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Emergency knowledge management and social media technologies / Yates & Paquette (2010)

Citation - Yates, D., & Paquette, S. (2010). Emergency knowledge management and social media technologies: A case study of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. International Journal Of Information Management.

Keyword - Social media, Knowledge management, Emergency management, disasters informatics

Abstract

美國 2010 義助海地大地震的行動,是美國政府三大部門(including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. armed forces)最重大的協同整合工作,與海地政府及全球許多其他國家共同進行的援助行動。
The US response to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake was a large effort coordinated by three major agencies that worked in tandem with the Government of Haiti, the United Nations, and many countries from around the globe.

這樣的義助工作對知識管理系統而言,是複雜的管理工作。
Managing this response effort was a complex undertaking that relied extensively on knowledge management systems (KMS).

然而,首次,美國政府部門採用了社會媒體技術,如維基(wiki)與協同工作空間作為主要的知識分享機制。
For the first time, however, US government agencies employed social media technologies such as wikis and collaborative workspaces as the main knowledge sharing mechanisms.

在此呈現的是一個以行動研究展開的個案研究,呈現這些社會媒體技術如何被使用,對知識的分享、再次利用、決策帶來什麼樣的影響,以及知識如何有效的(或無效的)在這些系統中被維護。
In this research we present a case study developed through action research of how these social media technologies were used, what influences they made on knowledge sharing, reuse, and decision-making, and how knowledge was effectively (and at times ineffectively) maintained in these systems.

這些第一手的知識可以為作為往後社會媒體策略、以社會媒體作為知識管理系統的研究問題,特別在災害與急難管理上,提供參考。
First-hand knowledge of the response is used, offering strategies for future deployment of social media and important research questions that remain regarding social media as knowledge management systems, particularly for disaster and emergency management.

  • 背景/動機:
  • 假定:
  • 方法:
  • 資料:
  • 發現:

Content

社會媒體與災難情境的假定

或許災情回報(Disaster response),對社會媒體而言,是一個驗證是否適合作一個重要知識管理平台的理想場合。社會媒體的價值在於 允許各種形式的細小知識單位(small knowledge chunk)作頻繁的更新,並且容易獲得、分享與使用。當前的災情回報資訊包含了文字訊息、影像、短片、部落格文章、網頁連結等等不同形式的知識單位。
Disaster response may be the ideal environment for ‘proving the worth’ of social media as a serious knowledge management platform. Social media’s value is predicated on frequent contributions of small knowledge chunks in various forms that are easy to acquire, share and, use. The information currency of disaster response is increasingly text messages, images, short videos, blog posts, and web links—all encapsulated knowledge chunks.

社會媒體的優勢在於 有助於 形成不同使用者、專業與脈絡的特定網絡,並提供彼此一些共同的基礎。
Social media’s strengths are in supporting ad-hoc network formation bringing together various players with different expertise and contexts, and providing some level of common ground between them.

災情回報,一般來說 是在個人與部門間,進行不同功能、專業與脈絡的協調。 Disaster response typically involves a coordinated response between individuals and agencies that in fact have different functions, expertise, and contexts.

最後,社會媒體是被設計來在混沌中建立秩序,將媒體作為組織知識的產物,如部落格文章的回覆、圖像的標記,等。 Finally, social media is designed to create order from chaos, using media as an artifact around which knowledge is organized in clusters, such as comments on blog posts or tags on images.

災情回報系統的決策者 需要 投入高度脈絡化的知識, 因為該知識環境是變動且容易誤解的。簡言之,社會媒體極富彈性與強韌的知識架構,並與當中的知識如何蒐集、分享、與應用在災情回應中密切相關。 Decision makers in disaster response require knowledge contributions to be highly contextualized because environments are fluid and misunderstandings are common. In short, it seems that social media are inherently flexible yet have the robust knowledge structures that are closely aligned with how knowledge is gathered, shared, and employed in a disaster response

災情回報與資訊的先前研究

  • 先前研究顯示,在災害發生後的不同時間,人們與組織會逐漸的湊合與調適,以對付新的環境與狀況。
    Previous research has shown that in times of disasters, people and organizations improvise and adapt to cope with their new condition and environment (Wachtendorf, 2004).
  • 在災害中,災情回報只是一般的能力,然而,如交通系統、醫療與社工專家、這些特殊的知識系統通常只能透過新的回報資訊,才能作有效的調適與利用。回報者會快速的將資訊統合並呈現給有權力的決策者,以取得必要的資源。
    Disaster response often draws on common capabilities however, such as transportation systems and experts such as doctors and social workers, thus knowledge systems typically are organized such that this knowledge may be quickly adapted and reused for the new response effort. Finally, responders are used to consolidating information quickly and presenting it to decision makers with the authority to re-task necessary assets (Crandall, Parnell, & Spillan, 2010).

Disaster management systems

災難管理系統

傳統災難資訊管理的模式是中央集中式的。回報者需要讓知識井井有條,得透過災難資訊管理系統的邏輯,並試圖調解此系統與既有的組織知識,並最終讓決策者可以得到有用的要點。
The traditional information management model for disaster response is centralization. In the past, responders have relied on information systems that manage knowledge in silos, with the rationale that consolidating unique disaster circumstances, reconciling it with existing organizational knowledge, and presenting a useful summary for decision makers required specific expertise.

回報者通常被組織為不同分工、平行運作的專業工作小隊。這種組織架構不斷的被應用–如美國軍方,便將軍隊分為陸、海、空三軍。而每一個又有更細部的分工,如運輸、衛生等。平民回報系統也是如此。
Responders are typically organized as a team with a number of functional areas or ‘desks’ that work in parallel, each focusing on a particular expertise (Turoff, Van de Walle, & Hiltz, 2010). This organizational structure is iteratively applied—thus the U.S. armed forces, for example, has functional areas for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and each of those has more granular functional areas, such as ‘logistics’ and ‘medical’. Civilian response agencies operate similarly.

主機架構的災難管理軟體,如開放原始碼的 Sahana 災難管理系統,以其其他的商用系統,也是依循同樣的組織架構。將資訊根據功能領域組織好,之後更容易獲得正確資訊了。 Server-based disaster management software such as the free and open-source Sahana Disaster Management System (http://www.sahanafoundation.org), and many proprietary tools support this structure. By organizing information into silos or functional areas, it is much easier to gather ‘the right information’ especially when it arrives piecemeal and from a variety of sources. For example, Sahana includes separate for tracking relief supplies and for locating missing persons. While getting information in to these functional areas can be a laborious process, making use of that information to make decisions is often even more manually intensive.

Note

  • 災難是由很多小災難組成的。災情回報是一連串個別災情資訊統合、評估、決策的過程。一連串災情資訊管理。
  • 集中式災情系統,分散式災情系統,社會生態式災情系統。
  • 社會媒體化災情回報中的資訊生態架構者,資訊資源、任務與策略。
  • 行動研究正當性。
  • CWA。