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

当今社会面临的最紧迫和最重要的挑战之一是城市地区对极端和不可预测的事件（如恐怖主义、地震等）的脆弱性。例如，2002年，地球仪上共有6.08亿人受到灾害的影响，造成24 500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代价突出表明，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，以改善参与救灾行动的主要行动者之间的协作。这些关键行动者包括消防员、警察、医务人员、专家、参与受影响基础设施建设的原始土木工程师和施工人员，以及物理和技术基础设施本身，包括嵌入其中的传感器和传感器系统，以及从理论上推导出的基于信息技术（IT）的解决方案，以备不时之需将根据拟议的框架制定和测试灾害应对和灾后恢复战略。该研究小组由土木工程师、计算机科学家、昆虫学家、心理学家、通信学者和第一反应专业人员组成。每个研究从不同的角度协作的技术和社会过程。所有这些观点都将在概念框架中得到体现，该框架将探讨第一反应的三个阶段：准备、反应和恢复。第一反应者在混乱和恶劣的救灾行动环境中面临许多挑战，包括信息不可靠和超载;协调和通信故障;人身安全受到威胁和有形基础设施脆弱。该拨款旨在减少不确定性并改善急救人员之间的合作。它将在几个重要方面推进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集中在支持在复杂，大规模但相当稳定的操作条件下运行在固定计算机和设备上的人员，仪器和系统之间的交互。本研究探讨在混乱，动荡，复杂的救灾环境，这需要固定和移动的用户之间的互动和用户之间的技术设备，如传感器和通信媒体的协作。 其次，它探讨了土木工程师作为第一响应团队的重要成员的作用，提供受影响的物理基础设施的关键知识和经验。最后，它将使第一响应者能够利用基于IT的组件平台来解决与关键物理基础设施有关的问题，例如安全性和脆弱性，同时沿着灾害发生前的准备、灾害发生后的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.