TY - GEN
T1 - Repairing human infrastructure in a war zone
AU - Mark, Gloria
AU - Al-Ani, Ban
AU - Semaan, Bryan
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - People depend on human infrastructure for a range of activities in their daily lives, such as work and socializing. In this paper we consider three different intertwined types of infrastructures of a society that may be affected in crisis situations: The physical, technological, and human infrastructures. We argue that when the human infrastructure is damaged, e.g. in a natural catastrophe or war, then people can switch reliance to the technological infrastructure to be resilient. We conducted an empirical study of 85 people who lived in war zones during the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon war and the ongoing Gulf war in Iraq. In this paper, we report how information technology is used by our informants in new ways in their attempt to maintain social relationships and continue working. Our informants also used technology to help navigate safe routes for travel and for psychological support. We discuss implications of our results for disaster research.
AB - People depend on human infrastructure for a range of activities in their daily lives, such as work and socializing. In this paper we consider three different intertwined types of infrastructures of a society that may be affected in crisis situations: The physical, technological, and human infrastructures. We argue that when the human infrastructure is damaged, e.g. in a natural catastrophe or war, then people can switch reliance to the technological infrastructure to be resilient. We conducted an empirical study of 85 people who lived in war zones during the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon war and the ongoing Gulf war in Iraq. In this paper, we report how information technology is used by our informants in new ways in their attempt to maintain social relationships and continue working. Our informants also used technology to help navigate safe routes for travel and for psychological support. We discuss implications of our results for disaster research.
KW - Collaboration
KW - Human infrastructure
KW - Information technology
KW - Internet
KW - War
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905587208&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84905587208&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84905587208
SN - 9789163346040
T3 - ISCRAM 2009 - 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives
BT - ISCRAM 2009 - 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management
PB - Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, ISCRAM
T2 - 6th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management: Boundary Spanning Initiatives and New Perspectives, ISCRAM 2009
Y2 - 10 May 2009 through 13 May 2009
ER -