Richelle Van Rijk, & Marcel Van Berlo. (2004). Using CrisisKit and MOPED to improve emergency management team training. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2004 – 1st International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 161–166). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: In order to reduce the effects of a disaster, people in the emergency management organization have to be trained. In recent years training emergency management teams has become a bigger issue. A realistic and effective training of emergency management teams however is a difficult matter. We search for ways to improve this kind of training and to reduce the costs. In this paper two tools that can be used to improve emergency management training, CrisisKit and MOPED, will be discussed. © Proceedings ISCRAM 2004.
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Theo Van Ruijven. (2011). Serious games as experiments for emergency management research: A review. 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: Serious games and virtual environments are increasingly used for emergency management training and research. The development of these technologies seems to contribute to a solution to some problems in the existing literature on emergency management which is mainly based on case study research. However, using virtual technology for research also introduces new difficulties. This paper describes the advantages and drawbacks of using serious games for research and reviews eight recently published studies that make use of virtual environments. The review focuses on the external validity of serious games as this is a challenging issues for research that involves virtual environments. The paper concludes with some recommendations to increase the external validity of future research with serious games.
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Marcus Vogt, Kieth Hales, & Dieter Hertweck. (2011). Optimizing ICT portfolios in emergency management: A modular alignment approach. 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: Today's society is exposed to an increasing number of disasters and large scale emergencies (e.g. earthquake in Haiti, global swine flu, or manmade disasters like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico). Information and communication technology (ICT) can help to prevent and mitigate the effects of threatening situations if applied appropriately. In industry ICT governance methods and portfolio management techniques have become important tools to successfully align ICT with business goals. However, the domain of emergency management (EM) has to deal with unpredictable situations, multi organizational collaborations and ad-hoc teams, conditions which make conventional existing methods less useful. Based on a qualitative analysis of several European and Australian EM organizations and government agencies this paper discusses a modular approach to optimize ICT portfolios in Emergency Management organizations in order to achieve strategic ICT alignment.
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Marcus Vogt, Kieth Hales, Dieter Hertweck, & Gavin Finnie. (2010). Strategic ICT alignment in emergency management. 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 shows preliminary results of an ongoing research project on the benefits of Strategic ICT Alignment in the domain of disaster management. The research is based on current literature in that area, an observation of a multi-organizational pandemic exercise in a large German municipality and interviews with stakeholders of different emergency management organizations in Germany and Australia. The preliminary results show that emergency managers can feel overwhelmed by the complexity of ICT and are unable to estimate the value and impact of ICT on their processes. Consequently, the paper identifies a research gap in the area of ICT Governance and Emergency Management, which will guide the coming research stages in order to develop a Strategic ICT Alignment framework for emergency management organizations.
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Steven C. Way. (2011). Information requirements for context-aware multi-agency real-time coordination during crisis response. 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: Most information systems (IS) research into emergency management (EM) consists of case studies of prior disasters, social behavior research, and planning or preparedness research. This study fills a gap in EM and IS research as it aims to better understand the nature of coordination during crisis response; investigate the functions and capabilities of existing coordination systems; and identify the desired functions to manage multi-agency coordination response. Grounded theory is the methodology adopted for this study. Firsthand interview and observational data will be collected from agency command centers, ride-outs with police, fire, and emergency medical services (EMS) agencies, and from multi-agency training exercises. This study is expected to make a theoretical contribution to crisis response system design as it will develop a theory to better understand the information requirements for context-aware multi-agency real-time coordination responses to crises.
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Benedikt Weber, Thomas Deckers, & Frank Wilson. (2013). Interoperability during a cross-border firefighting operation at the dutch-german border. 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. 925–926). KIT; Baden-Baden: Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie.
Abstract: This practitioner report describes a moor- And turf-fire that occurred in 2011 at the Dutch-German border and was engaged by forces both from the Netherlands and Germany. All involved emergency management organizations were facing interoperability issues when it came to cross-border cooperation, although cooperation handbooks were already in use and the involved organizations were used to work together. The size of the incident and it's remote location called for an increased coordination between all involved actors and across all command levels.
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Kim Weyns, & Martin Höst. (2009). Dependability of IT systems in municipal emergency management. 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: In recent years governmental actors have become more and more dependent on IT systems for their responsibilities in a crisis situation. To avoid unexpected problems with the dependability of IT systems in the aftermath of a crisis it is important that such risks are identified and that measures can be taken to reduce the dependence on systems that could be unreliable. This paper describes two case studies exploring how Swedish municipalities incorporate IT systems in their emergency planning. The study focuses especially on how different actors within a municipality cooperate to analyse the risks of depending on IT systems in critical situations. The study shows that today there is much room for improvement, especially in the communication between IT personnel and emergency managers. Finally, this paper describes the requirements for a process improvement framework that can assist governmental actors in analysing and improving their dependency on IT systems in emergency management.
