Tackling the Zombie Apocalypse: sensemaking in simulated disaster management

In this paper, we report the design of a simulated disaster management exercise that is used to explore the manner in which teams of emergency responders make sense of unfamiliar, dynamic situations. The paper develops a notion of sensemaking that combines semantic (i.e., extracting meaning from cues in the environment) and pragmatic (i.e., recognising opportunities for courses of action). This notion of sensemaking is explored in a study in which teams of experienced emergency responders, organised into different command structures, deal with the spread of a threat on a University campus. The results indicate how the command structures affect the ability of the teams to employ semantic or pragmatic sensemaking. Implications for supporting emergency response are considered.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Tom Duffy

Chris Baber

Conference

Publication date: July 2016

Publication date (Print): July 2016

Pages: 1-10

Affiliations

[0001]University of Birmingham

School of Engineering

Birmingham

UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.16

SO-VID: f8001a3d-35cc-4752-8b45-90a125318e9a

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 30th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 30

Conference location: Bournemouth University, Poole, UK

Conference date: 11 - 15 July 2016

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Fusion

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.16

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

D.S. AlbertsR.E. Hayes 2003 Power to the Edge Washington, D.C. Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology (ACT)
C. BaberN.A. StantonR. HoughtonM. Cassia 2008 Hierarchical command, communities of practice, networks of exploration: using simple models to explore NEC command structures Proceedings of NECTISE Conference Leeds University
H De JaegherE Di Paolo 2007s Participatory Sense-Making: An enactive approach to social cognition Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 6 485 507
T. DuffyC. BaberN.A. Stanton 2013 Measuring Collaborative Sensemaking Proceedings of the 10^th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management
M.R. Endsley 1995 Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems, Human Factors 7 32 64
D. GergleR.E. KrautS.R. Fussell 2013 Using visual information for grounding and awareness in collaborative tasks HumanComputer Interaction 28 1 39
G. KleinB. MoonR.F. Hoffman 2006a Making sense of sensemaking I: alternative perspectives IEEE Intelligent Systems 21 70 73
G. KleinB. MoonR.F. Hoffman 2006b Making sense of sensemaking ii: a macrocognitive model IEEE Intelligent Systems 21 88 92
H.J. Leavitt 1951 Some effects of certain communication patterns on groups performance Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 46 38 50
J.M. McGuirlN.B. SarterD.D. Woods 2008 Seeing is believing? The effects of realtime, image-based feedback on emergency management decision-making Proceedings of the 5^thInternational ISCRAM Conference 406 414 Brussels ISCRAM
R. McMasterC. Baber 2012 Multi-agency operations: cooperation during flooding Applied Ergonomics 43 38 47
D. MendoncaT. JeffersonJ. Harald 2007 Collaborative adhocracies and mix-and-match technologies in emergency management Communications of the ACM 50 44 49
A. Monk 2003 Common ground in electronically mediated communication: Clark’s theory of language use J.M. Carroll HCI models, theories, and frameworks: Toward a multidisciplinary science San Francisco, CA Morgan Kaufmann 265 289
G. M. OlsonJ. S. Olson 2000 Distance matters Human-Computer Interaction 15 139 178
N. A. StantonL. RothrockC. HarveyL. Sorensen 2015 Investigating performance of command team structures in the NATO problem-approach space IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems 45 702 713
K. E. Weick 1993 The collapse of sensemaking in organizations: The Mann Gulch disaster Administrative science quarterly 628 652
E. WengerR. McDermottW.M. Snyder 2002 Cultivating Communities of Practice Harvard, MA Harvard Business Press

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] D.S. AlbertsR.E. Hayes 2003 Power to the Edge Washington, D.C. Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology (ACT)

[2] C. BaberN.A. StantonR. HoughtonM. Cassia 2008 Hierarchical command, communities of practice, networks of exploration: using simple models to explore NEC command structures Proceedings of NECTISE Conference Leeds University

[3] H De JaegherE Di Paolo 2007s Participatory Sense-Making: An enactive approach to social cognition Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 6 485 507

[4] T. DuffyC. BaberN.A. Stanton 2013 Measuring Collaborative Sensemaking Proceedings of the 10^th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management

[5] M.R. Endsley 1995 Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems, Human Factors 7 32 64

[6] D. GergleR.E. KrautS.R. Fussell 2013 Using visual information for grounding and awareness in collaborative tasks HumanComputer Interaction 28 1 39

[7] G. KleinB. MoonR.F. Hoffman 2006a Making sense of sensemaking I: alternative perspectives IEEE Intelligent Systems 21 70 73

[8] G. KleinB. MoonR.F. Hoffman 2006b Making sense of sensemaking ii: a macrocognitive model IEEE Intelligent Systems 21 88 92

[9] H.J. Leavitt 1951 Some effects of certain communication patterns on groups performance Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 46 38 50

[10] J.M. McGuirlN.B. SarterD.D. Woods 2008 Seeing is believing? The effects of realtime, image-based feedback on emergency management decision-making Proceedings of the 5^thInternational ISCRAM Conference 406 414 Brussels ISCRAM

[11] R. McMasterC. Baber 2012 Multi-agency operations: cooperation during flooding Applied Ergonomics 43 38 47

[12] D. MendoncaT. JeffersonJ. Harald 2007 Collaborative adhocracies and mix-and-match technologies in emergency management Communications of the ACM 50 44 49

[13] A. Monk 2003 Common ground in electronically mediated communication: Clark’s theory of language use J.M. Carroll HCI models, theories, and frameworks: Toward a multidisciplinary science San Francisco, CA Morgan Kaufmann 265 289

[14] G. M. OlsonJ. S. Olson 2000 Distance matters Human-Computer Interaction 15 139 178

[15] N. A. StantonL. RothrockC. HarveyL. Sorensen 2015 Investigating performance of command team structures in the NATO problem-approach space IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems 45 702 713

[16] K. E. Weick 1993 The collapse of sensemaking in organizations: The Mann Gulch disaster Administrative science quarterly 628 652

[17] E. WengerR. McDermottW.M. Snyder 2002 Cultivating Communities of Practice Harvard, MA Harvard Business Press

Celebrating 65 years of The Computer Journal - free-to-read perspectives - bcs.org/tcj65