Gordon A. Gow

Hazard Warnings in Sri Lanka: Challenges of Internetworking with Common Alerting Protocol

Meeting: ISCRAM2007, 4th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, 13-16, May, 2008, Delft, NL

Using mobile phones in a Real-Time Biosurveillance Program: Lessons from the frontlines in Sri Lanka and India

The Real-Time Biosurveillance Program (RTBP) is a multi-partner research initiative to study the potential for new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve early detection and notification of disease outbreaks in Sri Lanka and India. A key component of this project involves frontline data reporting using mobile phones to overcome problems of Internet-access in remote locations. This paper provides a brief overview of applications available for mobile phone-based data reporting, describes a formative evaluation framework used in the study, and discusses initial findings related to technology acceptance among frontline health workers operating in a developing country.

Community-based hazard warnings in rural Sri Lanka : performance of alerting and notification in a last-mile message relay

The aim of the Last-Mile Hazard Warning System (LM-HWS) is to deploy and assess various alert and notification technologies intended to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to natural and manmade hazards in rural Sri Lanka. The project adopts an “all-hazards, all-media” approach designed around a set of five wireless communication technologies [2]. The pilot project involved deployment, training, and field-testing of the technologies, in various combinations, across 32 tsunami-affected villages, using Common Alerting Protocol for data interchange with content provided in three languages (English, Sinhalese and Tamil). This paper reports on findings from a series of field tests conducted in Sri Lanka to compare the reliability of the five ‘last-mile’ devices with their relative effectiveness in terms of alert and notification capabilities. Findings indicate that overall effectiveness of the alert and notification system is enhanced when a village is equipped with a technology combination that enhances complementary redundancy in reliability and effectiveness. Further implications of these findings for planning and future research are discussed.

Potential responses by on-campus university students to a university emergency alert

University campuses across Canada and elsewhere are developing and implementing emergency alert systems to warn campus community members about a variety of threats. In this study, focus group discussions were used to examine how undergraduate students living on campus may respond to an emergency alert. A focus group activity used tornado, fire and threatening message alert messages to provide a context for the focus group discussions. After reading the warning message, most students understood the warning message but there was uncertainty about the non-specified threat and how and where to evacuate. Many would believe a message sent by the university as long as it was sent via a phone number that they associated with the university. Personalization of risk varied, and students reported that they would confirm a warning message with a variety of sources including student colleagues, faculty and teaching staff, television and internet sources. Taking protective action by sheltering in place was deemed to be feasible, however evacuation off campus was found to be problematic. We found that the nature of short message service text messages, the characteristics of universities, and the students’ home being in an on-campus residence influenced how the students may respond to an emergency alert message.

Affordable System for Rapid Detection and Mitigation of Emerging Diseases

South and South-East Asian countries are currently in the midst of a new epidemic of Dengue Fever. This paper presents disease surveillance systems in Sri Lanka and India, monitoring a handful of communicable diseases termed as notifiable. These systems typically require 15-30 days to communicate field data to the central Epidemiology Units, to be then manually processed Prashant & Waidyanatha, 2010. Currently used analyses rely on aggregating counts of notifiable disease cases by district, disease, and week. The Real-Time Biosurveillance Program RTBP, a multi-partner initiative, aims at addressing those challenges by developing affordable paradigm-changing Information Communication Technology ICT, implementing and field-testing them in India and Sri Lanka. Key components of the proposed solution include real-time digitization of clinical information at hospitals and clinics with the mHealthSurvey mobile phone software Kannan et al., 2010, detecting anomalies in large multivariate biosurveillance data using the T-Cube Web Interface spatio-temporal statistical analysis tool Ray et al., 2008, and disseminating critical information pertaining to the adverse events to healthcare workers using the Sahana Alerting Module Sampath et al., 2010. This paper provides an overview of the applications and discusses utility of the technologies for real-time detection and mitigation of emerging threats to public health.

