of existing data, current as well as future use cases and also highlights risks and challenges that have to be considered.