ISCRAM2011

The 8^th International Conference on Information Systems for

Crisis Response and Management

"From early-warning systems to preparedness and training"

Lisbon, Portugal, May 8-11, 2011

http://www.iscram.org

TRACK: SOCIAL MEDIA AND COLLABORATIVE SYSTEMS

CALL FOR PAPERS AND SPECIAL SESSION PROPOSALS

Introduction of the track

The convergence of information and communication technologies, the growth of the Internet including the mobile Internet, and the advent of technologies known under the general heading of Web 2.0 have all contributed to our ability to collaborate over great distances, both synchronously and asynchronously.  Our aim in this track is to explore how these new approaches to and support for collaboration can help in crisis management and response.  How might such collaboration technologies help:

·         preparation for disasters?

·         the crisis management team in their decision making on the handling the event?

·         the crisis management team in their interactions with a wide range of responders, government bodies, various publics and stakeholders and, of course, the victims and their families?

·         all parties build a picture and share information about a developing crisis?

·         widen the range of stakeholders who can join fully in handling the crisis and recovery?

·         involve communities fully during the recovery phase to rebuild and return to normality?

·         communities to work together, alongside but independently of government and non-governmental agencies, to inform and help themselves, co-ordinating citizen-led efforts?

·         virtual teams and virtual communities develop processes and software for emergency management and recovery?

Track topics

Papers are invited that provide rich description and/or evaluation of the actual use of novel web based and other systems for collaboration and/or widespread participation in any phase of emergency management, from initial planning and preparedness, through detection, response, and recovery phases.  This might include, among others:

• Studies of the use of virtual teams or virtual communities or “social software” (e.g., social networking sites, knowledge gathering  systems such as Wikimapia) in the design or use of emergency management information systems, with data collection methods ranging from laboratory or field experiments to qualitative case studies.
• Exploration and assessment of any problems that occur when virtual or partially distributed teams or the general public use information technology to coordinate disaster management related tasks, and how can they be resolved.  
• Assessment of the advantages of collaborative systems compared to closed “command and control” systems created for ‘official’ involvement only.
• Investigations of the role these sorts of forums could have in future disaster preparation and response. How could their efforts be better facilitated? What socio-technical conditions should be in place to make them most beneficial?
• Behavioral studies of collaboration which have implications for the use of networking and web technologies in crisis response and management, including experimental studies.

Track co-chairs

-  Starr Roxanne Hiltz, NJIT

-  Paloma Díaz, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

   Linda Plotnick, Jacksonville State U., USA

   (another co-chair to be added)

Corresponding track co-chair

-  Starr Roxanne Hiltz, NJIT

Important Notice:

• All Special Session proposals must be formatted according to the ISCRAM 2010 formatting guidelines. Special Session proposal templates are published on www.iscram.org.
• All Special Session proposal must be submitted through the ISCRAM 2011 conference paper submission web page at www.conftool.com/iscram2011 Instructions for the ConfTool system can be found on www.iscram.org.

About ISCRAM:

The ISCRAM Community is a worldwide community of researchers, scholars, teachers, students, practitioners and policy makers interested or actively involved in the subject of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management. At its annual international conference alternating between the US and Europe, the ISCRAM Community gathers to present and discuss the latest research and developments in this growing area during an interactive and stimulating 3 day program. The ISCRAM Community also organizes an International Summer School for PhD students and ISCRAM-CHINA, an annual conference for ISCRAM research in China. All information on ISCRAM can be found at http://www.iscram.org

Important dates
01 October 2010
Submission of proposals for panels and other special sessions

01 November 2010
Notification of acceptance for panels and other special sessions

15 November 2010
Submission of full research papers

15 December 2010
Submission of work-in-progress papers and practitioner papers

Mid January 2011
Notification of acceptance for full research papers