Information systems (IS) in emergency management (EM) support situational awareness and agility during a disaster so that professionals do not only need to follow rigid pre-defined plans that might... Show More

Information systems (IS) in emergency management (EM) support situational awareness and agility during a disaster so that professionals do not only need to follow rigid pre-defined plans that might be unsuitable in the unfolding situation. To use IS effectively, managers need an understanding of the capabilities of these systems; this can be achieved through an appropriate set of educational courses. This article presents the results of the analysis of a survey that proposed EM and IS courses for master level programs. The survey was completed by 373 practitioners, academics and/or researchers with EM experience. All proposed courses were rated above a 4 on a 7-point scale for how essential they are to a curriculum. A qualitative analysis indicates that some low ratings were due to disagreement over the described course content. An unexpected finding was that a substantial number of respondents spontaneously expressed opposition to the use of IS for EM in general. Findings are discussed and a preliminary curriculum is proposed.

Crisis response, including humanitarian operations, is a highly complex field and its effectiveness is challenged by the dynamic partnerships of organizations involved and critical field conditions.... Show More

Crisis response, including humanitarian operations, is a highly complex field and its effectiveness is challenged by the dynamic partnerships of organizations involved and critical field conditions. Serious gaming is recognized as an effective method for complex systems design and analysis. Given the criticality of complex humanitarian operations and the current challenges faced by humanitarians in crisis response, serious gaming could play an important role in this field. However, the full potential of serious gaming in humanitarian assistance has not been fully explored yet. This article examines the role of serious gaming in assisting humanitarian operations. A board game is developed and played to examine its role in facilitating requirement engineering and training for humanitarian missions. In the contribution, the authors show how they were able to address the vital challenges faced by humanitarian aid workers in crisis response. Additionally, the outcomes of game sessions and their implications for humanitarian operations of the future was discussed.

Human behaviour during crisis evacuations is social in nature. In particular, social attachment theory posits that proximity of familiar people, places, objects, etc., promotes calm and a feeling of... Show More

Human behaviour during crisis evacuations is social in nature. In particular, social attachment theory posits that proximity of familiar people, places, objects, etc., promotes calm and a feeling of safety, while their absence triggers panic or flight. In closely bonded groups such as families, members seek each other and evacuate as one. This makes attachment bonds necessary in the development of realistic models of mobility during crises. This article presents a review of evacuation behaviour, theories on social attachment, crisis mobility, and agent-based models. It was found that social attachment influences mobility in the different stages of evacuation (pre, during and post). Based on these findings, a multi-agent model of mobility during seismic crises (SOLACE) is being developed, and it is implemented using the belief, desire and intention (BDI) agent architecture.

Terrorism targeting corporate bodies remains one the greatest risks to the most critical intangible asset of any organization: reputation. Thus, effective crisis communication is critical during and... Show More

Terrorism targeting corporate bodies remains one the greatest risks to the most critical intangible asset of any organization: reputation. Thus, effective crisis communication is critical during and after terror crisis to mitigate further damage on the reputation. To date, many studies around the globe have tended to focus on the role of the traditional media during terror crisis, paying minimal attention to organisations' use of social media during terror crisis. Using a descriptive qualitative case study, this study examined the role of social media during 2013 Westgate Mall terror attack, in Nairobi, Kenya. Findings revealed that the Interior Ministry (IM) used Twitter as the preferred social media platform to communicate with various stakeholders. Accommodative crisis response strategies were the most used by the IM. However, the ministry was plagued with inaccuracies and inconsistencies in its responses on social media compromising reputation of the government further. Balancing the need for speedy response, accuracy and consistency, remained the greatest challenge for the IM.

One in every 70 people around the world is caught up in a crisis (natural disasters, conflict, climate change, etc.) and urgently needs humanitarian assistance and protection according to the OCHA.... Show More

One in every 70 people around the world is caught up in a crisis (natural disasters, conflict, climate change, etc.) and urgently needs humanitarian assistance and protection according to the OCHA. The humanitarian community assists millions of people every year based on emerging humanitarian needs. Most of the time, the conditions inside the countries, once the humanitarian needs data is collected, are not very conducive and required simple ways to collect data like paper-based data collection with simple questions. This data is later entered into a database or spreadsheet using rigorous and time-consuming data entry efforts. Dynamic changes in needs of people; numbers of partners involved; the complexity of evolving processes; and emerging technologies over time has led to a change in processes for data collection and management. This article is an attempt to capture humanitarian data collection best practices and the use of different technologies in managing data to facilitate humanitarian needs assessment processes for the Syria crisis.