Communication technology and campus safety: Critical sociotechnical concerns for emergency messaging at Canadian universities

This paper raises and explores some of socio-technical dimensions of emergency messaging at Canadian post-secondary educational institutions. It sets out an investigative framework based on related research and reports on findings from a National Roundtable on Campus Emergency Messaging held at the University of Alberta in November 2007. The tragic shootings at Virginia Tech have led many post-secondary educational institutions to introduce new emergency messaging capabilities to enhance campus safety. About 1.5-million students attend Canadian universities and colleges, so the life safety concerns of a large community of interest is affected by these developments. However, there is growing concern among various stakeholders that these new systems are being acquired without the benefit of research into the human, policy and legal factors that ultimately influence the effectiveness of emergency messaging technologies. This paper conceptualizes these factors as complex sociotechnical concerns, assesses their validity against findings from early investigative work, and establishes priorities for ongoing research.

Pursuing the Anonymous User: Privacy Rights and Mandatory Registration of Prepaid Mobile Phones

In recent years there has been concern among law enforcement and national security organizations about the use of “anonymous” prepaid mobile phone service and its purported role in supporting criminal and terrorist activities. As a result, a number of countries have implemented registration requirements for such service. Privacy rights advocates oppose such regulatory measures, arguing that there is little practical value in attempting to register prepaid mobile devices, and the issue raises important questions about a citizens entitlement to anonymity in the ownership of a networked communications device. This article provides an overview of the issue and presents findings drawn from a recent study on prepaid mobile phone regulation in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. The article concludes by suggesting that there are significant problems with the claim that mandatory registration of prepaid mobile phone service is a necessary or an effective regulatory course of action.

Common Alerting Protocol Message Broker for Last-Mile Hazard Warning System in Sri Lanka: An Essential Component

Meeting: Second International Workshop on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM-CHINA 2007), 26-27 August 2007, Harbin, CH

Technology Stewardship, Text Messaging, and Collaboration in Agricultural Work: Preliminary Results from an Action Research Study in Sri Lanka

This poster presents preliminary results from a partnership develop project study to assess a technology stewardship model in promoting the adoption and use of text messaging for agricultural extension work with rural farmers in Sri Lanka. More specifically, the purpose was to better understand influential factors that contribute to collaboration within micro-level inclusive innovation systems.

Community-based Hazard Warning in Sri Lanka: Miniaturization Assessment of Terminal Devices in the Last-Mile Link

The M=9 earthquake in Sumatara, Indonesia, on December 26, 2004 at 00:59 GMT triggered destructive tsunami waves, which greatly affected Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, and Thailand. People were caught unawares as there was no warning system in place for tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. Overall it is estimated that more than 250,000 in the region perished. The aim of the Last-Mile Hazard Warning System (LM-HWS) was to deploy various alert and notification wireless technologies intended to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to natural and manmade hazards in Sri Lanka. The project adopted an “all-hazards, all-media” approach designed around a set of five wireless communication technologies: Addressable Satellite Radios for Emergency Alerting, Remote Alarm Devices, Mobile Phones, Fixed Phones and Very Small Aperture Terminals. The pilot project entitled, “Evaluating Last-Mile Hazard Information Dissemination”, or the “HazInfo Project”, involved deployment, training, and field-testing of the technologies, in various combinations, across 32 tsunami-affected villages, using the “Common Alerting Protocol ” (CAP) for data interchange with content provided in three languages (English, Sinhalese and Tamil). The ultimate LM-HWS intentions are to introduce Alerting and Notification to improve the “situational awareness” of all-hazards in 15,000 Sarvodaya embedded Communities in the Island of Sri Lanka. While this paper discusses the overall performance of the LM-HWS its main purpose is to report on one aspect of the effectiveness measure - identifying the need for miniaturized terminal devices that not only can be used during hazard alert and notification but also during the response and recovery stages of the disaster management cycle. The measure introduced gives a set of guidelines for equipment manufacturers as well as a mechanism for planners to set a strategy when introducing terminal devices in to a Last-Mile warning system.