13/11/06: Rafael González: Framework for Coordination Support in Critical Incident Management Systems

This proposal describes a research project to tackle the challenges that exist in current critical incident managements systems, especially around coordination issues. Since coordination is crucial for critical incident management, information and communication technologies (ICT) can help make it more effective and efficient; nonetheless, dealing with ill-defined processes, ad hoc improvisation, preferences on face-to-face contact or basic technologies (phone, radio), among others, creates a gap between the potential that ICT may have for supporting coordination in critical incident management and the actual improvement achieved. Flexible workflow management systems, network-centric computing, emergent coordination with software agents or coordination patterns may offer the means by which to achieve this improvement, but harnessing these technologies along with existing systems and associated social and cultural dimensions is not easy. The objective of this research is to design a framework (concepts, models, rules, methods and guidelines) for improving effectiveness and efficiency of coordination in Critical Incident Management Systems (CIMS).