A taxonomy for public safety networks

The building of public safety network (PSN) infrastructures for the purposes of facilitating communication, sharing of information, and collaboration among first responders has been identified as a key policy goal in the aftermath of events such as the September 11th terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina. Early analysis of professional and academic literature in conjunction with prior empirical research indicates that there is a great variety in the types of systems being developed under the rubric of “public safety network,” as well as the services these systems deliver. As part of an ongoing National Science Foundationsponsored project, we have developed a taxonomy of PSNs to bring conceptual clarity to our research and to the domain at large, which we present in this poster.