Hu, Q., Kapucu, N. (2016). Information Communication Technology Utilization for Effective Emergency Management Networks. Public Management Review.

From Digital Culture & Society

Editing Hu, Q., Kapucu, N. (2016). Information Communication Technology Utilization for Effective Emergency Management Networks. Public Management Review. 18(3),323-348 Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=41825ded-f468-4445-8546-c11cc4e21c6b%40sessionmgr120

Review by Ben Blanchard

Effective communication can be argued as one of the single most important aspects of providing effective emergency management. Emergency management can be defined as the “managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerabilities to hazards and cope with disasters”(FEMA 2010). Information Communication Technologies(ICT) are vital to ensuring the coordination and execution of quick and effective emergency management. Qian Hu and Naim Kapucu in a study published out of the University of Florida in 2016 investigate the potential benefit of ICTs in emergency management networks. The short review will provide an overview of the article where it will be situated within the context that it resides within. An outline of the articles key arguments and its strength and weaknesses.

The purpose of the articles study is clearly represented in the opening abstract where it states that the purpose of the study as “it investigates whether the centrality of networks relates to ICT utilization”(Hu & Kapucu, 2016 p. 323). it also addressee the need for the study as it highlights that ICT's are underused in current emergency response networks. Overall the abstract functions well to introduce the purpose and research topic of the article. Within its introduction Hu and Kapucu makes reference to the lack of existing literature available in this field of study citing how “relatively limited research has been conducted on the role of ICT's in emergency management(Rao, Eisenberg, and Schmitt 2007; Vogt, Hertweck, and Hales 2011). Next a clear framework is established within which the study will take place, where what ICT tools emergency management organizations utilize in their communications and coordination with other organizations. Then central organizations in emergency management networks will be examined to determined if they have a higher level of ICT utilization than other organizations (p. 324).

Prior to discussing the study's findings Hu and Kapucu provides some important background information such as the importance of ICT's to emergency management, an introduction to emergency management networks, and the role ICTs play in the context of emergency management networks. Several different forms of ICTs are mentioned in being important to emergency management networks such as GIS, GPS, Radio, TV and the Internet in additional to emergency management information systmes such as E-Team, WebEOC and SharePoint(p. 325). Social media platforms such as Twitter are also cited as examples of citizen participation in emergency management. Again the lack of research into the integration of ICTs in emergency management networks is reiterated. The collaborative approach to emergency management is also outlined as it highlights the need for organizations to collaborate and communicate in an emergency management networks. To build upon this framework multiple different studies that examined the role of ICT's in the context of emergency management networks are cited such as works by Brooks, Bodeau and Fedorowicz. These are examined in relation to the current study in order to establish what aspects of emergency management they neglected to examine and how the current article will attempt to fill those gaps.

Lastly the use of ICTs in emergency networks is examined. The article establishes three different types emergency management networks as friendship networks, emergency preparedness networks and emergency response networks(p. 329). Centrality measures are also developed In order to measure the different roles played by different organizations in the networks that include degree centrality, between centrality, eigenvector centrality, and closeness centrality(p. 330). Also the article provides some clarification for the term ICT stating that an ICT does not refer to any specific type of information technology. ICT as the term is used in this paper, can range from an email to a disaster information management. A list of propositions are also established in order to better frame its analysis of the data.

Following this the article provides the context in which its study was conducted. The article decisions in order to focus its context within the state of Florida was done due the state being recognized as having the leading emergency management system in the United States(Waugh 2006). The Florida counties of Orange, Hillsborough, Duval and Miami-Dade were chosen for their large populations and the fact that they posses independent emergency operation centers(EOCs). The article provides clear reasoning as to why Florida was chosen as the context for this study. The chosen method for this study was a survey that was sent out to 312 different agencies of which only 150 responded(p. 333). Despite this low response rate the article states that “the representation of key informants and organizations with key emergency management functions is higher”(p. 333).

After going over the data collected in the survey and attempting the correlate the findings with the propositions that formed the basis of the article Hu and Kapucu conclude that

“Despite the rapid growth of ICT, emails, face to face meetings, and phone calls remain the prominent communication channels used by a majority of these emergency management organizations. Although the majority of emergency managers perceive ICT's as important operations of emergency management networks certain types of ICTs do not seem to be as widely used by organizations with central roles in networks”(p. 324).

The Article here is mindful not to make any concrete conclusions, only insinuating that from the data they received the use of ICTs within certain sectors of emergency management organizations are only slowly being integrated and may not be as widely used as previously believed. The article finishes by highlighting the various limitations present in the current study stating that “all the hypotheses are correlational statements, and none of them suggested causal relationships”(p. 324). the use of broad questions and failure to clearly distinguish certain terms within the survey are also highlighted as limitations. Lastly the article reiterates how the focus of the study was restricted to four counties in Florida therefore the results should be interpreted with caution when applied to other areas within emergency management field.

Overall the article is an important contribution to ongoing research into the field of emergency management. It provides a clear framework that the study resides within and addresses the many shortcoming of previous literature and how the current article will attempt to fill certain gaps in between different avenues of study. The article is capable of articulating the importance of ICTs within the field of emergency management and how they can be integrated to facilitate the better deployment of emergency response during disaster related events. Its context for focusing on Florida is clearly defined and its methodology is carried out thoroughly. This Article could potentially stand to benefit from providing a more substantial definition of what constitutes an ICT in order to better narrow the focus of the study. The article is also able to point out its many shortcomings and limitations in order to provides better direction for future studies on this topic that focus on how ICTs function in supporting and sustaining emergency management networks.