Information Requirements for Crisis Response – A Radio Perspective
I take the position that differing and contradictory viewpoints or perspectives help shed light on the many gaps and issues the industry faces. As such, I invited Terry Canning to provide a guest post in response to my recent post on redefining information requirements for disaster response. The views he expresses are his own. We welcome your thoughts in the comments below!
A couple of weeks ago Brandon wrote a thoughtful and thought-provoking blog describing how the information requirements for successful crisis response is being redefined. He opened with “Developing information requirements for crisis response is a tedious and flawed process filled with many uncertainties…” In a reply, I agreed with his postulation that it can be a tedious process (although I proposed fastidious rather than tedious) but disagreed that it is flawed. Brandon then challenged me to write a response to fully explain my position on this issue – and I have accepted.
Redefining Information Requirements for Crisis Response
Developing information requirements for crisis response is a tedious and flawed process filled with many uncertainties about the situation and the response. While we can take an honest stab at knowing what different responders need, when, and how, our unilateral focus on needed information stymies the best of intentions: historical learning is only as good as a similar future, which is rarely the case; and visioning workshops are only as good as the ability to identify the uncertainties that lie ahead, a very difficult task with severe consequences if something is missed.
While decisions can be made without needed information based on expertise and experience, this is far from ideal in a complex adaptive system such as...