Redefining Information Requirements for Crisis Response

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Redefining Information Requirements for Crisis Response

Developing information requirements for crisis response is a tedious and flawed process filled with many uncertainties about the situation and the response. While we can take an honest stab at knowing what different responders need, when, and how, our unilateral focus on needed information stymies the best of intentions: historical learning is only as good as a similar future, which is rarely the case; and visioning workshops are only as good as the ability to identify the uncertainties that lie ahead, a very difficult task with severe consequences if something is missed. 

While decisions can be made without needed information based on expertise and experience, this is far from ideal in a complex adaptive system such as...

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Curate Dashboards NOT Documents in Disasters

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Curate Dashboards NOT Documents in Disasters

The goal of any information or intelligence unit  in a disaster is to produce information useful for decision makers.  Information managers, though, curate and analyze information into static and overly-standardized reports that are hard to interact with and update with new and different data and information.  

Instead, information managers should focus on publishing information into dynamic dashboards that can be further manipulated by disaster decision makers at their convenience.  This is because decision makers may want to quickly...

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Information Management & Sharing...the Right Way

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Information Management & Sharing...the Right Way

If you have ever responded to a disaster, you have likely made an infinite number of decisions and taken an infinite number of actions.  Information has informed these decisions and actions in some way.  However, had the information been delivered in the right way at the right time, you probably would have been more efficient and effective with your time.  Having the information in the right way allows you to spend more time mastering your objectives rather than mastering the art of data and information management.  

Situation Reports (SitReps) are a great example of information delivered in a more usable way.  However, SitReps were created in an era when paper documents reigned supreme and when that was the best way to convey information to a large group of people.  As technology becomes better and more data is available, though...

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Disaster Information is Like Duct Tape

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Disaster Information is Like Duct Tape

You may be wondering what these two things have in common.  Believe it or not, they have a lot more in common than you think.

There is a lot of discussion these days regarding how information can help in disasters.  But is hard to pinpoint exactly how it can help.  This is a lot like duct tape.

You carry duct tape around, maybe in your car or in your basement.  It is there because one day you might need it.  It is such a versatile product that you must have it available just in case something happens.  

Information is similar in that ...

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Data.gov Launches Disaster-Specific Open Data Portal

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Data.gov Launches Disaster-Specific Open Data Portal

On Monday, Data.gov launched a disaster-specific open data portal.  This was an initiative first announced in at the White House Innovation for Disaster Response and Recovery Demo Day this past July.  Many other innovative apps, tools and initiatives were also demoed that day.  

The portal features a number apps, tools, and data relevant to disaster and is conceptually similar to what NYC did a couple years ago with its public safety data.  In total, 114 Federal data sets are already indexed in the portal

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3 Reasons Why Disaster Information is SO Important

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3 Reasons Why Disaster Information is SO Important

For all the talk about about how we need better information delivered in better ways, I am struck by how easily people lose sight of why it is needed in the first place.  After all, information that you don't need is really not helpful and can cause big problems.  You can experience information overload, be distracted from your goals or tasks, or be unduly influenced by extraneous information.  

Whether you are looking for information before, during or after disasters, there are three reasons why good information is important:

1) Situation Awareness - Information helps responders understand the situation

Information helps us identify operational gaps and enables us to effectively coordinate resources.  Knowing the gaps along with what is going on and who is doing what is the heart of situational awareness.  Without good awareness, though, it can feel like you are making a decision in a vacuum or hedging your bets on risky decisions more than you would like. 

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Why is Disaster Information Management So Hard?

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Why is Disaster Information Management So Hard?

Information is one of the most important commodities in disaster management, including for operations and public awareness.  In recent years as the size, scale and complexity of disasters have increased dramatically, the need for information systems that help us effectively manage information is more important than ever.  As such, we need to consider the relative strengths and weakness of humans and computers and understand the totality of information issues that we encounter as an industry.  

But we are only beginning to scratch the surface on how to get the right information to the right people at the right time in the right way.  Theoretically this should be an easy task.  

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