Multi-agency emergency response requires effective communication and collaboration for building and maintaining a common operational picture. Full-scale exercises are shown to be effective for learning, and for training the collaborative skills needed. This paper presents a methodology for the analysis of real-time communication for building the common operational picture, using audio-logs. The analysis of the audio-logs provides insights for both practitioners and researchers in the emergency management domain concerning the dynamics of inter-agency collaboration and information exchanges when responding to emergencies. Coding and categorizing of audio-log-based information exchanges among multi-agency stakeholders were applied based on a full-scale emergency exercise on multiple terror actions. The results show that the methodology can contribute to analyzing the development of a common operational picture, supplementing existing methods for evaluation of fullscale emergency exercises and real events.

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Multi-organizational emergency operations require effective information sharing. Existing information management tools supporting a common operational picture mainly convey factual information. However, a growing body of literature recognizes the importance of sharing interpretations and implications among the involved stakeholders for building a common situational understanding. This study aims to identify information that must be negotiated across the strategic, tactical, and operational command and control structures (C2S) for developing common situational understanding. Based on 33 interviews and a survey of emergency management stakeholders, information elements on the semantic and pragmatic levels are identified. Further, the results suggest how to use a secure radio network for facilitating information sharing so that the involved organizations can monitor and negotiate important information. These insights provide important lessons for improving information sharing in the emergency management domain.

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