Robert Power, Bella Robinson, & Mark Cameron. (2023). Insights from a Decade of Twitter Monitoring for Emergency Management. In V. L. Thomas J. Huggins (Ed.), Proceedings of the ISCRAM Asia Pacific Conference 2022 (pp. 247–257). Palmerston North, New Zealand: Massey Unversity.
Abstract: The Emergency Situation Awareness (ESA) tool began as a research study into automated web text mining to support emergency management use cases. It started in late 2009 by investigating how people respond on Twitter to specific emergency events and we quickly realized that every emergency situation is different and preemptively defining keywords to search for content on Twitter beforehand would likely miss important information. So, in late September 2011 we established location-based searches with the aim of collecting all the tweets published in Australia and New Zealand. This was the beginning of over a decade of collecting and processing tweets to help emergency response agencies and crisis coordination centres use social media content as a new channel of information to support their work practices and to engage with the community impacted by emergency events. This journey has seen numerous challenges overcome to continuously maintain a tweet stream for an operational system. This experience allows us to derive insights into the changing use of Twitter over this time. In this paper we present some of the lessons we’ve learned from maintaining a Twitter monitoring system for emergency management use cases and we provide some insights into the changing nature of Twitter usage by users over this period.
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Marco Romano, Teresa Onorati, Paloma Díaz, & Ignacio Aedo. (2014). Improving emergency response: Citizens performing actions. 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. 170–174). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: The role of common citizens within the emergency management (EM) process is crucial in order to support efficiently the operators' activities during the response phase. Moreover, their participation is strictly related to their profile and their experience in previous events. In a previous contribution we identified the different roles that the citizens can play for an effective cooperation with the EM workers. In this paper, we introduce an emergency tool based on a mobile application designed to support the activities of the citizens acting as Agent. The Agents have specific capabilities recognized by the EM Operation Center (OC) to execute actions under the remote supervision of the EM operators. The proposed tool allows the Agents to receive information from the OC and to visualize it through an advanced visualization modality. In particular, available information is previously collected by the center from the witnesses and the affected people that have alerted about it.
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Samer Cheade, Nada Matta, Jean-Baptiste Pothin, & Remi Cogranne. (2019). Situation Representation and Awareness for Rescue Operations. 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 rescue operations, being aware of the situation is very critical for rescuers and decision-makers to reduce the impacts. This work aims to support situation awareness amongst actors participating in rescue operations by adopting an ontology-based approach. An application ontology is proposed based on existing related ontologies and operational expertise collection. It will help to ensure common situation representation and understanding between different actors. After that, a knowledge-based system will be developed and integrated in actors? environment to support decision-making. Our preliminary results are shown in this paper.
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Cláudio Sapateiro, & Pedro Antunes. (2009). An emergency response model toward situational awareness improvement. 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: When facing emergency scenarios, several contingent factors may strongly condition the pre-defined response procedures. The proposed approach takes the perspective that an emergency response tool may guide the response effort. The tool adopts a conceptual model grounded on existing situation awareness models and research work done with High Reliability Organizations. The model structures the emergency management process in a set of dimensions that should be collaboratively correlated by the involved participants in order to mitigate the disruptive situation. An instantiation of the proposed approach is also described in the paper, focusing on IT service desk teams addressing emergency incidents that may compromise business continuity.
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Jan Maarten Schraagen, Aletta Eikelboom, Kees Van Dongen, & Guido Te Brake. (2005). Experimental evaluation of a critical thinking tool to support decision making in crisis situations. In B. C. B. Van de Walle (Ed.), Proceedings of ISCRAM 2005 – 2nd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 181–189). Brussels: Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium.
Abstract: Building up proper situation awareness is one of the most difficult tasks in the beginning stages of large-scale accidents. As ambiguous information about the events becomes available, decision makers are often tempted to quickly choose a particular story to explain the events. Subsequent information that contradicts the initial story may easily be discarded and cognitive tunnel vision takes over. Our approach, as part of the COMBINED Systems project, is to prevent tunnel vision by providing critical thinking support. In a laboratory experiment with 60 participants, we tested this hypothesis by comparing the Critical Thinking tool with a 'no support' control condition and a 'minimal support' condition. Participants acted as crisis managers determining the likely cause of an accident based on different pieces of information. The results show a positive impact of the tool on both the decision making process and decision making effectiveness.
