Open to Work
This project is a summary of a 1 year master's design thesis in the field of disaster management. While this summary is a concentrate of key details, the underlying decisions, rationale, and approach is not fully presented as it requires significant context & subject knowledge.
This thesis is an experiment to investigate the impact of systemic characteristics on user experience and task requirements. It reflects my interest in learning about and designing user experiences that involve factors beyond the micro context (i.e the conventional notion of solving problems at the interface level) and that takes into consideration - the complex systemic factors. It also reflects my enthusiasm for tackling unexplored and ambiguous problems, and navigating through them to find a thoughtful and human-centered resolution.
The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season ever recorded in California. 2019 marked the most deadliest monsoon year for India - with over 2000 fatalities. Disasters are becoming increasingly challenging to manage while disaster systems are not advanced proportionately.
Disasters happen 3 times more often today, than in the 1970s and 80s
Disaster Management is traditionally viewed from an 'objective' standpoint. Shifting the focus to the human experience of disaster management can change the way we approach disasters. Failures in disaster management is largely attributed to 'poor leadership', an ambiguous reason. In order to understand the real problem(s), changing perspectives is important.
Findings documented from various research methods were synthesized using Affinity Mapping. During this process, several themes ranging from individual behavior(left) to systemic behavior(right) emerged .
As part of the process, I ideated alot to investigate potential areas for design intervention. Considering that this thesis was pursued within the Master's of Transportation Systems & Design, ideation - though freely done - revolved around transportation to meet department requirements. They include concepts like:
Inspired by the Cynafin framework for situation management, I employed stakeholder mapping to reframe the insights as socio-technical problems. This method revealed weak, but crucial relationships for effective disaster management. They are extrapolated into 2 opportunity spaces:
Interorganizational / multi-level interactions and relationship dynamics are unsupportive for operational capabilities. How might we resolve that?
Ineffective public preparedness due to increasing dependency on and vulnerability because of a fragile disaster management system. How might we resolve that?
Due to the nature of the problem, a systems thinking approach was needed. The below leverage points were informed by research and system analysis.
Change management requires a clear understanding of the big-picture. In order to transform a system, it is important to align the concept with FEMA's nationwide goals. This thesis aligns with 3 of FEMA's 2019 goals.
Call to Action is a collaborative disaster management program designed to map, analyse, and improve system-wide communication and collaboration during the disaster preparedness mitigation and preparedness phases.
The program is most effective in the context represented below
The main component of the Call to Action Program is the Dashboard Application. Hence, to validate the program, an MVP of the dashboard was designed. The goal was to create a desirable platform with key features, functions and a value proposition.
A single platform for all stakeholders (federal officials to community volunteers) to develop a shared picture of their established disaster management system.
Being able to view stakeholders involved in disaster management is crucial. Its fundamental to building familiarity, trust and partnership. The dashboard makes this task easy using a modular layout combined with a cascading architecture.
Ability to make objective focused connections can help stakeholders understand and leverage strengths in collaborations. Additionally, the configuration function inherently refines the system by reducing unnecessary nodes.
Create opportunities to strengthen your disaster management and leverage the power of collaboration and collective action.
Many will come online ONLY when a disaster strikes... They'd be like I want relevant information right now... straight away
Some participants do not show up traditionally.. even they are part of a platform
I can see this being very useful for my operations planning chief
How will you deal with competition.. and people who just don't want to collaborate?
The concept helps you prioritize connections; the right connections
You got an interesting concept... however it could use more refinement on network parameters
If your tool can offer value at the local level... you can use it at any level
I can see how this acts as a planning tool, it allows communities to plan, but then they would have to work within...
We are working more and more to empower smaller organizations, so I like where this is going, and I think this tool might help us achieve that...
What is your strategy for adoption?
The more you do this, the more you have you know you know what phone calls to make and what connections to make and, hopefully, you can impart that to other people... I think this is a powerful tool..
Looking at this from a strategic standpoint, ESF people can be saying listen in order for us to effectively do our job when we're in a situation we are going to need the following organizations so and so...