ITR: IT-Based Collaboration Framework for Preparing Against, Responding to, and Recovering from Disasters Involving Critical Physical Infrastructures

摘要当今社会面临的最紧迫和最重要的挑战之一是城市地区在极端和不可预测的事件中的脆弱性，如恐怖主义、地震等。例如，2002年，全球共有6.08亿人受到灾害的影响，造成24500人死亡，财产和环境损失估计达270亿美元。这些巨大的人力和经济成本突出表明，迫切需要提高对极端事件的第一反应的效率和效力。这笔赠款的目的是制定和测试一个概念框架，旨在改善参与救灾行动的主要行为者之间的合作。这些关键行为者包括消防员、警察、医务人员、专家、参与受影响基础设施建设的最初土木工程师和建筑商，以及有形和技术基础设施本身，包括传感器和嵌入其中的传感器系统。将在拟议框架的基础上开发和测试从理论上衍生的基于信息技术的应对灾害、应对灾害和灾后恢复的解决方案。研究团队由土木工程师、计算机科学家、昆虫学家、心理学家、通信学者和急救专业人员组成。每个人都从不同的角度研究协作的技术和社会过程。所有这些观点都将体现在概念框架中，该框架将探讨第一反应的三个阶段：准备、反应和恢复。在混乱和不适宜居住的救灾行动环境中，急救人员面临许多挑战；包括信息不可靠和过载；协调和通信中断；人身安全和有形基础设施的脆弱性受到威胁。这笔赠款旨在减少不确定性，改善急救人员之间的合作。它将在几个重要方面推动关于高效和有效的第一反应的理论、研究和实践。首先，以前关于协作的研究计划侧重于支持在复杂、大规模但相当稳定的操作条件下在固定计算机和设备上运行的人员、仪器和系统之间的交互。这项研究调查了混乱、动荡和复杂的救灾环境中的协作，这需要固定和移动用户之间以及用户与传感器和通信媒体等技术设备之间的交互。其次，它探讨了土木工程师作为第一反应团队的重要成员的作用，提供了关于受影响的物理基础设施的关键知识和经验。最后，它将使具有基于IT的组件平台的第一批响应人员能够解决与关键物理基础设施有关的问题，如安全和漏洞，以及在灾难发生前进行准备、响应和恢复的专业知识。

Abstract for 0427089One of the most urgent and vital challenges confronting society today is the vulnerability of urban areas to extreme and unpredictable events such as terrorism, earthquakes and the like. For example, in 2002, a total of 608 million people across the globe were affected by disasters resulting in 24,500 deaths and damage to property and to the environment estimated at $27 billion dollars. These significant human and economical costs emphasize the urgent need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of first responses to extreme events. The objective of this grant is to develop and to test a conceptual framework designed to improve collaboration among the key actors involved in disaster relief operations. These key actors include firefighters, police officers, medical personnel, experts, the original civil engineers and constructors involved in the construction of the affected infrastructure, and the physical and technological infrastructure itself, including sensors and systems of sensors embedded in it. Theoretically derived information technology (IT)-based solutions to prepare against, respond to and recover from disasters will be developed and tested based on the proposed framework. The research team is composed of civil engineers, computer scientists, entomologists, psychologists, communication scholars and first responder professionals. Each studies the technological and social processes of collaboration from a different viewpoint. All of these viewpoints will be represented in the conceptual framework, which will explore three phases of first response: preparation, response, and recovery. First responders face many challenges in the chaotic and inhospitable environment of disaster relief operations; including information unreliability and overload; coordination and communication breakdowns; and threats to personal safety and the vulnerability of physical infrastructure. This grant seeks to reduce uncertainty and improve collaboration among first responders. It will advance theory, research and practice regarding efficient and effective first response in several important ways. First, previous research initiatives regarding collaboration have focused on supporting interactions among people, instruments and systems running on fixed computers and devices, in complex, large scale, but fairly stable operating conditions. This research investigates collaboration in chaotic, volatile, and complex disaster relief environments, which requires interaction among both stationary and mobile users and among users and technological devices such as sensors and communication media. Second, it explores the role of civil engineer as a vital member of the first responder team, providing key knowledge of and experience with the affected physical infrastructure. And finally, it will enable first responders with an IT-based components platform to address issues pertaining to critical physical infrastructure, such as security and vulnerability, along with the expertise to prepare before, respond to and recover after a disaster occurs.