Delia Berrouard, Krisztina Cziner, & Adrian Boukalov. (2006). Emergency scenario user perspective in public safety communication systems. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 386–396). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: In the area of emergency response communication technologies, consideration of organization structure is critical in order to begin the understanding of user needs and optimize the development of effective technologies. User studies were carried out during the Wireless Deployable Network System European project-WIDENS. This paper discusses the information flow and spatial distribution of different European organizations involved in emergency response for various large-scale scenarios. The paper presents the operational view of emergency situation and related communication flows in several countries. Key results revealed that similarities exist in organizational roles, holding specific responsibilities in terms of location and task. Hierarchical arrangements and information flow may also be similar. However, difficulties lie in the efficient transmission of information due to slow information flow. Spatial distribution of personnel varies for scenarios. Future European studies are recommended for the advancement of our understanding of these newly addressed issues in public safety communication technologies and the needs of users in Europe.
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Kees Boersma, Jeroen Wolbers, & Pieter Wagenaar. (2010). Organizing emergent safety organizations: The travelling of the concept 'netcentric work' in the Dutch safety sector. 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: This paper is about the introduction of netcentric work in the public safety sector in the Netherlands. The idea behind netcentric work is that a common operational picture will help the professionals to overcome problems with sharing information during crisis. In this WIP paper we will pay attention to netcentric work principles and the dilemma of standardization of technologies versus local adaptation. In the Netherlands the government has chosen to introduce netcentric work via a Platform in which various options are discussed among members of Dutch safety regions. The outcome is a process of negotiation in what we call trading zones. In these trading zones netcentric work is (re)defined. Using theoretical concepts like soft-bureaucracy we show in this paper how netcentric work eventually is not about technology in the first place but a negotiated new way of working and organizing. Further research is needed to understand the full implications of netcentric work for the administration and organization of safety.
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Cody Buntain, Richard Mccreadie, & Ian Soboroff. (2022). Incident Streams 2021 Off the Deep End: Deeper Annotations and Evaluations in Twitter. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 584–604). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: This paper summarizes the final year of the four-year Text REtrieval Conference Incident Streams track (TREC-IS), which has produced a large dataset comprising 136,263 annotated tweets, spanning 98 crisis events. Goals of this final year were twofold: 1) to add new categories for assessing messages, with a focus on characterizing the audience, author, and images associated with these messages, and 2) to enlarge the TREC-IS dataset with new events, with an emphasis of deeper pools for sampling. Beyond these two goals, TREC-IS has nearly doubled the number of annotated messages per event for the 26 crises introduced in 2021 and has released a new parallel dataset of 312,546 images associated with crisis content – with 7,297 tweets having annotations about their embedded images. Our analyses of this new crisis data yields new insights about the context of a tweet; e.g., messages intended for a local audience and those that contain images of weather forecasts and infographics have higher than average assessments of priority but are relatively rare. Tweets containing images, however, have higher perceived priorities than tweets without images. Moving to deeper pools, while tending to lower classification performance, also does not generally impact performance rankings or alter distributions of information-types. We end this paper with a discussion of these datasets, analyses, their implications, and how they contribute both new data and insights to the broader crisis informatics community.
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Mark Gaynor, Alan Pearce, & Scott Brander. (2008). Open infrastructure for a nationwide emergency services network. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 133–138). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: The paper suggests and supports a public policy in which the Federal Communications Commission should seize a unique opportunity to resolve some of the nation's critical communications problems in times of crises with the allocation of a portion of the spectrum at 700 MHz for the deployment of a nationwide interoperable emergency broadband wireless network built by a public-private partnership. It then presents a convincing theoretical model that advocates that an open and/or neutral, as opposed to a closed, network will add greater efficiency, greater choice, while advancing public safety along with the deployment of new and valuable technologies, applications and services.
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Jess Kropczynski, Rob Grace, Julien Coche, Shane Halse, Eric Obeysekare, Aurélie Montarnal, et al. (2018). Identifying Actionable Information on Social Media for Emergency Dispatch. In Kristin Stock, & Deborah Bunker (Eds.), Proceedings of ISCRAM Asia Pacific 2018: Innovating for Resilience – 1st International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Asia Pacific. (pp. 428–438). Albany, Auckland, New Zealand: Massey Univeristy.
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.