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Connie White, Linda Plotnick, Jane Kushma, Starr Roxanne Hiltz, & Murray Turoff. (2009). An online social network for emergency management. 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: Online Social Networking Sites (SNS) are becoming extremely popular and can be employed in a variety of contexts. They permit the establishment of global relationships that are domain related or can be based on some general need shared by the participants. Emergency domain related websites, each with their own stated mission, are becoming widespread. Can a social network offer a solution to bringing emergency domain-related entities together as a 'one stop shop?' We propose to investigate whether the social network paradigm can be used to enable individuals and organizations to collaborate in mutually beneficial ways, in all stages of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Emergency management students were surveyed to examine the concept of social networks and their acceptance as a potential tool. The results of this exploratory research show overwhelming agreement that SNS should be considered a viable solution to the problems plaguing information dissemination and communications in the emergency domain.
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Torben Wiedenhöfer, Christian Reuter, Benedikt Ley, & Volkmar Pipek. (2011). Inter-organizational crisis management infrastructures for electrical power breakdowns. 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: Major electricity breakdowns like the Northeast Blackout (USA) in 2003 or the blackout in most parts of Western Europe in 2005, have shown the fundamental role of electricity in our everyday life. The experiences of these accidents show that power suppliers, firefighters, police, county administration and citizens face multifarious challenges in inter-organizational communication, information and coordination processes during coping and recovery work. In this work-in-progress paper we describe early research dealing with inter-organizational issues in emergency management (EM). We are mainly focusing on supporting social practices in inter-organizational EM, for example collaborative interpretation of emergency situations, ad-hoc coordination or supporting citizen communication and helping routines. Identified from our experiences from related projects, discussions and literature studies, we suggest potential questions and future topics in user-driven software engineering processes for EM and domain specific problems, such as supporting citizen participation, coping with information uncertainties and quality variations or enhancing inter-organizational learning.
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Mark Wood. (2005). Cell@lert, for government-to-citizen mass communications in emergencies; 'It's about time'. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2005 – 2nd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 323–326). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Cell Broadcasting has been an existing feature of GSM, UMTS, CDMA and PDC for many years, which however is rarely used. It has three attributes that make it very good for Government to Citizen mass communications in emergencies. 1) It uses reserved capacity for this feature; traffic does not take its bandwidth. Therefore it works even if the cellular system is in full overload, as it always is during disasters. 2) It can place millions of text messages on mobile phone within seconds, and is scalable to any size of broadcast including international scale without any additional time penalty. Most mobile phones have the capability now, so there is no need to build more infrastructures or replace phones. 3) By selecting the individual cells to be used, specific areas can be targeted with different messages, so that people in one area can be asked to evacuate, while in another they can be advised to stay. The government of Holland is the first in the world to adopt the technology, which will be operational by May 2005.
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Timothy E Wright, & Greg Madey. (2008). A prototype virtual emergency operations center using a collaborative virtual environment. In B. V. de W. F. Fiedrich (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2008 – 5th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 71–82). Washington, DC: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In the realm of emergency operations, planning and training is a critical ingredient for success. The use of virtual environments can offer a convenient means of practicing and simulating activities in an emergency operations center (EOC). Although many virtual environments strive to offer realism in their simulations of weather, population, and incident happenings, they often fall short in terms of collaboration among simulation participants: unless participants are at the same physical location, their ability to see and interact with one and other is limited. Moreover, interactivity that is possible may not be truly synchronous (e.g., network lag can cause activities to happen out of order). These are compelling drawbacks to computer-based EOC simulators/trainers, since collaboration is a cornerstone for successful EOC teams. To address these problems, we present the virtual EOC. Our prototype aims to provide a collaborative virtual environment that enables interactivity among participants while executing synchronous, script-driven tests and simulations.
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Jean-Luc Wybo. (2006). Improving resilience of organizations by increasing mutual knowledge of stakeholders. In M. T. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 – 3rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 540–546). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Managing accidents and crisis is a complex task, which is achieved by a large number of stakeholders. In order to identify appropriate responses to risk-prone situations, a classification in two categories has been proposed: risks of damage and risks of crisis (Wybo 2004). Risks of damage correspond to emergency management procedures and plans. Risks of crisis correspond to situations that escape from planning because of the overflow of the organization. Resilience of organizations is defined as their ability to resist to chaos and to maintain the situation under control. From the analysis of a large number of emergencies and crises caused by industrial and natural hazards, we try to identify what conditions increase the resilience of organizations. They have in common to increase the mutual knowledge of stakeholders about their strategies and roles and about the development of the situation.
