INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: WHERE IS IT IN THE COORDINATION OF EMERGENCY SERVICES? (FROM POLICE TECHNOLOGY: ASIA PACIFIC POLICE TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE, P 195-204, 1993, JULIA VERNON AND DES BERWICK, EDS. -- SEE NCJ-145004)

• NCJ Number: 145025
• Author(s): P S Anderson
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

While emergency services have made extensive use of many types of new communication and information technologies (CITs), including remote-sensing satellites, electronic databases, electronic messaging, and geographic information systems, the application of CIT in disaster management has tended to evolve nationally and internationally in an uncoordinated fashion.

Abstract

In 1990, the Australian Counter Disaster College and the Center for International Research on Communication and Information Technologies co-sponsored a workshop to identify and analyze the nature and range of information exchange needs within the Australian counter disaster community, the effectiveness of current methods of information exchange, and recommended improvements. Proposed solutions and implementation strategies included expansion of counter disaster related research, establishment and maintenance of an Australian disaster database, development of improved communication techniques, and establishment of active information collection arrangements. As a result of further discussions, the Australian Disaster Management Information Network (ADMIN) pilot project was implemented in 1991. The network relies upon personal computer-based bulletin board technology to provide a central source of timely information about counter disaster organizations and their activities, training courses, instructional materials, research, conference papers, contacts, and on-line databases. 1 note and 4 references