Managing Visibility and Validity of Distress Calls with an Ad-Hoc SOS System

The availability of ICT services can be severely disrupted in the aftermath of disasters. Ad-hoc assemblages of communication technology have the potential to bridge such breakdowns. This article investigates the use of an ad-hoc system for sending SOS signals in a large-scale exercise that simulated a terrorist attack. In this context, we found that the sensitivity that was introduced by the adversarial nature of the situation posed unexpected challenges for our approach, as giving away one's location in the immediate danger of a terrorist attack became an issue both for first responders and the affected people in the area. We show how practices of calling for help and reacting to help calls can be affected by such a system and affect the management of the visibility and validity of SOS calls, implying a need for further negotiation in situations where communication is sensitive and technically restrained

Working around disruptions of network infrastructures – design and evaluation of mobile ad-hoc systems for resilient communication in disasters

The use of information and communication technology services can be constrained in disaster situations, when it is important for affected persons to receive and send up-to-date information on current incidents and their evolution. Previous studies have shown the importance of propagating disaster-relevant information over the World Wide Web. In such situations, users without Internet access find themselves in an “information vacuum” until the network infrastructure is restored. This thesis addresses the exploitation of cell phones in disaster situations which cause the disruption of network infrastructure. The first part of this thesis collects empirical material on how people creatively use remnants of technology to communicate in disasters. The empirical data is drawn from primary and secondary sources: interviews with domain experts and people who have experienced a disaster situation, as well as external reports and scientific literature. Based on this empir-ical foundation, this work develops a conceptual framework that comprises a collection of quality attributes. When exploiting cell phones to create ad-hoc systems in disaster situations, the implementation of such quality attributes can potentially support the resilience of mobile ad-hoc systems. The second part of this thesis focuses on the iterative design and evaluation of two such mobile ad-hoc systems, showing how these quality attributes can be implemented. To explore the feasibility of the systems and their implications for the work practices in the emergency response domain, they are deployed under close-to-real disaster conditions. The developed systems distinguish themselves from the state of the art in two essential aspects: first, they are independent from preexisting network infrastructure, and second, they run on off-the-shelf devices. Thus, this work addresses the following research questions: • How do people creatively use remnants of technology in disaster situations? • Which quality attributes for ubiquitous computing systems can support resilience in such situations? • How can such quality attributes be implemented for smartphones

Working around disruptions of network infrastructures – design and evaluation of mobile ad-hoc systems for resilient communication in disasters

The use of information and communication technology services can be constrained in disaster situations, when it is important for affected persons to receive and send up-to-date information on current incidents and their evolution. Previous studies have shown the importance of propagating disaster-relevant information over the World Wide Web. In such situations, users without Internet access find themselves in an “information vacuum” until the network infrastructure is restored. This thesis addresses the exploitation of cell phones in disaster situations which cause the disruption of network infrastructure. The first part of this thesis collects empirical material on how people creatively use remnants of technology to communicate in disasters. The empirical data is drawn from primary and secondary sources: interviews with domain experts and people who have experienced a disaster situation, as well as external reports and scientific literature. Based on this empir-ical foundation, this work develops a conceptual framework that comprises a collection of quality attributes. When exploiting cell phones to create ad-hoc systems in disaster situations, the implementation of such quality attributes can potentially support the resilience of mobile ad-hoc systems. The second part of this thesis focuses on the iterative design and evaluation of two such mobile ad-hoc systems, showing how these quality attributes can be implemented. To explore the feasibility of the systems and their implications for the work practices in the emergency response domain, they are deployed under close-to-real disaster conditions. The developed systems distinguish themselves from the state of the art in two essential aspects: first, they are independent from preexisting network infrastructure, and second, they run on off-the-shelf devices. Thus, this work addresses the following research questions: • How do people creatively use remnants of technology in disaster situations? • Which quality attributes for ubiquitous computing systems can support resilience in such situations? • How can such quality attributes be implemented for smartphones

Smart energy systems in private households: Behaviors, needs, expectations, and concerns

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study on people's attitudes, needs, and expectations towards smart energy systems. Based on interviews with individuals, both consumers of energy and those who have an energy-producing plant installed at home, energy consumption behavior is summarized and several issues are identified that impact the introduction and acceptance of smart energy and demand-management systems in households. The issues are analyzed in context and examples of user expressions are given to illustrate each. The findings can already be used as a rudimentary design space, to inform the design of smart energy systems for using and producing energy in domestic environments

Saving energy at work: The design of a pervasive game for office spaces

Decreasing the energy consumption is an important goal for individuals and public or industrial institutions. Pervasive games have been used to teach people to save energy in private households. We present Climate Race, a pervasive game addressing office workers. In the user-centered design process, three main requirements were identified: unobtrusiveness, cooperative gameplay and privacy. The implemented prototype monitors energy consumption and relates it to the activities of the player by measuring corresponding behavior. It provides feedback through a game application. Participants in a pilot study judged the game to be generally appropriate for the workplace, and changes in motivation were reported. Explicitly requesting feedback was preferred over immediate notifications. Sensor measurements showed that energy-saving situations occurred more often during the study

Tweeting 'When Online is Off'? Opportunistically Creating Mobile Ad-hoc Networks in Response to Disrupted Infrastructure

In this paper, we present a system that enables people to post and receive tweets despite disruptions of existing network infrastructure. Our system opportunistically deploys mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) based on Wi-Fi in which people can communicate with each other in a peer-to-peer fashion. A MANET per se constitutes an isolated island, but as people carry devices around that can join other MANETs, eventually people can transport previously collected data to the online world. Compared to other systems that aim to enable communication in crisis, our system differs in two ways: it does not rely on existing network infrastructure, and it exploits established protocols and standards allowing it to run on off-the-shelf, commercially available smartphones. We evaluated our prototype with a group of students and practitioners. Overall, we received positive feedback on the potential of our technology, but also were pointed to limitations requiring future work

Help beacons: design and evaluation of an ad-hoc lightweight s.o.s. system for smartphones

We present the design and evaluation of a lightweight mobile S.O.S. system that facilitates ad-hoc communication between first responders and victims in emergency situations. Our approach leverages established protocols and standards in unforeseen ways to provide a platform supporting the creation of short-lived communication links. The system comprises two mobile applications: One victim application that allows the broadcasting of distress signals by a novel use of Wi-Fi SSIDs; and a responder application that allows first responders to discover and trace the people broadcasting the signals. The main difference of our system with other platforms enabling communication in crisis situations is that our system is independent from existing network infrastructure and runs on off-the-shelf, commercially available smartphones. We describe the results of our evaluation process in the context of both a design evaluation during a real world emergency response exercise and of two user workshops in preparation for an upcoming large-scale exercise

Reconstructing normality:the use of infrastructure leftovers in crisis situations as inspiration for the design of resilient technology

In this paper, we examine challenges people face in situations of disrupted network infrastructures and how people use surviving portions of technology to cope with these challenges. We show how an important aspect in crises is the disturbance of services caused by disruptions in underlying technological structures. In such situations, people resort to all possible means to "reconstruct normality" in the sense of restoring their ability to communicate. For doing so, people often make creative use of the remains of the technological landscape. Building on the analysis of interviews with crises witnesses and first responders, external reports and scientific literature, we propose and describe three categories of mechanisms involving the creative use of surviving technology in crisis situations. We argue that studying these mechanisms can provide a key source of inspiration to define qualities of resilient architectures, and use these mechanisms as creative input to propose architectural qualities that can potentially make communication systems more resilient in the face of crises