Crisis Management in a Data Fusion Synthetic Task Environment

The core problem in the decision sciences has always been how to use scarce data optimally. But the proliferation of inexpensive computer-based instrumentation and broadband communication make it commonplace in current applications that data is abundant, often excessive. The technical challenges are twofold: how to distill data into knowledge, and how to use that knowledge wisely. The former is the problem of information fusion, and this communication reports progress in design of a fusion system for the data-rich knowledge-poor environment following a natural disaster, namely the initial response phase after an event similar to the Northridge CA 1994 earthquake. Use of a synthetic task environment permits a high degree of control and evaluation, and allows emphasis on fusion methodology. Higher level fusion products are derived from user needs, based in part on the California Standard Emergency Management System framework using cognitive work analysis and positioned within a disaster response ontology.