Title
Information sharing and interoperability: the case of major incident management.
Abstract
Public sector inter-organisational information sharing and interoperability is an area of increasing concern and intense investment for practice and an area of increasing scholarship. This paper focuses on one particular set of public sector organisations (emergency services) and illuminates the key technological and organisational issues they face concerning information sharing and interoperability. The particular contexts in which these are studied are ones where decisions are non-trivial and made in high-velocity environments. In these conditions the problems and significance of inter-organisational information sharing and interoperability are accentuated. We analyse data gathered from two studies: the first focused on ‘first responders’ (police, fire and ambulance services) in the United Kingdom. The second, a follow on study, with emergency service managers and interoperability project managers in the United Kingdom and the European Union. Using activity theory as a conceptual framework we describe the informational problems critical emergency responders face in their initial response to, and management of, an incident. We argue that rather than focusing on interoperability as a primarily technological issue it should be managed as an organisational and informational issue. Second, we argue that rather than designing for anomalous situations we should design systems, which will function during both anomalous and routine situations. Third, we argue for focus on harmonisation of policies, procedures and working practices.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1057/ejis.2013.8
EJIS
Keywords
Field
DocType
health information systems,management science,information system,information technology,accounting information systems,soft system methodology,geographic information systems,information management,information security,business model,business information systems,information science,computer information technology,computer information systems,information systems management,information systems technology,information management system,strategic information systems,management information systems
Information system,Information management,Interoperability,Public relations,Computer science,Knowledge management,Cross-domain interoperability,Public sector,Strategic information system,Information sharing,Management science,European union
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
23
4
1476-9344
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
15
0.79
25
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
David K. Allen120014.36
Stan Karanasios216018.14
Alistair Norman3454.12