Analysis of Work Demands of Multi-Agency Emergency Response Activity for Developing Information Support Systems

Leena Norros, Robert Hutton, Patrick Grommes, Nick Colford, Marja Liinasuo, Paula Savioja

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingsScientificpeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper reports first results of analyses concerning emergency response (ER) activity executed as a joint effort of three agencies: fire services, ambulance services and the police. The challenge to be tackled in the study is to understand the cognitive, operational and collaborative demands that characterize on-site responding to a complex emergency situation. The concept of Common Operational Picture (COP) is used to indicate one of the distributed cognitive functions of the multiagency ER personnel. The process of the adopted usage-driven design approach is described, and some central methodical solutions explained. Tentative results concerning the formation of COP indicate that a communication-oriented (semiotic) approach provides a possibility to empirically analyse the formation of COP and to understand the cognitive patterns that actors, environment and artefacts jointly form for tackling unanticipated and complex situations.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationDesigning beyond the Product: Understanding Activity and User Experience in Ubiquitous Environments
    Subtitle of host publicationEuropean Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics, ECCE 2009
    Place of PublicationEspoo
    PublisherVTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
    Pages92-95
    ISBN (Electronic)978-951-38-6340-1
    ISBN (Print)978-951-38-6339-5
    Publication statusPublished - 2009
    MoE publication typeA4 Article in a conference publication
    EventEuropean Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics, ECCE 2009 - Helsinki, Finland
    Duration: 30 Sept 20092 Oct 2009

    Publication series

    SeriesVTT Symposium
    Number258
    ISSN0357-9387

    Conference

    ConferenceEuropean Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics, ECCE 2009
    Country/TerritoryFinland
    CityHelsinki
    Period30/09/092/10/09

    Keywords

    • emergency response
    • common operational picture
    • common ground
    • communication
    • usage-driven design

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