Carleen Maitland

Collaborative systems development in disaster relief: The impact of multi-level governance

Disaster management information systems for international humanitarian relief are developed in contexts involving local, national and inter-governmental organizations together with local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). While the multi-organizational nature of disaster response is known to create challenges for information systems development, to date, less attention has been paid to their multi-level nature. This research sheds light on the implications of multi-level governance for disaster information systems development by integrating political science and information systems theories of multi-level governance. The integrated theoretical framework is then used to analyze a case study of a system development effort undertaken by a multi-organizational coordination body consisting of the headquarters of six large, international humanitarian relief agencies, together with their country offices in a Central American country. This research finds that multi-level governance can both negatively and positively influence information systems development. In a multi-level governance arrangement, authority for a systems development project may be diffuse and may change. The transfer of resources from higher to lower levels is key factor, as these resources help local organizations overcome resource constraints to collaboration. The initial outcome of coercion by higher levels of authority may be resistance, however over time the outcome can change to compliance.

Simulating inter-organizational collaboration network: a multi-relational and event-based approach

In this research, we study inter-organizational collaboration from the perspective of multi-relational networks. We develop an agent-based model to simulate how a collaboration network among organizations emerges from organizations’ interactions through another network: the inter-organizational communication network. Our model adds links (or edges) into the collaboration network on the basis of events, which correspond to organizations’ formation of collaborative teams for joint projects. The proposed approach also models the competitive yet non-exclusive dissemination of information among organizations, organizations’ dynamic prioritization of candidate projects, and network-based influence. Applying the model to a case study of the humanitarian sector, we configure and validate the agent-based simulation, and use it to analyze how to promote inter-organizational humanitarian collaboration by encouraging communication. The simulation results suggest that encouraging communication between peripheral organizations can better promote collaboration than other strategies.

Assortativity patterns in multi-dimensional inter-organizational networks: a case study of the humanitarian relief sector

We use computational tools to study assortativity patterns in multi-dimensional inter-organizational networks on the basis of different node attributes. In the case study of an inter-organizational network in the humanitarian relief sector, we consider not only macro-level topological patterns, but also assortativity on the basis of micro-level organizational attributes. Unlike assortative social networks, this inter-organizational network exhibits disassortative or random patterns on three node attributes. We believe organizations seek of complementarity is one of the main reasons for the special patterns. Our analysis also provides insights on how to promote collaborations among the humanitarian relief organizations.

A Fragile Link: Disaster Relief, ICTs and Development

When disasters strike and aid agencies pour in to help the survivors they are increasingly making use of advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs). For remote areas of developing countries, this use of ICTs may be the community s first exposure to these technologies. And while the role of these ICTs is primarily linked to disaster response and recovery, in certain situations they can be transitioned for use in development programs. This paper discusses the crucial factors in design and deployment of relief ICTs that are likely to influence their ultimate use as tools for development. Derived from cases developed through secondary data, the factors are broken into those related to communication technology transfer and those related to information technology transfer. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed

WIRELESS DEVICES FOR HUMANITARIAN DATA COLLECTION

We apply socio-technical theories to explain and predict technological choices and use by humanitarian relief and development organizations. This research examines the organizational context of using a personal digital assistant (PDA) in the field to collect data. We identify organizational factors at multiple levels that are likely to influence a field-based PDA data collection initiative in the context of a large, international non-governmental organization. This research differs from existing studies that have documented different effects of information and communication technology on various organization levels when information technology (IT) is deployed throughout the organization. The research suggests that despite being motivated by upper levels of the organization, the middle levels of the organization (the country offices) are most affected by the IT implementation. We assert that the motivations for changes made to the technological systems and/or devices used by a multi-level organization will produce significant social/organizational changes at each level of the organization. We also claim that the motivations for technological change in organizations that stem from the top layers of that organization are likely to produce beneficial changes for the top layers of that organization. Intermediate and bottom layers will experience a mix of changes, with some being negative and some unintended for the respective layers.

Internet Censorship Circumvention Technology Use in Human Rights Organizations: An Exploratory Analysis

Using an organizational informatics approach, this study explores the implications of human rights organizations’ use of censorship circumvention technologies. Through qualitative analyses of data collected through in-depth interviews, the research examines the factors influencing the use of circumvention technologies and the organizational effects of their use. The outcomes include a revised model of censorship circumvention technology use as well as a new model situating human rights organizations and their audiences in bidirectional information flows. The research provides recommendations for practice as well as insight for organizational informatics and information systems security research in the areas of protective technologies, awareness, detection, and physical security.

From Communication to Collaboration: Simulating the Emergence of Inter-organizational Collaboration Network

Inter-organizational networks often have multiple dimensions, each one denoting a type of relationship. In this research, we studied how one dimension of the network, a collaboration network, emerges from organizations interaction on another dimension--the communication network. We modeled the emergence of collaboration as an event-based multi-agent team formation process that incorporates the structure of the underlying communication network, the diffusion of project information, and network-based influence. As a case study, we used an agent-based simulation to study the collaboration among humanitarian organizations. We also analyzed how changes to the communication network among humanitarian organizations affect their collaboration network. The experiment results suggest that different strategies to promote communication may have positive or negative impacts on the future collaboration network.

Maps, politics and data sharing: a Palestinian puzzle

Palestinian towns and cities are being left out of the online mapping revolution. The puzzle of why this is occurring, despite formal street names, GIS expertise and a lack of obvious political/security factors, is likely to be solved by increased sharing by Palestinian governments, international organizations and map makers. An analysis of data collected through interviews, emails and media reports, provides the basis for recommendations to enhance data sharing in support of improving development and accessibility of online maps.

NGO collaborations: sharing and pooling projects

Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are increasingly facing challenges due to the growing number of actors in the humanitarian relief sector as well as the high incidence of natural disasters. A prominent means of mitigating these challenges is through the mediation of inter-organizational structures such as collaboration bodies, which attempt to find mechanisms to coordinate information technology and information management (IT/IM). The intent of this paper is to understand the coordination mechanisms undertaken by collaboration bodies focused on IT/IM. The two prominent forms of initiatives used by collaboration bodies to achieve these ends are sharing and pooling projects. Sharing projects are those projects which seek resources from members within the collaboration body. Conversely, pooling projects look to procure resources from outside the confines of the collaboration body. This study utilizes a comparative case study approach to generate a set of propositions regarding the characteristics and implications of technological infrastructure based collaborations.