SCC-PG: Help by Any Means: Sociotechnical Protocols for Multimedia Requests for Assistance to Next-Generation 911 Services

从1968年911被指定为全国紧急电话到1993年90%的美国人获得911服务，公共教育活动教会公民如何在紧急情况下拨打911寻求帮助，并培训调度员如何处理遇困公民的电话。现在，随着下一代911 （NG911）系统的采用，如何“呼叫”求助变得更加复杂：市民将能够通过短信/彩信（甚至可能是社交媒体渠道）向911调度员发送文本、图像和视频数据，这些调度员仍被培训为接听电话，而不是数据分析师。虽然存在处理多通道多媒体援助请求的新兴计算方法，以及最近在公共安全应答点（psap）与911调度员进行的实地工作明确了处理这些请求的要求，但协调围绕多通道多媒体数据使用NG911系统所必需的协议仍未明确，应急官员和公众之间的标准化程度也低得多。这些协议包括公民应该在多媒体911信息中包含什么内容的说明，协调公民使用替代911通道的PSAP程序，以及更新的呼叫接收和调度协议，促进多通道多媒体信息的协作意义，增强紧急情况下第一反应者的态势感知。该规划拨款支持公民、911调度员和急救人员参与共同设计任何方式帮助（HAM）协议的努力，该协议将在危机期间协调使用多渠道、多媒体请求援助。这些努力将有助于转变NG911基础设施周围的应急服务，包括设计公共服务公告，教育公民何时以及如何使用替代和多媒体911通信请求帮助，以及制定PSAP程序，以增强应急响应能力的方式处理和整合多媒体信息。其他贡献包括了解NG911过渡过程中一系列利益攸关方所认为的短信转911和社交媒体转911服务的社会和技术影响，以及对应急响应之外的数据驱动公共服务的设计和管理提出见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Between 1968, when 911 was designated as the national emergency number, and 1993, when 90% of Americans gained access to 911 services, public education campaigns taught citizens how to dial 9-1-1 for help during an emergency and dispatchers trained to process telephone calls from citizens in distress. Now, with the adoption of Next-Generation 911 (NG911) systems, how to “call” for help becomes more complex: citizens will be able to send text, image, and video data in SMS/MMS messages (and possibly even a social media channel) to 911 dispatchers who remain trained as call takers, not data analysts. While nascent computational methods exist to processes multi-channel, multimedia requests for assistance and recent fieldwork with 911 dispatchers at Public-Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) specify requirements to process these requests, the protocols necessary to coordinate uses of NG911 systems around multi-channel, multimedia data remain unspecified and much less standardized among emergency response officials and the public. These protocols include instructions for what citizens should include in multimedia 911 messages, PSAP procedures for coordinating citizen use of alternative 911 channels, and updated call taking and dispatch protocols facilitating collaborative sensemaking of multi-channel, multimedia information that enhances situational awareness among first responders during an emergency.This planning grant supports efforts to engage citizens, 911 dispatchers, and first responders to co-design Help by Any Means (HAM) protocols that will coordinate the use of multi-channel, multimedia requests for assistance during a crisis. These efforts will contribute to the transformation of emergency services around NG911 infrastructures, including the design of public service announcements educating citizens when and how to request help using alternative and multimedia 911 communications, as well as PSAP procedures for processing and integrating multimedia information in ways that enhance emergency response capacities. Additional contributions include understanding the social and technical implications of text-to-911 and social media-to-911 services as viewed by a range of stakeholders in the NG911 transition, as well as adduce insights into the design and management of data-driven public services beyond those of emergency response.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.