Challenges and obstacles in sharing and coordinating information during multi-agency disaster response: Propositions from field exercises

Although various scholars have researched issues regarding disaster management, few have studied the sharing and coordinating of information during disasters. Not much empirical data is available in this field and there is sparse insight into the factors that may impede or facilitate information sharing and coordination among stakeholders. In this paper, we provide an overview of the relevant obstacles and challenges by examining existing literature and then investigating a series of multi-agency disaster management exercises, using observations and a survey. Although all the people who took part in our study agree that sharing information is important, for the success of their own organization as well as the exercise as a whole, the extent to which information is actually being shared among organizations is often limited by a number of factors that can be attributed to the community, agency and individual level. We found that relief workers are often more concerned with receiving information from others than with providing information to others who may benefit. Incentives for sharing information, understanding each other’s work-processes and the usability of information systems have shown positive effects on information sharing and coordination. The findings of our study have been formulated using six grounded propositions, which can be used by system designers and policy-makers upon validation in further research. We also provide directions for future research.     

Towards multi-agency sensor information integration for disaster management

Having access to real-time spatial information is central to the functioning of disaster management, and in particular disaster response. Existing spatially-enabled solutions for managing urban disasters provide limited support for time-sensitivity and urgency underlying emergency situations. These approaches mainly suffer from low temporal resolution and inability to source a broad range of required disaster data, together with insufficient support for automated operations. However, disaster management procedures, integrated with in situ sensing, promise an extensive range of real-time data and automated processes to acquire and manage disaster information. In this research, we study the process of integrating multi-agency in situ sensors for supporting disaster management. For this purpose, the research was adopted in Australia as the case study area in disaster management of a flood by emphasizing on the response phase. This paper first identifies the issues and existing requirements in the process of multi-agency sensor information integration and then proposes a standard-based approach to overcoming these integration issues. Afterward, based on the presented approach and identified requirements, a GIS-based software IDDSS-Sensor is implemented to provide the functions of standard-based access, as well as on-the-fly harmonization, integration and usage of multi-agency sensor information. We evaluate the applicability of our developed approach by applying it to the use case of supporting flash flood evacuation response.     

Advances in multi-agency disaster management: Key elements in disaster research

Multi-agency disaster management requires collaboration among geographically distributed public and private organizations to enable a rapid and effective response to an unexpected event. Many disaster management systems often lack the capability to cope with the complexity and uncertainty. In this introduction to the special issues on advances in multi-agency disaster management we discuss the role of information, enterprise architecture, coordination and related human efforts aimed at improving multi-agency disaster management. The paper concludes that although there is a common body of knowledge, disaster management is still an under-developed area. There is a need to relate practice and theory by using human-centered approaches such that disaster management can realize its full potential.     

信息系统灾难恢复体系结构

灾难备份与恢复技术能够充分保证灾难发生时,信息系统仍能正常工作,目前已成为信息安全领域一个备受瞩目的研究方向。本文参考IBM公司SHARE78的7个灾难恢复等级,将灾难恢复系统分为数据级、系统级和应用级3个层次。根据这种层次划分,重新合理地定义了9个灾难恢复等级,并对各个等级详细地给出了定性的说明和定量的规定。本文提出了信息系统的灾难恢复体系结构,并用三维模型描述了灾难恢复指标、备份与恢复技术和灾难恢复计划与措施之间的关系,从而为信息系统的灾难恢复提供了一个完整的框架和解决方案。     

Investigating information sharing behavior: the mediating roles of the desire to share information in virtual communities

Social networking sites are built and designed to provide online services and a platform for people to social interacts and exchange information. This study used the social capital theory as a foundation to explore the social interaction factors and individual factors such as shared value, community identification, and information privacy concerns, and examine the mediating role of the desire to give information between trust on websites/members and information sharing behaviour in the proposed model. This research sample consists of seven hundred and twenty-seven members who have used the Facebook fan page for at least 6 months. This study adopted structural equation modeling to test the research hypotheses. The results of this study show that shared value, community identification, and information privacy concern directly influence trust on websites and members. Trust on websites and members directly influenced the desire to get/give information. Desire to give information directly influences information sharing behaviour. The desire to give information plays important mediating roles between trust on websites/members and information sharing behaviour. Finally, we provide conclusions and managerial implications of the findings.     

The Dynamics of Material Artifacts in Collaborative Research Teams

Boundary objects are material artifacts that mediate the relationship between two or more disparate perspectives. The concept of boundary objects has been demonstrably useful in a variety of research areas; however, the meaning and function of boundary objects is contested. At issue is the relationship between boundary objects that negotiate between perspectives and those that specify across perspectives. In this study the changing nature of boundary objects in cooperative work is related to the dynamics of evolving problem conceptualization, system design, and enactment within cooperative work settings. Design based research on material artifacts produced by an incipient cross-disciplinary research team during their efforts towards negotiating integrated conceptualizations and specifying shared research agendas is used to generate a more comprehensive model of boundary objects through the life of a project.     

