Information Systems for Emergency Response
Murray Turoff, Bartel Van de Walle · The Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application · 2003
This special issue of JITTA is targeted towards research that addresses the design, development, deployment, operation and evaluation of information systems for emergency planning, response and management. Accidents or incidents are unexpected events that potentially or actually inflict damage to people, facilities or the environment, and therefore create a crisis situation to which a dedicated response is necessary. When responding to a major crisis, such as the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident, the BSE meat scare, the Prestige oil spill or the SARS epidemic, the response to the crisis usually leaves the jurisdiction of the affected organization and evolves to be the concern of local, regional, national or international agencies and authorities, depending on the scope and nature of the emergency. In response to such crises, teams are formed with people from many different organizations and agencies which cross local or national boundaries. These teams are typically interdisciplinary in nature, composed of topical experts, operational forces and people carrying political responsibilities. Even in the case of smaller crises, such as workplace accidents or the loss of a key corporate customer, special teams or committees are established across organizational units to work together to resolve the crisis situation. The training, dynamic formation and coordination of the emerging intra- or interorganizational emergency response community are key functionalities for information systems that support crisis response and management activities. Accordingly, this special issue is concerned with the functionality of information systems for those involved in crisis-related activities such as: * Planning for the response to a crisis situation; * Training for crises, including organizing of crisis exercises; * Responding to a crisis situation; * Evaluating the performance during and after the crisis; and * Managing the recovery process. Authors should focus on the tools, functionality, and/or interfaces that are or should be provided to human users involved with crisis response and management. Also papers that focus on requirements for this environment and/or the impact or relationship of such systems to the behavior of the individuals or organizations involved are equally welcome. Papers for this special issue will be processed using a special procedure. They may come to the attention of the special issue in one of three ways. 1. All papers accepted for publication at ISCRAM2004 Workshop (Brussels, Belgium, May 3-4, 2004, see http://www.tilburguniversity.nl/iscram200 4) will be screened for invitation to submit to the special issue. 2. All papers accepted for publication at the mini-track on Emergency Response Information Systems at AMCIS2004 (New York, August 3-4, 2004, see http://howe. …