Mining Patterns for Web-based Emergency Management Systems

6 pages, 1 figure.-- Contributed to: 4th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM2007, Delft, the Netherlands, May 13-16, 2007).Design patterns describe problems that occur recurrently, and specify the core of the solution in such a way that we can (re)use it in different contexts and applications. Although, web-based Emergency Management Systems domain is still in its nascent stages, there are design principles, real systems and design patterns from other related areas that can be a valuable source of knowledge to mine design patterns. From these sources we have created a patterns catalogue to assist novice designers on discovering what issues should be addressed to develop useful and successful systems. In this paper, we present the mining process and some patterns as example.This work is supported by the ARCE++ project (TSI2004-03394) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (MEC) and a cooperation agreement between "Universidad Carlos III de Madrid" and "Dirección General de Protección Civil y Emergencias" (Ministry of the Interior).Publicad

Maritime Emergency Management Capabilities in the Arctic

Author's accepted version (postprint).This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers in ISOPE - International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers. Proceedings on 07/2016, available online: http://www.isope.org/publications/proceedings/ISOPE/ISOPE%202016/index.ht

Bridging the Gap Between Politics and Techniques: On the next practices of participatory design

This paper discusses how we in the participatory design (PD) research community may contribute to the evolution of ICT design1 practices into something that is much more attuned to people using ICT and to their interests. The main idea is that to do so we need to focus more on issues in the gap between politics and techniques, e.g., project funding, types of users and of use settings, the role of companies and of Intellectual Property Rights and the types of projects we work on. The paper presents material illustrating that impor- tant changes are going on in the dimensions outlined by these issues and argues that these changes create important, new opportunities for PD to contribute to the ‘next practices’ of ICT design—as well as serious problems. Thus to exploit these new opportunities we need to improve our understanding of the issues involved and to develop new ways of taking them into account when we design and do research projects

Are low cost accountability, communications, and management systems for emergency first responders using 3G and 4G cellular technologies feasible?

Reliable, easily deployed communication networks are a necessity for emergency responders as the coordination of their efforts and their safety depend on it. As a volunteer firefighter, this researcher is aware of the shortcomings of the current communication technologies presently deployed, and the risks it poses to firefighters. Some studies have proposed deployment of sophisticated hybrid, mesh networks and mobile ad hoc networks that allow for location tracking, environment and personnel vital signs monitoring, and data communications. Unfortunately the cost of these systems and required training in use of the equipment inhibits their adoption and wide scale deployment across the nation\u27s emergency responder agencies. We are surrounded by secure, reliable cellular network technologies that meet our voice and data communication needs, yet current studies focus on building network infrastructures from the ground up and discussing how to address the security and performance issues of their proposed networks. This study proposes the use of the existing cellular network architecture already in place across the nation as a foundation to explore the feasibility of a low cost communication, management and accountability system utilizing 3G and 4G technologies and architecture

On-Site Information Systems Design for Emergency First Responders

This paper explores the design specification of on-site emergency response information systems. In particular how emerging technologies such as wireless sensor networks, RFID, and wireless communication technologies, might enable on-site dynamic information to be retrieved, shared, and presented to the first responders. The information needed for an emergency response is discussed and end-user requirements are identified through extensive interviews with fire fighters together with observation made of fire emergency response training simulations. These requirements are considered in relation to the identified responsibilities of the core members in the first responder hierarchy. On-site dynamic information collection is discussed in terms of wireless sensor networks and radio frequency identification technologies, and information sharing among the first responders is implemented based on a local wireless communication network. The on-site dynamic information required by emergency personnel is presented at three situation awareness levels in order to meet the various requirements of the first responders. Finally, a prototype information system for fire and rescue services is discussed to illustrate and evaluate the methods proposed in this paper. This work outlines the basic design principles and practice of on-site information systems for emergency first responders and shows that such an information system could greatly improve their performance as well as reducing the risks they face, once the emerging technologies are in place to implement them. Although our focus was on structural fire and fire fighters, the on-site emergency response system proposed here is applicable to other emergency response as well, due to the existence of common training methods and standard operating procedures

Wireless sensor data processing for on-site emergency response

This thesis is concerned with the problem of processing data from Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to meet the requirements of emergency responders (e.g. Fire and Rescue Services). A WSN typically consists of spatially distributed sensor nodes to cooperatively monitor the physical or environmental conditions. Sensor data about the physical or environmental conditions can then be used as part of the input to predict, detect, and monitor emergencies. Although WSNs have demonstrated their great potential in facilitating Emergency Response, sensor data cannot be interpreted directly due to its large volume, noise, and redundancy. In addition, emergency responders are not interested in raw data, they are interested in the meaning it conveys. This thesis presents research on processing and combining data from multiple types of sensors, and combining sensor data with other relevant data, for the purpose of obtaining data of greater quality and information of greater relevance to emergency responders. The current theory and practice in Emergency Response and the existing technology aids were reviewed to identify the requirements from both application and technology perspectives (Chapter 2). The detailed process of information extraction from sensor data and sensor data fusion techniques were reviewed to identify what constitutes suitable sensor data fusion techniques and challenges presented in sensor data processing (Chapter 3). A study of Incident Commanders’ requirements utilised a goal-driven task analysis method to identify gaps in current means of obtaining relevant information during response to fire emergencies and a list of opportunities for WSN technology to fill those gaps (Chapter 4). A high-level Emergency Information Management System Architecture was proposed, including the main components that are needed, the interaction between components, and system function specification at different incident stages (Chapter 5). A set of state-awareness rules was proposed, and integrated with Kalman Filter to improve the performance of filtering. The proposed data pre-processing approach achieved both improved outlier removal and quick detection of real events (Chapter 6). A data storage mechanism was proposed to support timely response to queries regardless of the increase in volume of data (Chapter 7). What can be considered as “meaning” (e.g. events) for emergency responders were identified and a generic emergency event detection model was proposed to identify patterns presenting in sensor data and associate patterns with events (Chapter 8). In conclusion, the added benefits that the technical work can provide to the current Emergency Response is discussed and specific contributions and future work are highlighted (Chapter 9)

Ordering Networks: Motorways and the Work of Managing Disruption

This thesis contributes to a new understanding of the motorway network and its traffic movements as a problem of practical accomplishment. It is based on a detailed ethnomethodological study of incident management in the Highways Agency’s motorway control room, which observes the methods operators use to detect, diagnose and clear incidents to accomplish safe and reliable traffic. Its main concern is how millions of vehicles can depend on the motorway network to fulfil obligations for travel when it is constantly compromised by disruption from congestion, road accidents and vehicle breakdowns. It argues that transport geography and new mobilities research have overlooked questions of practical accomplishment; they tend to treat movement as an inevitable demand, producing fixed technical solutions to optimise it, or a self-evident phenomenon, made meaningful only through the intensely human experience of mobility. In response, the frame of practical accomplishment is developed to analyse the ways in which traffic is ongoingly organised through the situated and contingent practices that take place in the control room. The point is that traffic does not move by magic; it has to be planned for, produced and persistently worked at. This is coupled with an understanding of network topology that reconsiders the motorway network as always in process by virtue of the materially heterogeneous relations it keeps, drawing attention to the intensely collaborative nature of work between operators and technology that permits the management of disruption at-a-distance and in real time. This work is by no means straightforward – the actions of monitoring, detecting, diagnosing and classifying incidents and managing traffic are revealed to be complexly situated and prone to uncertainty, requiring constant ordering work to accomplish them. In conclusion, this thesis argues for the frame of practical accomplishment to be taken seriously, rendering the work of transport networks available for sustained analysis