WEMS Patterns

From WEMSPatterns

Web-based Emergency Management Systems Design Patterns

Based on a set of design principles² and an analysis of existing Emergency Management Systems, we have identified a set of requirements for Web-based Emergency Management Systems (WEMS) based on scenarios defined by an emergency phase and users' role. Using these requirements, we have identified and categorized in groups a set of design patterns describing solutions for recurrent problems encountered in the system design. We have considered existing design patterns languages and catalogues with different scopes including designing web sites¹, ubiquitous computing ^{4, 5}, usability patterns^{6, 8} and patterns for crisis management systems⁷ for obtaining methods and techniques to include in our own catalogue.

For further information about the process of discovering and constructing the patterns see:

• Design Principles and Patterns
• WEMS Analyzed
• Emergency Phases and Roles
• Requirements for EMS
• The Patterns Language

The Patterns

-- Old Version: All Patterns --

We have arranged our design pattern language according to a set of Requirements for EMS, defined accordingly to a particular situation described by an emergency phase and a user role (more information here). Considering this set of requirements, we have classified and grouped design patterns for Web-based Emergency Management Systems. Refer to The Patterns Language page for a description of the patterns and the groups.

A. Emergency Response and Recovery

A.1. Awareness for First Responders

A.2. Awareness for Command Control Operators

B. Planning and Mitigation

B.1. Decision Support Systems for Planning

B.2. Collective Memory / Data Archives

C. Information Management

C.1. Information Presentation

C.2. Map-based Navigation

C.3. Search, Sort and Filter Information

C.4. Data authoring

C.5. Up-to-date Data

C.6. Contextual and Related Data

C.7. Extended Data

C.8. Alert Notifications

C.9. Fast-loading Pages

C.10. Contextual Help

C.11. Direct Manipulation

D. Access for All

D.1. Style Sheets for multiple media types

D.2. Pages Accessibility

D.3. Printable Pages

D.4. Handheld Devices Support

References

1. Van Duyne, D.K., Landay, J. and Hong, J., “The Design of Sites (2nd Edition)”. Prentice Hall, 2007.
2. Turoff, M., Chumer, B., Van de Walle B. and Yao X., “The Design of a dynamic emergency response management information system (DERMIS)”. Journal of Information Technology Theory and Applications, 2004, pp. 1-36.
3. Klenk, J., “Emergency information management and telecommunications”. UN Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP), 1997.
4. Landay, J. and Borriello G., “Design Patterns for Ubiquitous Computing”. IEEE Computer 36(8): 93:95 (2003).
5. Chung, E., Hong, J., Lin J., Prabaker, M., Landay, J., Liu, A., “Development and Evaluation of Emerging Design Patterns for Ubiquitous Computing”. Proceedings of the 2004 conference on Designing interactive systems, ACM Press, 2004, pp. 233-242.
6. Lyardet, F., Rossi, G., “Web Usability Patterns”. Proceedings of the European Conference on Design Patterns, 2001.
7. Mahemoff, M., Hussey, A., “Patterns for Designing Safety-Critical Interactive Systems”. Technical Report No. 99-23 Software Verification Research Centre, 1999.
8. Graham, I., “A pattern language for web usability”. Addison-Wesley, 2003.