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- Alkusaibati, Wael, 1990-
(författare)
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Digitalized Co-production of Emergency Response : Using Volunteers as First Responders
- 2024
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contemporary global challenges like global warming, rapid urban development, and the current unstable security situation, lead to an increase in large-scale crises (e.g., forest fires) alongside frequent smaller emergencies (e.g., house fires and traffic accidents). The increase in emergencies strains professional response organizations, necessitating additional resources. Civilian volunteers are therefore increasingly being integrated into the response system. The development is mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) which enable communication between professional responders (e.g., the municipal rescue services, the emergency medical services, the Public Swedish Answering Point) and citizens. While many studies focus on spontaneous volunteer activities emerging on social media, fewer examine organized volunteerism initiatives at the local emergency response level. Over a decade ago, a municipal rescue service in northern Sweden established an initiative recruiting volunteers as first responders and equipping them with basic response tools. The volunteers undergo training in tasks such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and fire extinguishing. They are dispatched to predefined response tasks using simple ICT applications like SMS lists or mobile apps. This initiative has expanded to other areas due to perceived benefits such as shorter response times and reduced casualties and material damage. The phenomenon can be labelled as an emerging form of ICT-enabled or digitalized co-production of public services. However, previous research indicates a research gap in understanding, describing, and defining this type of co-production. The overall aim of the thesis is to describe how these ICT-enabled initiatives emerge and develop over time and identify the related effects on the response system. This is expected to provide recommendations on how they can be developed and supported. This aim is divided into three specific objectives, where each has been addressed through a research paper: 1- identifying how the existing literature describes ICT-enabled/digitalized volunteerism in large- and small-scale emergencies, 2- identifying how these initiatives emerge and operate, and can be maintained in small-scale emergencies, introducing more systematized knowledge on this concept, 3- initially evaluating the contributions of volunteers in the initiatives. Leaning on a case study approach inspired by action research, a combination of data collection methods has been adopted, e.g., a literature review, interviews, and incident reports filled out by volunteers. For the data analysis, the theoretical lens of ICT-enabled/digitalized co-production of public services has been applied. The first paper is a literature review study that examines digitally enabled volunteering activities in crises and small-scale emergencies. It highlights the prevalence of studies on volunteers using social media for crowdsourcing in crises, often termed digitalized volunteerism which entails virtual and, or physical contributions by volunteers to the response efforts. In contrast, fewer studies focus on volunteers' role in local small-scale emergencies, labelled as "hybrid" ICT-enabled or digitalized coproduction. The term hybrid here refers to the loose affiliation of the volunteers where they collaborate with the rescue services but are not officially associated through binding contracts. Hence, they are in between spontaneous and organized volunteerism. Both volunteering modes support professional response systems and display similar needs for steering, financial support, coordination, and integration of ICT artifacts. However, crises require increased coordination to manage uncertainties, risks, and data overload effectively. The second paper presents three models describing the emergence of hybrid digitalized co-production initiatives in urban and rural areas, as defined in Paper 1, along with how national authorities can support them. These models i.e., Rural, Urban, and National consist of three phases: Recruitment, Response, and Maintenance. Each model exhibits distinct characteristics. In rural areas for example, there is a need for more regular training due to low alerting frequency, and the possibility of using simple dispatch ICTs as cost-effective solutions. Conversely, urban areas have more alerts, necessitating more advanced ICTs, with less emphasis on regular training compared to rural areas. At the macro-level, the national model highlights roles that national actors can play such as facilitating a joint Application Programming Interface (API), joint insurance solutions, and an ICT system that can register incoming and active volunteers. The third paper is an initial evaluation of these initiatives at emergency sites, focusing on ICT-enabled dispatch, estimated response times, tasks performed, and collaboration with professionals, to assess the effects of using volunteers. This approach contrasts with previous studies that took an overall perspective and only used qualitative data. A total of 53 incident reports were collected from volunteers, revealing that volunteers arrived before professionals in twothirds of incidents, contributing to an average gain of 5 minutes. Additionally, volunteers performed a broader range of tasks than previously described, and often continued collaboration with professionals on-site, despite the initial expectation of handing over tasks upon the arrival of professional response actors. Also, comparing this data with the rural model from Paper 2, similarities and differences emerged. For instance, there was a higher number of alerts, and the basic ICTs used for dispatch were deemed insufficient, contrary to the model's perception. The thesis’ scientific contribution is a clearer conception of digitalized co-production of, above all, local emergency response as an emerging phenomenon. In the three papers, the ICT dispatch was identified as central and needs further development to enhance this co-production form. The thesis also sheds light on the need to integrate the initiatives into the official governmental frameworks. Furthermore, the thesis provides a primary understanding of how the concept works on the ground and provides an initial evaluation of the effects. In the practical field, the thesis offers insights into the importance of volunteers as additional resources to the official response systems, highlights challenges, hindrances, and enablers, and suggests potential solutions and improvements. Future work will include a further collection of incident reports for more reliable assessments and complementary interviews with volunteers. Also, the potential role of volunteers in larger crises, for example, as part of civil preparedness, will be further explored.