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Yixing Shan, Lili Yang, & Roy Kalawsky. (2014). Exploring the prescriptive modeling of fire situation assessment. 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. 60–64). University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.
Abstract: One of the key assumptions in Endsley's three-level Situation Awareness (SA) model is the critical role of mental models in the development and maintenance of SA. We explored a prescriptive way of modeling this essential mental process of the fire incident commanders' fire ground assessment. The modeling was drawn from the Fast and Frugal Heuristics (FFHs) program, given the strong parallels between its contentions on ecological rationality and the environment demanding of the emergency response context. This paper addresses a number of issues being encountered in the attempt of our empirical investigation.
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Nanja J. J. M. Smets, Guido Te Brake, Jasper Lindenberg, & Mark A. Neerincx. (2007). Influence of mobile map size and user capacities on situation awareness tested in a virtual environment. 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. 557–564). Delft: Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM.
Abstract: In the near future, first responders may become equipped with mobile devices providing navigation, decision and communication support. Because of the complex and chaotic circumstances in which these devices will be used, the devices should support the creation and maintenance of adequate situation awareness. Extensive testing of such devices for crisis management in real-life is expensive, complex, risky and only possible for specific settings. Therefore, we developed a synthetic task environment that is suited for developing and evaluating new concepts. In this paper, we present the results of the first experiment in this environment. Participants had to rescue victims in a synthetic world, and were supported by a map of the area showing the location and orientation of the participant and the victims. The experiment focused on the effects of map size and user's spatial ability on the quality of the situational awareness that was developed by the first responders. Besides the results of the experiment, experiences with the use of a synthetic environment for evaluation and development purposes are presented.
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Sofie Pilemalm, Jaziar Radianti, Bjørn Erik Munkvold, Tim A. Majchrzak, & Kristine Steen-Tveit. (2021). Turning Common Operational Picture Data into Double-loop Learning from Crises – can Vision Meet Reality? 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. 417–430). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: This study proposes a framework for double-loop learning from crises, using common operational pictures (COP). In most crises, a COP is of outmost importance to gain a common understanding among inter-organizational response. A COP is typically expressed through a map visualization. While the technologies to support COP progress rapidly, the corresponding practice of evaluating the COP and situational awareness is not yet established. Tools that enable responders to learn after the crisis, look back in time on the COP devel-opment and detect the barriers that prevent the COP establishment, still seem absent. Double-loop learning is an organizational practice to learn from previous actions widely adopted in the safety domain, and lately used in crisis management. This paper addresses the perceived gap by presenting the technical, organizational and structural requirements derived from document analysis, observation, and a workshop with multiple crisis management stakeholders, and integrating them to an initial framework.
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Stella Polikarpus, Tobias Ley, Hans Hazebroek, Graham Edgar, Geoffrey Sallis, Steven Baker, et al. (2022). Authoring Virtual Simulations to Measure Situation Awareness and Understanding. In Rob Grace, & Hossein Baharmand (Eds.), ISCRAM 2022 Conference Proceedings – 19th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 428–433). Tarbes, France.
Abstract: Measuring situation awareness (SA) and situation understanding (SU) is an important topic for Command & Control research. Virtual simulations (VS) have been proposed as a suitable method for measuring SA/U, but, there is little research into how to build scenarios for VS so that SA/U can be measured reliably. In this study, we used two different VS scenarios and the Quantitative Analysis of Situation Awareness (QASA) method to measure, and provide feedback on, actual and perceived SA/U. Two VS scenarios were tested in Estonia with 36 trainees. The results of the different scenarios were compared to establish whether the scenario storylines and authoring process resulted in differences in SA or SU. We conclude that reliable assessment results were produced with both authoring processes, and further suggest that the Collaborative Authoring Process Model for Virtual Simulations (CAPM) be used for VS creation.
