Description
To better support firefighters during emergency response processes, novel information technologies are frequently being presented in research and practice. While such approaches are often technology-driven in nature, we present a task-centered approach to identify the actual information demand during emergency response scenarios. As an important example, we examine the search and rescue task. Combining the theory of situation awareness with findings from cognitive science, we hypothesize that providing graphical information about the building and the location of victims increases firefighters’ task performance in comparison to a verbal briefing. Findings from a controlled experiment that was developed in cooperation with a state firefighting academy show that such information might indeed facilitate the task performance. A continuous access to such information during the entire mission was found to be less effective, though. Our findings have implications for the development of novel information technologies and call for an adaption of current working routines.
Analyzing the Potential of Graphical BuildingInformation for Fire Emergency Responses: Findings from a Controlled Experiment
To better support firefighters during emergency response processes, novel information technologies are frequently being presented in research and practice. While such approaches are often technology-driven in nature, we present a task-centered approach to identify the actual information demand during emergency response scenarios. As an important example, we examine the search and rescue task. Combining the theory of situation awareness with findings from cognitive science, we hypothesize that providing graphical information about the building and the location of victims increases firefighters’ task performance in comparison to a verbal briefing. Findings from a controlled experiment that was developed in cooperation with a state firefighting academy show that such information might indeed facilitate the task performance. A continuous access to such information during the entire mission was found to be less effective, though. Our findings have implications for the development of novel information technologies and call for an adaption of current working routines.