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| 2. |
- Nilsson, Maria
(författare)
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Capturing semi-automated decision making : the methodology of CASADEMA
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis presents a new methodology named CASADEMA (CApturing Semi-Automated DEcision MAking) which captures the interaction between humans and the technology they use to support their decision-making within the domain of Information Fusion. We are particularly interested in characterising the interaction between human decision makers and artefacts in semi-automated fusion processes. In our investigation we found that the existing approaches are limited in their ability to capture such interactions in sufficient detail. The presented method is built upon a distributed-cognition perspective. The use of this particular theoretical framework from cognitive science enables the method to take into account not only the role of the data captured in the physical and digital artefacts of the fusion system (e.g., radar readings, information from a fax or database, a piece of paper, etc.), but also the cognitive support function of the artefacts themselves (e.g., as an external memory) as part of the fusion process. That is, the interdependencies between the fusion process and decision-making can be captured. This thesis thus contributes to two main fields. Firstly, it enables, through CASADEMA, a distributed-cognition perspective of fusion processes in the, otherwise, rather technology-oriented field of Information Fusion. This has important conceptual implications, since it views fusion processes as extending beyond the boundary of physical/computer systems, to include humans, technology, and tools, as well as the interactions between them. It is argued that a better understanding of these interactions can lead to a better design of fusion processes, making CASADEMA an important contribution to the information fusion field. Secondly, the thesis provides, again in the form of CASADEMA, a practical application of the distributed-cognition theoretical framework. Importantly, the notations and definitions introduced in CASADEMA structure the otherwise currently rather loosely defined concepts and approaches in distributed cognition research. Hence, the work presented here also contributes to the fields of cognitive science and human-computer interaction.
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| 3. |
- Lennerholt, Christian, 1979-
(författare)
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Facilitating the Implementation and Use of Self Service Business Intelligence
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In traditional Business Intelligence (BI), there is a request-response scenario between technical power users serving non-technical casual users. Today, when data volumes and the frequency of use of a traditional BI system increase, power users are unable to serve all requests from casual users. Self-service Business Intelligence (SSBI) is an upcoming trend that addresses this problem since it enables all users to use BI in a self-reliant manner without support from power users.The aim of SSBI is to simplify the usage of traditional BI by letting all users conduct their own analysis. Users are allowed to access and use data as desired for their analysis when making decisions, which speeds up the process to use BI. At the same time the pressure on the IT department is relieved, since no power user is needed to support the process. SSBI enables organisations to make time critical decisions without waiting for reports that normally take weeks or months to be delivered. This saves organisational resources since all users can work more effectively and in a self-reliant manner compared to traditional BI. Although SSBI offers many benefits compared to traditional BI, many organisations are still struggling and failing to implement SSBI. The process to implement and use SSBI is not an easy task. There is no clear roadmap for how to achieve the SSBI benefits. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to facilitate the implementation and use of SSBI. Two objectives have been formulated to address this aim. First, it is important to identify what challenges organisations are facing when implementing and using SSBI. The second objective aims to identify success factors for managing the associated SSBI challenges. Case study research has been chosen as an appropriate research method to fulfil the research aim and objectives. The case study involves one BI consultancy firm and two of their main customers. The customers are medium-sized organisations which are considered to be the most experienced with implementing SSBI in the consultancy firm’s client base. With regard to research objective 1, 37 SSBI challenges have been identified and organized in in five categories of the AQUIRE framework: Access and use of data; Data Quality; User Independence; creating Reports; and Education. For research objective 2, nine success factors for SSBI implementation and use have been revealed as well as how they can be applied over time. Initially, pilot groups and champions can increase interest in SSBI. Next, user groups and their data needs should be identified, and these user groups should get responsibility to change faulty data. Later, common data definitions and standard reports can simplify the use of data sources. Only then, top management support is needed to accomplish that business governs SSBI data content and that business employees and IT department employees work together in integrated settings. Finally, ongoing SSBI education should target non-technical and technical users differently and change its content over time.
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