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Emergency Management (EM) is experiencing a crisis of technology as technologists have attempted to innovate standard operating procedures with minimal input from EM. Unsurprisingly, there has yet to be a success. Instead, technologists have focused on consumer culture and fostered a slow-moving crisis as the gap between what consumers and EM can do is deep. At present, the most ubiquitous aspect of technology in disaster is its capacity to exacerbate response, create new kinds of disaster, and create consumer expectations that EM cannot meet. In the present work, we highlight how and why technological production needs to shift its ontological premises dramatically to meet the needs of technology for first responders. From supporting practice to taking a few steps back from the bleeding edge, we offer a range of suggestions based on the technological capacities of emergency management in the present and in the future. 

Search and rescue (SAR) teams are the first to respond to emergencies. This could include finding lost hikers, shoring buildings, or aiding people post-disaster. SAR combines orienteering, engineering, field medicine, and communication. Technology use in SAR has been changing with the proliferation of information communication technologies; so, we ask, how are established and emerging technologies used in SAR? Understanding how responders are adopting and adapting these technologies during SAR missions can inform future design and improve outcomes for SAR teams. We interviewed SAR volunteers to contextualize their experiences with technology and triangulated with additional questionnaire data. We discuss how technology use in SAR requires an intersection of expert knowledge and creative problem solving to overcome challenges in the field. This research contributes an understanding of the constraints on and implications for future SAR technologies and SAR operators’ creativity in emergent situations. 

For many years, CI has tried to show the value of computational techniques for response to hazard events but has yet to see success outside of post-hoc analyses. Meanwhile, emergency management (EM) has been struggling to cope with the impact of computation. This duality wherein we know technology can be useful yet also complicates EM (and has not yet been fully integrated into EM) is what we dub the technology crisis in EM. To begin to address this crisis and revitalize CI, we argue that it is necessary to develop an inventory of what technologies EM is competent with and to design training that can extend that competency. This research reports a survey of EM Practitioners in the United States. We offer one of the first inventories of EM technologies and technological skills and identify how current EM technological integration issues are a crisis. 

Abstract Background: A Mass Casualty Incident response (MCI) full scale exercise (FSEx) assures MCI first responder (FR) competencies. Simulation and serious gaming platforms (Simulation) have been considered to achieve and maintain FR competencies. The translational science (TS) T0 question was asked: how can FRs achieve similar MCI competencies as a FSEx through the use of MCI simulation exercises? Methods: T1 stage (Scoping Review): PRISMA-ScR was conducted to develop statements for the T2 stage modified Delphi (mD) study. 1320 reference titles and abstracts were reviewed with 215 full articles progressing for full review leading to 97 undergoing data extraction. T2 stage (mD study): Selected experts were presented with 27 statements derived from T1 data with instruction to rank each statement on a 7-point linear numeric scale, where 1 = disagree and 7 = agree. Consensus amongst experts was defined as a standard deviation ≤ 1.0. Results: After 3 mD rounds, 19 statements attained consensus and 8 did not attain consensus. Conclusions: MCI simulation exercises can be developed to achieve similar competencies as FSEx by incorporating the 19 statements that attained consensus through the TS stages of a scoping review (T1) and mD study (T2), and continuing to T3 implementation, and then T4 evaluation stages. 

In the midst of a disaster event like a hurricane, all electrical, connected objects are typically rendered useless. A lack of connectivity, electricity, and potential mobility issues render devices (and sometimes users) unable to perform their basic functions. The potential for the sheer volume of these devices, of the apps installed on them, are as such that they are an unused canvas of design. We present extensible design, the activity of designing new uses for existing applications that may possess functionality that is useful outside of its intended function. We present a description of extensible design and provide a fictional example of what that approach may provide. In so doing, we help address existing gaps between emergency management and consumer-based communication behaviors during disaster. The “Decentralized Layer,” an extension of location-based games like Pok´emon Go, Pikmin Bloom, and Harry Potter: Wizard’s Unite, is meant to provoke discussion about the potential use of apps and the app ecosystem past its current, limited expression. We conclude by offering next steps, road blocks, and additional considerations for extensible design that will need to be in order for it to be realized. 

In multiplayer collaborative games, players need to coordinate their actions and synchronize their efforts effectively to succeed as a team; thus, individual differences can impact teamwork and gameplay. This article investigates the effects of cognitive styles on teams engaged in collaborative gaming activities. Fifty-four individuals took part in a mixed-methods user study; they were classified as field-dependent (FD) or independent (FI) based on a field-dependent–independent (FD-I) cognitive-style-elicitation instrument. Three groups of teams were formed, based on the cognitive style of each team member: FD-FD, FD-FI, and FI-FI. We examined collaborative gameplay in terms of team performance, cognitive load, communication, and player experience. The analysis revealed that FD-I cognitive style affected the performance and mental load of teams. We expect the findings to provide useful insights on understanding how cognitive styles influence collaborative gameplay. 

Autonomous robotic vehicles (i.e., drones) are potentially transformative for search and rescue (SAR). This paper works toward wearable interfaces, through which humans team with multiple drones. We introduce the Virtual Drone Search Game as a first step in creating a mixed reality simulation for humans to practice drone teaming and SAR techniques. Our goals are to (1) evaluate input modalities for the drones, derived from an iterative narrowing of the design space, (2) improve our mixed reality system for designing input modalities and training operators, and (3) collect data on how participants socially experience the virtual drones with which they work. In our study, 17 participants played the game with two input modalities (Gesture condition, Tap condition) in counterbalanced order. Results indicated that participants performed best with the Gesture condition. Participants found the multiple controls challenging, and future studies might include more training of the devices and game. Participants felt like a team with the drones and found them moderately agentic. In our future work, we will extend this testing to a more externally valid mixed reality game. 

Composite wearable computers combine multiple wearable devices to form a cohesive whole. Designing these complex systems and integrating devices to effectively leverage their affordances is nontrivial. To inform the design of composite wearable computers, we undertook a grounded theory analysis of 84 wearable input devices drawing from 197 data sources, including technical specifications, research papers, and instructional videos. The resulting prescriptive design framework consists of four axes: type of interactivity, associated output modalities, mobility, and body location. This framework informs a composition-based approach to the design of wearable computers, enabling designers to identify which devices fill particular user needs and design constraints. Using this framework, designers can understand the relationship between the wearable, the user, and the environment, identify limitations in available wearable devices, and gain insights into how to address design challenges developers will likely encounter. 

Gesture recognition devices provide a new means for natural human-computer interaction. However, when selecting these devices to be used in games, designers might find it challenging to decide which gesture recognition device will work best. In the present research, we compare three vision-based, hand-gesture devices: Leap Motion, Microsoft’s Kinect, and Intel’s RealSense. The comparison provides game designers with an understanding of the main factors to consider when selecting these devices and how to design games that use them. We developed a simple hand-gesture-based game to evaluate performance, cognitive demand, comfort, and player experience of using these gesture devices. We found that participants preferred and performed much better using Leap Motion and Kinect compared to using RealSense. Leap Motion also outperformed or was equivalent to Kinect. These findings were supported by players’ accounts of their experiences using these gesture devices. Based on these findings, we discuss how such devices can be used by game designers and provide them with a set of design cautions that provide insights into the design of gesture-based games.