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Jess Kropczynski, Rob Grace, Shane Halse, Doina Caragea, Cornelia Caragea, & Andrea Tapia. (2019). Refining a Coding Scheme to Identify Actionable Information on Social Media. 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: This paper describes the use of a previously established qualitative coding scheme developed through a design workshop with public safety professionals, and applied the schema to social media data collecting during crises. The intention of applying this scheme to existing crisis datasets was to acquire training data for machine learning. Applying the coding scheme to social media data revealed that additional subcategories of the coding scheme are necessary to satisfy information requirements necessary to dispatch first responders to an incident. The coding scheme was refined and adapted into a set of instructions for qualitative coders on Amazon Mechanical Turk. The contribution of this work is a coding scheme that is more directly related to the information needs of public safety professionals. Implications of early results using the refined coding scheme are discussed in terms of proposed automated methods to identify actionable information for dispatch of first responders during emergency incidents.
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Kerrianne Morrison, Yee-Yin Choong, Shanee Dawkins, & Sandra Spickard Prettyman. (2021). Communication Technology Problems and Needs of Rural First Responders. In Anouck Adrot, Rob Grace, Kathleen Moore, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2021 Conference Proceedings – 18th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 817–834). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Although new technology may benefit rural first responders to help them serve their communities, to date little is known about what communication technology problems rural first responders most need addressed and what future technology they desire. To explore the context of use and communication technology problems and needs of rural first responders, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 63 rural first responders across four disciplines: Communications (Comm) Center & 9-1-1 Services, Emergency Medical Services, Fire Service, and Law Enforcement. Using qualitative data analysis, interview data were sorted into problems and needs categories. Rural first responders' greatest problems were with reliable coverage/connectivity, interoperability, implementation/information technology (IT) infrastructure, and physical ergonomics. Rural first responders' greatest need for new technology was to address their current problems, but they were interested in new technology that leverages real-time technology and location tracking. Implications for researchers and developers of public safety communication technology are discussed.
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Jong Yul Kim, Wonsang Song, & Henning Schulzrinne. (2006). An enhanced VoIP emergency services prototype. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 102–109). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: In this document we describe enhancements made to the prototype for emergency services in VoIP originally proposed and implemented in (Mintz-Habib, Rawat, Schulzrinne and Wu, 2005). In particular, we describe alternative methods of acquiring the physical location of an emergency caller and a novel way of using location information to determine call destination. We also introduce psapd, an enhanced third party call controller at the public safety answering point (PSAP), and discuss new features made possible by psapd. Preparations are underway in Texas and Virginia to install and test the enhanced prototype.
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Diego Klappenbach, Silvia Hollfelder, Andreas Meissner, & Stefan Wilbert. (2004). From analog voice radio to ICT: Data communication and data modeling for the German NBC Reconnaissance Vehicle. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 145–150). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: In Germany, the public safety system is largely organized by the German Federal States, which operate, among other equipment, a fleet of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicles (NBC RVs) to take measurements in contaminated areas. Currently, the NBC RVs, which have been centrally designed and procured by the German Center for Civil Defense, verbally report measured values to a Central Control Unit (CCU) over the assigned Public Safety Organization (PSO) analog voice radio channel. This procedure has several disadvantages. The channel is not secure, puts a natural limit on the achievable throughput and thus on the number of NBC RVs that can be operational simultaneously. Also, while data is being reported, other PSO members are blocked from sending. Finally, a proprietary model is used to structure the NBC RV data, so the data can only be aggregated and evaluated at the CCU but not by any other PSO unit. To overcome these problems, we propose in this paper a heterogeneous and flexible communication platform that complies with reliability and coverage requirements for PSO. More specifically, our proposed system is designed to replace current ways of communicating between NBC RVs and the CCU. We also propose to standardize data structures for data exchange to enable PSO cooperation. A drastically higher number of measured values can then be transmitted to the CCU, and the data can be processed in a much more effective manner in the CCU as well as in cooperating PSO task forces. Ultimately, this will improve NBC RV missions and consequently shorten PSO response time when dealing with NBC disasters. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Aamir Mahmood, Konstantinos Koufos, & Krisztina Cziner. (2008). Multicast voice performance within a public safety cell. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 18–24). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In public safety communications the first responders are getting directions about the tactical action plan with multicast voice whereas they can report back to the dispatcher with unicast voice. In this paper, the aim is to find the maximum number of voice calls for situation reporting in the presence of multicast voice for tactical coordination. In order to increase the reliability of our analysis we verify our simulator against a test bed prototype consisting of three 802.11 terminals. The simulation study is applied within a mobile cell. The proposed mobility model applies for initial deployment in emergency scenarios. We investigate the statistical properties of the model by simulations.
