This paper presents findings from a design-oriented study focusing on emergency response work. Traditionally, Information Technology (IT) for emergency response work has included en route navigation advice, resource management, hazard material databases, property information repositories and situation reporting using sketching functionality. Now, a new class of IT has become available, namely mobile live video capabilities. This paper presents initial findings from a study on how mobile live video capabilities can improve information sharing and situation awareness in emergency response work.
Reconstruction of major emergencies and crises as well as observations of large-scale emergency exercises are common approaches for studying and understanding various actors' work practice in emergency response. Studies of small-scale emergencies using an ethnographic approach are less common. This paper presents data from a single small-scale emergency as part of an extensive ethnographical field study. A detailed analysis of sensemaking in a fire crew enroute a small-scale emergency is outlined. The theory of sensemaking is applied as an analytical lens, aiming to explain the communication between the command centre operator and the fire crew in terms of sensemaking. Further, implications for the design of information technology use for fire crew enroute sensemaking will be presented as well as brief reflections of the consequences of such design. Copyright ©