Elisa Oreglia and I are developing a project within the ISD Clinic class to research the use and effectiveness of situation reports, or "sitreps," in humanitarian emergency response.
Context
A sitrep is a type of document, usually authored in Word, commonly used by humanitarian NGOs (non-governmental organizations). It aims to give a concise and accurate account of the situation on the ground in a developing emergency situation. Recent research (and personal experience) indicates that these documents can be difficult to work with, poorly suited for information sharing within or across organizations, and even ineffective at their primary goal of delivering vital, timely information to decision-makers.
Project Description
The SitRep Project aims to document and analyze the current procedures and processes associated with the creation, distribution, and use of emergency sitreps, ideally within 3-5 NGOs involved in emergency response. The initial goal is to identify problems and opportunities in the current process, the format of the information being collected, and the systems used to collect and analyze that data.
You can see some more information about the project, along with some of the background research, at our wiki: http://sitrepwiki.nickrabinowitz.com
We're envisioning this research as a year-long project, so the portion covered within the first semester is likely to include developing a research plan and conducting initial user research.
If you're interested, let me know, either by comment or by email: nrabinow@ischool.berkeley.edu
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment