Design and development methods for improving acceptance of IT among emergency responders
Various sources report a low adoption of IT based tools in emergency response, as well as a negative attitude of responders to such tools. The responders' needs, simply put, are not met by the IT based tools offered to them. Observing this situation through a user centered design lens, we note that such problems typically stem from insufficient or erroneous context analysis. The deficiencies become even more pronounced when considering that emergency response represents a complex, adaptive socio technical system. We also note that the appropriate methodology for designing ER systems is rarely discussed in literature and in research papers. To fill that void, the present paper discusses a minimal set of techniques that, both in our experience and according to state of the art practice, can guide developers towards positively accepted IT systems for emergency response.
ISCRAM