Multi-synchronous collaboration between desktop and mobile users: A case study of report writing for emergency management

TL;DR

This paper introduces a framework enabling real-time, multi-synchronous collaboration between desktop and mobile users for emergency report writing, leveraging smartphones for field data collection to improve emergency response coordination.

Contribution

It presents a novel framework supporting multi-synchronous collaboration between desktop and mobile users specifically for emergency situation report writing.

Findings

Supports real-time collaboration between desktop and mobile users.

Facilitates field data collection via smartphones.

Enhances emergency response communication.

Abstract

The development of multi-synchronous decision support systems to facilitate collaboration between diverse users is an emerging field in emergency management. Traditionally, information management for emergency response has been a centralised effort. However, modern devices such as smartphones provide new methods for gaining real-time information about a disaster from users in the field. In this paper, we present a framework for multi-synchronous collaborative report writing in the scope of emergency management. This framework supports desktop-based users as information providers and consumers, alongside mobile users as information providers to facilitate multi-synchronous collaboration. We consider the benefits of our framework for writing collaborative Situation Reports and discuss future directions for research.