Publication: Designing collaborative technologies for long-term emergency planning
Loading...
Identifiers
Publication date
2015-12
Defense date
2016-01-25
Authors
Tutors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Impact
Export
Abstract
La Gestión de Emergencias es la disciplina y la profesión que se ocupa de la aplicación de la
ciencia, la tecnología, la planificación y la gestión para hacer frente a eventos que pueden
herir o matar a un elevado número de personas, causar grandes daños en las propiedades e
interrumpir el curso de vida normal (Haynes et al., 2007). Dentro de esta disciplina, la
planificación de emergencias es conocida como el camino a seguir para estar preparados y
hacer frente a este tipo de eventos que producen situaciones de emergencias. La planificación
de emergencias es, por tanto, un proceso continuo destinado a garantizar que una comunidad
tiene los recursos y procedimientos necesarios para hacer frente a una situación de
emergencia (Perry and Lindell, 2007a). Con tal objetivo, los representantes de los diferentes
servicios implicados en la respuesta a una situación de emergencia, las autoridades y multiorganizaciones
temporales colaboran para definir una respuesta eficaz, flexible y adecuada.
La definición de dicha respuesta se basa no sólo en el intercambio de ideas por los expertos,
sino también en una continua revisión, actualización y mejora de los planes de emergencia
(Perry and Lindell, 2003b). Todo ello convierte la planificación de emergencias en un
proceso de colaboración a largo plazo, donde una planificación eficaz se consigue en el largo
plazo y más específicamente con continuidad en el proceso de planificación. Sin embargo, el
logro de esta continuidad no es una tarea trivial debido a la extensión del proceso de
planificación de emergencias en el tiempo. La extensión del proceso de planificación de
emergencias en el tiempo provoca grandes brechas temporales y una alta rotación de
personal que obliga a los planificadores a colaborar de una manera indirecta y a continuar el
trabajo de personas que nunca han conocido y con las que nunca han trabajado. Esto provoca
una pérdida de información relevante sobre la planificación a lo largo del tiempo y dificulta
el logro de la continuidad en el proceso de planificación. Con el objetivo de lograr continuidad, en la práctica de la planificación de emergencias, los
planificadores de emergencias recurren a crear informes y documentos que recopilan
información sobre la situación de emergencia, la respuesta y el propio proceso de diseño de
los planes de emergencias. Aunque estos artefactos externos son lo suficientemente buenos
para crear una estructura basada en el conocimiento sobre el proceso, no proporcionan
suficiente información para adquirir la comprensión de cómo se hizo el plan de emergencia a
lo largo del tiempo. Como alternativa, las tecnologías colaborativas podrían ser un
mecanismo adecuado para extender los límites humanos y proporcionar la continuidad
necesaria para planificar de manera eficaz. Sin embargo, las tecnologías colaborativas
existentes hasta el momento se han diseñado para apoyar el proceso de planificación de
emergencias y han dejado de lado la importancia de cuestiones de colaboración indirecta a
largo plazo durante el proceso como la continuidad. Las tecnologías colaborativas existentes
se centran, por tanto, en soportar el proceso de planificación, pero no en el mantenimiento de
la información necesaria para lograr un sentido de continuidad en el proceso de planificación.
Con el propósito de mejorar la práctica de la planificación de emergencia, el objetivo de este
trabajo de tesis se centra en proporcionar un sentido de continuidad durante la definición de
los planes de emergencia por medio de las tecnologías colaborativas. El logro de dicha
continuidad se basará en la construcción de la historia del diseño de planes de emergencia; es
decir, la historia de cómo se ha creado un plan de emergencia a lo largo del tiempo. Las
tecnologías colaborativas deben ser diseñados para capturar y presentar la información del
proceso de planificación de emergencias en el tiempo. En consecuencia, el objetivo de este
trabajo de tesis es la definición de un marco conceptual que establece las bases para el diseño
de tecnologías colaborativas que ayuden a construir la historia del diseño de planes de
emergencia.
El marco conceptual propuesto en este trabajo de tesis se ha evaluado recientemente para
proporcionar evidencia de que la solución desarrollada logra el propósito para el que fue
concebido: guiar el diseño de tecnologías colaborativas que ayuden a la construcción de la
historia del diseño de planes de emergencia. Para proporcionar esas pruebas, se han utilizado
cuatro métodos de evaluación: encuestas a expertos del dominio, un prototipo software, una evaluación de usabilidad y un experimento controlado. Esto ha permitido probar tanto la
corrección del marco en sí y como la validez del marco conceptual en uso.
Emergency Management is the discipline and profession of applying science, technology, planning and management to deal with events that can injure or kill large numbers of people, do extensive damage to property, and disrupt community life (Haynes et al., 2007). Within this discipline, emergency planning is the path to be prepared for facing such events. Emergency planning is an on-going process aimed at ensuring that a community has the necessary resources and procedures to face an emergency situation (Perry and Lindell, 2007a). With such an aim, representatives from the different services involved in the response, authorities, and temporary multi-organizations collaborate to define an effective, flexible, and timely response. The definition of this effective response relies not only on the exchange of ideas, but also on the continuous review, update, and improvement of emergency plans (Perry and Lindell, 2003b). That becomes emergency planning in a longterm collaborative process, where planning effectively is a matter of time and, more specifically, a matter of continuity. However, the achievement of continuity is not a trivial task due to the extension of the emergency-planning process over time. The extension of the emergency-planning process over time causes large gaps in time and a high turn over of personnel that forces planners to collaborate in an indirect way continuing the work of people they have never met. This provokes the lost of relevant planning information over time and hinders the achievement of continuity in emergency planning. In attempts to achieve continuity, in real practices, emergency planners resort to create reports and dossiers that compile information about the emergency situation, the response, and the design process itself. Although these external artifacts are good enough to create a structured based of knowledge about the process, they do not provide enough information to acquire understanding of how the emergency plan was made over time. As an alternative, collaborative technologies could be a suitable mechanism to extend human limits and provide the necessary continuity for effective planning. Nevertheless, existing collaborative technologies designed for supporting the emergency-planning process so far have left aside the relevance of long-term indirect collaboration issues during the process. Collaborative technologies focus on supporting the process of planning, but not on maintaining the needed information for achieving a sense of continuity in the planning process. With the purpose of improving emergency planning practice, the aim of this thesis work is providing a sense of continuity during the definition of emergency plans by means of collaborative technologies. Achieving such continuity will rely on the construction of the design story of emergency plans; that means, the story of how an emergency plan has been created over time. Therefore, collaborative technologies must be designed to capture and present information from the emergency-planning process over time. Accordingly, the goal of this thesis work is the definition of a conceptual framework that establishes the basis for the design of collaborative technologies that help to construct the design story of emergency plans. The conceptual framework proposed in this thesis work has been lately evaluated for providing evidence that the solution developed achieves the purpose for which it was conceived: leading the design of collaborative technologies that assist the construction of the design story of emergency plans. For providing such evidence, four evaluation methods have been used -experts surveys, software prototype, usability evaluation and a controlled experiment- to prove both the specification of the framework itself and the validity of the framework in use.
Emergency Management is the discipline and profession of applying science, technology, planning and management to deal with events that can injure or kill large numbers of people, do extensive damage to property, and disrupt community life (Haynes et al., 2007). Within this discipline, emergency planning is the path to be prepared for facing such events. Emergency planning is an on-going process aimed at ensuring that a community has the necessary resources and procedures to face an emergency situation (Perry and Lindell, 2007a). With such an aim, representatives from the different services involved in the response, authorities, and temporary multi-organizations collaborate to define an effective, flexible, and timely response. The definition of this effective response relies not only on the exchange of ideas, but also on the continuous review, update, and improvement of emergency plans (Perry and Lindell, 2003b). That becomes emergency planning in a longterm collaborative process, where planning effectively is a matter of time and, more specifically, a matter of continuity. However, the achievement of continuity is not a trivial task due to the extension of the emergency-planning process over time. The extension of the emergency-planning process over time causes large gaps in time and a high turn over of personnel that forces planners to collaborate in an indirect way continuing the work of people they have never met. This provokes the lost of relevant planning information over time and hinders the achievement of continuity in emergency planning. In attempts to achieve continuity, in real practices, emergency planners resort to create reports and dossiers that compile information about the emergency situation, the response, and the design process itself. Although these external artifacts are good enough to create a structured based of knowledge about the process, they do not provide enough information to acquire understanding of how the emergency plan was made over time. As an alternative, collaborative technologies could be a suitable mechanism to extend human limits and provide the necessary continuity for effective planning. Nevertheless, existing collaborative technologies designed for supporting the emergency-planning process so far have left aside the relevance of long-term indirect collaboration issues during the process. Collaborative technologies focus on supporting the process of planning, but not on maintaining the needed information for achieving a sense of continuity in the planning process. With the purpose of improving emergency planning practice, the aim of this thesis work is providing a sense of continuity during the definition of emergency plans by means of collaborative technologies. Achieving such continuity will rely on the construction of the design story of emergency plans; that means, the story of how an emergency plan has been created over time. Therefore, collaborative technologies must be designed to capture and present information from the emergency-planning process over time. Accordingly, the goal of this thesis work is the definition of a conceptual framework that establishes the basis for the design of collaborative technologies that help to construct the design story of emergency plans. The conceptual framework proposed in this thesis work has been lately evaluated for providing evidence that the solution developed achieves the purpose for which it was conceived: leading the design of collaborative technologies that assist the construction of the design story of emergency plans. For providing such evidence, four evaluation methods have been used -experts surveys, software prototype, usability evaluation and a controlled experiment- to prove both the specification of the framework itself and the validity of the framework in use.
Description
Mención Internacional en el título de doctor
Keywords
Diseño de software, Emergency planning, Collaborative technologies, Design story, Planificación de emergencias, Colaboración a largo plazo, Tecnologías colaborativas, Continuidad, Historia del diseño, Marco conceptual