信息系统灾难恢复与数据备份

灾难恢复的目的是减轻灾难对单位和社会带来的不良影响,保证信息系统所支持的关键业务功能在灾难发生后能及时恢复和继续运作。任何灾难恢复系统实际上都是建立在数据备份基础之上的。     

Emergency management perspectives on volunteered geographic information: Opportunities,challenges and change

Volunteered geographic information (VGI) refers to the widespread creation and sharing of geographic information by private citizens, often through platforms such as online mapping tools, social media, and smartphone applications. VGI has shifted the ways information is created, shared, used and experienced, with important implications for applications of geospatial data, including emergency management. Detailed interviews with 13 emergency management professionals from eight organisations across five Australian states provided insights into the impacts of VGI on official emergency management. Perceived opportunities presented by VGI included improved communication, acquisition of diverse local information, and increased community engagement in disaster management. Identified challenges included the digital divide, data management, misinformation, and liability concerns. Significantly, VGI disrupts the traditional top-down structure of emergency management and reflects a culture shift away from authoritative control of information. To capitalise on the opportunities of VGI, agencies need to share responsibility and be willing to remain flexible in supporting positive community practises, including VGI. Given the high accountability and inherently responsive nature of decision making in disaster management, it provides a useful lens through which to examine the impacts of VGI on official authoritative systems more broadly. This analysis of the perceptions of emergency management professionals suggests changes to traditional systems that involve decentralisation of power and increased empowerment of citizens, where value is increasingly recognised in both expert and citizen-produced information, initiatives and practises.     

Drone mapping of damage information in GPS-Denied disaster sites

The increasing number and severity of natural hazard events in recent years, and their devastating impact on human life, local economies, and the built environment has called governments around the world into action and created a new mandate for a paradigm shift in disaster management and mitigation policies. To this end, new affordable technologies with mobile connectivity (e.g., smartphones, unmanned systems, reality capture devices) have scaled up tasks such as data collection and curation, leading to a significant increase in the volume of data gathered and shared in the aftermath of disasters. In the meantime, advancements in high-power and distributed computing have created new opportunities in fast and reliable data analytics. In particular to the application of drones in disaster response, past research has primarily focused on aerial data collection and more recently, ground object detection. Geolocalization of drone data (i.e., the process of determining the geographical position of objects in drone’s field of view), however, is a complex task that relies on prior knowledge of the drone’s geolocation (e.g., flight path coordinates, inertial sensors, camera gaze). Such metadata may not be always available or shared across platforms especially with the increased use of crowdsourcing in disaster response, damage assessment, and recovery. This paper presents a methodology for spatial mapping of disaster impact information in drone videos without reliance on GPS data of the aerial camera. We perform progressive mapping using scale-invariant visual features in red–greenblue (RGB) videos of disaster-affected sites in two major hurricanes in North America, namely Harvey (2017) and Dorian (2019). Results indicate that the proposed methodology can project objects from the perspective view of a drone camera onto an orthogonal map with 32.7–36.9 ft of average root mean square (RMS) error in a land area of 18–45 acres.     

Value co-creation for digital innovation: An interorganizational boundary-spanning perspective

Despite the enthusiasm for engaging in interorganizational collaboration to enable digital product innovation, firms often face challenges in integrating knowledge across organizational boundaries. Our research examines how collaborating firms use Interorganizational Systems (IOS) tools and project coordinators to overcome knowledge boundaries in different types of ideation tasks. Drawing on boundary-spanning theory, we conceptualize IOS tools as boundary objects, project coordinators as boundary spanners, and the interdependence of ideation tasks as moderators of the impacts of boundary objects and spanners on knowledge integration. Our findings suggest that IOS tools help overcome syntax and semantic knowledge boundaries by transferring and sharing information when the interdependence of idea implementation tasks is high, and project coordinators help overcome pragmatic knowledge boundaries by building reciprocity of innovation participants when the interdependence of idea generation tasks is high. Our research contributes to value co-creation literature by developing a boundary-spanning mechanism to explain the roles of boundary objects and boundary spanners in overcoming different knowledge boundaries to enable digital product innovation at the inter-firm level.     

