Socio-Technical Design Approach for Crisis Management Information Systems

This article describes research in progress of a design approach for crisis management information systems. A qualitative study was designed to gather data from four municipalities in northern Sweden, which all have responsibility for crisis management in each local environment. The purpose with the article is to discuss broad but strongly related information issues to crisis management and from that suggest a socio-technical oriented approach for crisis management information systems design. The preliminary design approach suggests that a network of knowledge, IT management and information integration is a promising base for design in the area. Considering that responsible actors in crisis environments have great knowledge in crisis planning and operation indicate that such an environment can be understood as a network of knowledge that account for both the social and technical dimension during crises. Theories from IT management and information integration provide input to the technical dimension of the suggested design approach. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]