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Steven McGee, & Reverend Kathy Graves. (2008). The International Heartbeat Beacon for interoperability & synchronicity of event, alert data. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 128–133). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: The Heartbeat Beacon addresses data temporal / exchange interoperability gaps by stipulating CAP instantiated data exchanges for military, first responder, and commercial stake holder domains by standardizing data exchange formats, symbol sets, event refresh rates enabling direct collaboration with military telemetry systems using commercial products. Multicast radius will be adjustable e.g., increase / decrease with audible tones based on business logic / military mission thread logic according to threshold rules visually displayed as concentric color band expansion / collapse based on DHS five level color / audible advisory schemes. Alert, evacuation, alternate routing of transportation assets, medical triage will then are adjustable. Organizations through router/switch updates via heartbeat messages will enable spontaneous integration of disparate communities of interest allowing the network to be maneuvered in response to unified events and alerts.
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Mehrdad Negahban, & Reza Nourjou. (2016). Internet of Things for Next-Generation Public Safety Mobile Communications. 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: This short paper briefly introduces the beamCitizen, a next-generation public safety mobile communications technology. It provides a mobile cloud communication platform that allows sharing of live video, voice, text, photo, location and other critical information among citizens, dispatchers and responders. It aims to connect people, information, and sensors. Our approach was to apply and implement ?Internet of Things? for development of the beamCitizen. To evaluate the beamCitizen, we used the University of Maryland as a pilot to create an end to end public safety communication and response service among the citizens, the 911 center and the first responders in order to help connect and protect close to 20000 students, faculty and visitors. It is available for download.
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Linda Plotnick, Elizabeth Avery Gomez, Connie White, & Murray Turoff. (2007). Furthering development of a unified emergency scale using Thurstone's Law of Comparative Judgment: A progress report. 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. 411–418). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In disasters, local civilians on or near the scene, are often first to respond and give aid. Therefore, the public needs to be well-informed with accurate, time critical information. However, a primary information source is event-specific scales that are inconsistent in their categorization and measurement, adding confusion to public responsiveness. These scales are not extendable to new emergencies in a changing world. We argue for development of a unified emergency scale to facilitate communication and understanding. This scale will inform local communities with regional community-specific information, and will be extendable for further use by professional responders. Research in progress elicited 15 dimensions of an emergency using a Delphi-like process and then ranked the dimensions by importance utilizing Thurstone's Law of Comparative Judgment. Contributions of this paper are to highlight the need for an unequivocal, unified scale and further its development.
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Rob Grace, & Michelle Potts. (2022). Opportunities for Multisensor Integration in Public-Safety Answering Points. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 895–904). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: Public-Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) coordinate emergency response by gathering critical information from 911 callers for dispatch to first responders. However, PSAPs fail to gather this information if 911 callers are unable, unwilling, or unavailable to report key details about an emergency. To address this problem, early-adopter PSAPs employ communication specialists to gather multimedia information from multiple sensing tools, including automated alarms, cameras, government databases, location systems, open-source websites, social media, and alternative communication channels such as text-to-911. Using preliminary usage data from an early- adopter PSAP, this study identifies 11 breakdowns in 911 call taking that create opportunities for multisensor integration. This study then characterizes use cases for multisensor tools based on usage patterns observed across five incident types. These findings highlight multisensor integration as a critical area for crisis informatics research.
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Steve Peterson, Keri Stephens, Hemant Purohit, & Amanda Hughes. (2019). When Official Systems Overload: A Framework for Finding Social Media Calls for Help during Evacuations. 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: During large-scale disasters it is not uncommon for Public Safety Answering Points (e.g., 9-1-1) to encounter
service disruptions or become overloaded due to call volume. As observed in the two past United States hurricane
seasons, citizens are increasingly turning to social media whether as a consequence of their inability to reach
9-1-1, or as a preferential means of communications. Relying on past research that has examined social media
use in disasters, combined with the practical knowledge of the first-hand disaster response experiences, this paper
develops a knowledge-driven framework containing parameters useful in identifying patterns of shared
information on social media when citizens need help. This effort explores the feasibility of determining
differences, similarities, common themes, and time-specific discoveries of social media calls for help associated
with hurricane evacuations. At a future date, validation of this framework will be demonstrated using datasets
from multiple disasters. The results will lead to recommendations on how the framework can be modified to make
it applicable as a generic disaster-type characterization tool.
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