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Shuyan Xie, & Markus Helfert. (2011). Towards an information architecture oriented framework for emergency response system. 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: Emergency, situations characterized as high consequence, low probability, and short decision time, create a unique decision-making environment that must be conscientiously supported. Historically, one of the techniques business has used to improve complex processes is a maturity model. Organizations should create the capabilities to react to information sharing needs in advance, not react an ad hoc manner to the information crisis. Based on the IT-Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF), we detailed some aspects of this model from an information architectural perspective to examine a country wide emergency service. Although information system and information technology (ISIT) have been emphasized in emergency management system, architectural aspects- a structure emphasized semantic description however have been of limited considerations. We propose a framework to analyzing architectural aspects for information sharing that can help improve emergency response system. The framework is discussed and exemplified with a case study. We conclude that the proposed framework provides a deeper understanding of information in use from technical and managerial aspects during emergency response. Guideline for further improvement will be the focus in our future work.
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Xiang Yao, Murray Turoff, & Starr Roxanne Hiltz. (2010). A field trial of a collaborative online scenario creation system for emergency management. 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: In Emergency Management and Business Continuity Planning, scenarios are a widely used tool. Existing scenario creation systems allow distributed groups to create scenarios together but have limited collaboration support. This study developed and evaluated a solution to provide various types of collaboration support around a knowledge structure at the core of a collaborative scenario creation system called Collario. Following the Design Science paradigm, it evolved through four iterations into a working prototype. Several evaluation methods, including protocol analysis and field study, were employed to evaluate the design effects and obtain user feedback. The results of the first field trial are described in this paper. They indicate that the system is useful to support creation and discussion of emergency scenarios in virtual teams and to share knowledge and experiences among geographically distributed emergency professionals and researchers. It was also found that the system is not hard to learn and use.
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Zhenyu Yu, Chuanfeng Han, & Ma Ma. (2014). Emergency decision making: A dynamic approach. 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. 240–244). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: The dynamic nature of emergency decision making exerts difficulty to decision makers for achieving effective management. In this regard, we suggest a dynamic decision making model based on Markov decision process. Our model copes with the dynamic decision problems quantitatively and computationally, and has powerful expression ability to model the emergency decision problems. We use a wildfire scenario to demonstrate the implementation of the model, as well as the solution to the firefighting problem. The advantages of our model in emergency management domain are discussed and concluded in the last.
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Zeno Franco, Nina Zumel, John Holman, Kathy Blau, & Larry E. Beutler. (2009). Evaluating the impact of improvisation on the incident command system: A modified single case study using the DDD simulator. 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 study attempted to evaluate the utility of the Incident Command System (ICS) in varying disaster contexts. ICS is mandated in the United States and practitioners assert that it is an effective organizing system for emergency management. However, researchers contend that the utility of ICS is conflated with inter-team familiarity gained during ICS exercises. A military team-in-the-loop simulator was customized to represent the problems, resources, and command structures found in civilian led disaster management teams. A modified single case design drawn from behavioral psychology was used to explore possible casual relationships between changes team heterogeneity and performance. The design also allowed for the evaluation of improvisation on performance. Further, psychological factors that may underpin improvisation were explored. In addition to some preliminary empirical findings, the successes and difficulties in adapting the DDD simulator are briefly discussed as part of an effort to achieved greater interdisciplinary integration.
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Haibin Zhu, & MengChu Zhou. (2006). The role transferability in emergency management 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. 487–496). Newark, NJ: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Role Transferability is a basic requirement for emergency management systems. Role specification, relationship expression, and transfer regulations are critical elements of this requirement. This paper discusses the role transferability requirement for emergency management systems; emphasizes that role specification is an underlying mechanism for role transfer; proposes a revised E-CARGO (Environment-Class, Agent, Role, Group, Object) model for role transfer in a group; and presents an algorithm to validate role transfer while maintaining group viability.
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Marian Zulean, & Gabriela Prelipcean. (2014). Emergency preparedness in the European union. 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. 513–517). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: European Union is an important global actor – in terms of economy, welfare and soft security – but its institutional development and ambitions has to consider both the issues of grand challenges, resilience, disaster management, in accordance with its citizens' will and skills. The Lisbon Treaty as well as the recent legislation on civil protection produced incremental change and improved the Emergency Management. However, there are not studies to check how the new institutions, the knowledge flows or decisions work. The final goal of this short paper is to structure an inquiring system and design a research project on assessing the civil protection policy in the EU through a Delphi study with experts and practitioners. While the first part frames the issues the second part will design the methodology and sampling strategy for a Delphi technique.
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