基于Internet的共享式灾备中心

共享式灾备中心作为容灾备份的关键因素得到长足的发展,但是它也面临着多用户数据的共享存储、集中存储中数据的安全等问题。设计和实现了一种基于Internet的共享式灾备中心,通过建立海量缓存和数据的加密存储,既有利于灾备中心工作效率的提升,又保障了数据存储的安全性。经实验证明,灾备中心磁盘IO的写效率得到了大幅度提升,且数据的加密基本不影响灾备中心的工作效率。     

The dynamics of IT boundary objects,information infrastructures,and organisational identities: the introduction of 3D modelling technologies into the architecture,engineering, and construction industry

In recent years, more companies engage in collaborative cross-organisational practices to achieve their business objectives. To cooperate effectively across boundaries requires organisations to overcome the tension between their distinct backgrounds and the need to create shared understandings with their partners for collaboration. This requires the creation of shared artefacts such as boundary objects. Whereas the past work on boundary objects has highlighted their role as translation devices, we examine them in relation to the information infrastructures within which they are embedded, and the identities of the organisations that use them. We propose a model that outlines the relationships among the three concepts and illustrate its dynamics by presenting two case studies that describe the introduction of three-dimensional modelling technologies into the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Based on the case studies we suggest that boundary objects, in addition to facilitating cross-organisational communication, also help to form organisational identities. We further suggest the occurrence of a process whereby changes in boundary objects enable changes in information infrastructures and identities in one organisation. These changes, in turn, create the conditions for change in bordering organisations through shared boundary objects and boundary practices.     

Distributed collaborative situation-map making for disaster response

A situation map that shows the overview of a disaster situation serves as a valuable tool for disaster response teams. It helps them to orientate their location and to make disaster response decisions. It is, however, a complicated task to rapidly generate a complete and comprehensive situation map of a disaster area, particularly due to the centralized organization of disaster management and the limited emergency services. In this study, we propose to let the affected population be utilized as an additional resource that can actively help to make such a situation map.The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of constructing a shared situation map using a collaborative distributed mechanism. By examining earlier research, a detailed list of potential problems is identified in the collaborative map-making process. These problems were then addressed in an experiment which evaluated a number of proposed solutions. The results showed that more collaboration channels led to a situation map of better quality, and that including confidence information for objects and events in the map helped the discussion process during the map-making.     

Organisational Issues in Implementing an Information Sharing Framework: Lessons from the Matata Flooding Events in New Zealand

This paper presents a critical review and analysis of issues in implementing electronic data and information sharing frameworks for organisations involved in response activities during disaster. An implementation focused approach is used to understand end‐user needs and develop tools that meet their operational requirements. A case study of New Zealand roading organisations examines how information is currently shared both within and between organisations to support crisis decision‐making, and the potential benefits and implications of enhanced data and information sharing frameworks. Preliminary results show that considerable performance gains in response activities during disasters can be achieved provided technology is designed to work with and enhance existing operating structures.     

虚拟企业内基于UDDI的分布式对象共享管理模型

提出了一个基于UDDI 2．0规范的分布式对象共享模型来满足虚拟企业内资源共享的需要．模型主要包括分布式对象的存储描述、以区域为单位的对象管理体系及对象权限的分配、区域间信息复制和代理调用服务对象，提供了一个通用的基于Web的动态管理分布式对象的方法，解决分布式环境下的资源共享问题。     

Collaborative systems development in disaster relief: The impact of multi-level governance

Disaster management information systems for international humanitarian relief are developed in contexts involving local, national and inter-governmental organizations together with local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). While the multi-organizational nature of disaster response is known to create challenges for information systems development, to date, less attention has been paid to their multi-level nature. This research sheds light on the implications of multi-level governance for disaster information systems development by integrating political science and information systems theories of multi-level governance. The integrated theoretical framework is then used to analyze a case study of a system development effort undertaken by a multi-organizational coordination body consisting of the headquarters of six large, international humanitarian relief agencies, together with their country offices in a Central American country. This research finds that multi-level governance can both negatively and positively influence information systems development. In a multi-level governance arrangement, authority for a systems development project may be diffuse and may change. The transfer of resources from higher to lower levels is key factor, as these resources help local organizations overcome resource constraints to collaboration. The initial outcome of coercion by higher levels of authority may be resistance, however over time the outcome can change to compliance.     

基于融合存储系统的数据容灾

为了应对信息时代巨量数据的存储要求．多种网络存储技术和理论先后出现．同样也给数据容灾带来新的挑战。简单介绍数据容灾的意义．提出在融合存储系统上实现的容灾的体系结果研究及基于融合存储系统的容灾实现．通过在融合存储系统上的相关数据论证基于融合存储系统的数据容灾的可行性和正确性．研究工作将对今后基于融合存储系统的数据容灾研究有较好的理论借鉴意义和实际参考价值。     

CSCW系统中共享对象的协作支持模型

信息共享是ＣＳＣＷ系统中多用户协作的基础。文中在分析ＣＳＣＷ系统中共享对象服务的功能需求的基础上,提出了一个共享对象的协作模型ＳＯＣＳＭ／ＬＳＩ,该模型使用分层的服务界面来实现共享对象的访问控制、协作感知和界面显示等服务功能,完成对共享对象的协作支持。该模型具有实现简单,功能层次清晰等特点,能够为共享对象提供灵活的协作机制。