Disasters and emergencies are critical situations where there is a danger to people, infrastructure or the environment. They are characterized as natural disasters but also man-made disasters and... Show More

Disasters and emergencies are critical situations where there is a danger to people, infrastructure or the environment. They are characterized as natural disasters but also man-made disasters and conflicts. Support by information technology (IT) can help to prevent such kind of critical situations and to improve the management. IT can improve the coordination between the forces involved and can speed up processes by, for instance, facilitating situational awareness. However, at the same time, experiences indicate that the use of IT as an operational tool might imply an increased perception of complexity. This special issue is focused on the specific challenges and technical implications for IT in this environment, as well as on findings regarding research and development methodologies to create, to validate and to evaluate solutions. Articles target either approaches that focus on specific challenges like supporting the rescue and care of single persons or approaches that deal with broad IT support in crisis and continuity management. Both aspects are of great practical relevance, for example, in large-scale emergency situations when operations of different organizations and authorities quickly lead to a complex situation for individual actors and management positions.

Critical infrastructures provide essential services for the safety and security of citizens and society. The protection of such kind of infrastructures is a combined objective for operators, in... Show More

Critical infrastructures provide essential services for the safety and security of citizens and society. The protection of such kind of infrastructures is a combined objective for operators, in terms of business continuity and the public as part of crisis management structures and procedures. Consequently, cooperation is required in prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. It spans from regulations as a baseline to fulfill public demands to multi-criteria alignment of plans and actions in context of potential disasters and emergencies. Such kind of critical situations are characterized as natural disasters but also man-made disasters and conflicts. Supported by information technology (IT) can help both crisis management and continuity management. IT can improve the coordination between public and private actors involved and can speed up processes by, for instance, facilitating inter-organizational situational awareness. However, at the same time, experiences indicate that the use of IT as an operational tool might imply an increased perception of complexity. This special issue is focused on the specific challenges and technical implications for IT in critical infrastructure protection, as well as on findings regarding research and development methodologies to create, to validate and to evaluate solutions. The article approaches specific challenges expressed through expectations towards critical infrastructure operators or solution approaches like smart grid topologies for smart urban continuity management. Social media was identified as a research subject both contributing to the complexity in disasters and emergencies as well as potentially helping to identify and mitigate risks.

Human computer interaction in security and time-critical systems is an interdisciplinary challenge at the seams of human factors, engineering, information systems and computer science. Application... Show More

Human computer interaction in security and time-critical systems is an interdisciplinary challenge at the seams of human factors, engineering, information systems and computer science. Application fields include control systems, critical infrastructures, vehicle and traffic management, production technology, business continuity management, medical technology, crisis management and civil protection. Nowadays in many areas mobile and ubiquitous computing as well as social media and collaborative technologies also plays an important role. The specific challenges require the discussion and development of new methods and approaches in order to design information systems. These are going to be addressed in this special issue with a particular focus on technologies for citizen and volunteers in emergencies.

Human computer interaction in security and time-critical systems is an interdisciplinary challenge at the seams of human factors, engineering, information systems and computer science. Application... Show More

Human computer interaction in security and time-critical systems is an interdisciplinary challenge at the seams of human factors, engineering, information systems and computer science. Application fields include control systems, critical infrastructures, vehicle and traffic management, production technology, business continuity management, medical technology, crisis management and civil protection. Nowadays in many areas mobile and ubiquitous computing as well as social media and collaborative technologies also plays an important role. The specific challenges require the discussion and development of new methods and approaches in order to design information systems. These are going to be addressed in this special issue with a particular focus on technologies for critical practices for authorities and industry.