In emergency response, teams currently have difficulties communicating and coordinating their resources and actions. A new approach is needed that enables on-the-fly collaboration through transparency of information and self-organization. Design principles from augmented social cognition and Web 2.0 technologies could support this by building trust through shared situation awareness and enabling teams' actions to benefit themselves and others simultaneously. This may form self-organizing responses that are nearly as efficient as centralized command structures. Research is needed to develop tools like a wiki-based shared information system to test these principles.

1. Status Quo In emergency response, ad hoc collaboration poorly supported now: Lacking in preparation before and during transit Once on-the-ground, many response teams cannot communicate with each other effectively Wasted resources because resources A and B cannot come together at the same time. No central organization, No command and control infrastructure Non-hierarchical relationships amongst teams make coordination difficult Must quickly enable effective collaboration immediately. Enable situation awareness on-the-ground and during transit (Social Awareness) Enable teams to coordinate and make decisions faster and more effectively (Social Decision-Making)

2. New Approach (Principles for Design derived from Web2.0 and Augmented Social Cognition) Augmented Social Cognition theories posit some design principles that should enable on-the-fly collaboration. Trust underlies collaboration, and trust is built from transparency of information. Info Transparency will enable teams to understand context of existing resources, decisions-made, actions-performed. Ex: Command Post of the Future (CPOF), Wikipedia Editing history In absence of hierarchical organizations, self-organizations could form if user actions benefit locally and globally at the same time. Hypothesis: Self-organizations can be made nearly as efficient as centrally organized command structure. Suggested Approach: Use these design principles to drive new research program

3. Hurricane Katrina Victims share info awareness (Web2.0 Mashup with Google Map) Scipionus.com Katrina Information Map Quick mashup of Google Map with Wiki-like editing of current information (Situation Awareness) Used for communication, coordination

4. Research and Technology Components 1. Wiki-like Shared Information System Blackboard-like system enable shared situation awareness Focus on low-cost user interaction and collaboration Enable mobile input from anywhere, without penalizing the fast UI interaction on desktop workspaces. Pre-built mashup modules that can be quickly deployed Critical to enable location-based information in maps and other visual information Enable teams to self-organize Collaboration as a side effect of regular workflow Work should benefit both one’s own team and other teams simultaneously