Title: Engineering effective cooperation and communication: a bottom-up approach

Authors: Julie Dugdale, Sandrine Darcy, Bernard Pavard

Addresses: GRIC – IRIT (Cognitive Engineering Research Group Computer Science Research Institute of Toulouse), UPS-CNRS-INPT-UT1 (UMR 5505), University Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, Toulouse, France. ' GRIC – IRIT (Cognitive Engineering Research Group Computer Science Research Institute of Toulouse), UPS-CNRS-INPT-UT1 (UMR 5505), University Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, Toulouse, France. ' GRIC – IRIT (Cognitive Engineering Research Group Computer Science Research Institute of Toulouse), UPS-CNRS-INPT-UT1 (UMR 5505), University Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, Toulouse, France

Abstract: Current research in crisis management research tends to overemphasise formal organisational modes and does not adequately support ground level teams. Following a case study, we identify five main problems experienced by rescuers at the start of an emergency intervention. The work shows a clear need to focus research on ground level communication and local coordination activities and to develop flexible communication tools and flexible coordination structures. We argue that robustness, flexibility and self-organisation are key issues in designing emergency communication systems. We give two simple examples of communication tools that can support flexible and robust communications.

Keywords: communication technologies; flexible organisations; coordination; robustness; cooperation; crisis management; emergency management; emergency intervention; rescuer intervention; ground level teams; flexibility; self-organisation; emergency communication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2006.010281

International Journal of Emergency Management, 2006 Vol.3 No.1, pp.58 - 65

Published online: 12 Jul 2006 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article