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Sung-Yueh Perng, Monika Büscher, Lisa Wood, Ragnhild Halvorsrud, Michael E. Stiso, Leonardo Ramirez, et al. (2012). Peripheral response: Microblogging during the 22/7/2011 Norway attacks. 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 a case study of a very recent man-made crisis in Norway on 22 July, 2011, during which a single person first detonated a bomb in downtown Oslo and then killed 69 young people on the island of Utøya. It proposes a novel way of conceptualizing the public contribution to mobilization of resources using microblogging, particularly tweeting. By examining aspects of public and professional response to this crisis, the notion of peripheral response is developed in relation to emergent forms of agile and dialogic emergency response. Through examining the distributed efforts of responding to the crisis, the paper also revisits situation awareness and reflects upon the dynamic and constantly changing environment that social media and crises inhabit together. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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Suvodeep Mazumdar, Stuart N. Wrigley, Neil Ireson, & Fabio Ciravegna. (2015). Geo-fence driven crowd-sourcing for Emergencies. In L. Palen, M. Buscher, T. Comes, & A. Hughes (Eds.), ISCRAM 2015 Conference Proceedings ? 12th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. Kristiansand, Norway: University of Agder (UiA).
Abstract: For some emergency situations an effective response can be reliant on sensor data (e.g. river level, traffic flow, weather conditions) to provide situation awareness, in order to help authorities make informed decisions. Gathering data in a traditional approach, i.e. using precise physical sensors, is a highly expensive task, involving procurement, installation and maintenance of a number of sensors. As a result, the coverage of sensors is limited and only the regions deemed most important by authorities are monitored. However, regions currently not being monitored can have an urgent need to be sensed depending on emergencies or situations. We present a high-level overview of the Locaware system, which employs a flexible geofencing approach to enable crowdsourcing by requesting citizens and volunteers to help authorities formulate a greater situation awareness of a region under consideration. While the Locaware system is motivated for water monitoring, our approach can be applied in other contexts.
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Tina Mioch, Reinier Sterkenburg, Tatjana Beuker, & Mark A. Neerincx. (2021). Actionable Situation Awareness: Supporting Team Decisions in Hazardous Situations. 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. 62–70). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
Abstract: Situation Awareness (SA) has been recognized and studied as an important requirement for an effective task performance of first responders. The integration of increasingly advanced sensor, network and artificial intelligence technology into the work processes affects the building, maintenance and sharing of SA. Connecting SA to decision support models provides new possibilities for the development of actionable SA (aSA), entailing information that guides the momentary decision-making processes of the concerning actors. In the European ASSISTANCE project, we are developing an aSA module that displays information about gas distributions, its current and predicted future states (e.g., entailing risks of breathing-in of toxic gases), with references to effective decision-making patterns for this situation. The aSA model is continuously updated based on sensor data. This paper gives an overview of this aSA module for chemical hazard prediction and corresponding display, and presents initial team design patterns that will be integrated into this display to support its actionability.
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Willem Treurniet, Kim Van Buul-Besseling, & Jeroen Wolbers. (2012). Collaboration awareness – A necessity in crisis response coordination. 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 management involvement of a large number of organizations is required. Not only the first responders need to take action, but also organizations and entities like civil authorities, public utility and crisis teams are responsible for critical infrastructures as well as the community. A key element for effective collaboration is situation awareness; having a common operational picture. So far research has mainly focused on situation awareness. However, several incidents show that situation awareness alone is not sufficient for reaching effective collaboration among the organizations involved. Collaboration awareness is a second key element. Knowing the needs, goals, expectations, culture, capabilities and procedures of the crisis management partners makes collaboration more effective. In this paper we elaborate our research focusing on what organizations need to know about each other in order to collaborate effectively. Finally, we describe the possible measures for increasing the collaboration awareness. © 2012 ISCRAM.
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