ICT-Enabled Citizen Co-production in Excluded Areas – Using Volunteers in Emergency Response

Pilemalm, Sofie

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-27397-2_8

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Since the initial version of this study (Pilemalm, 2019) was written, it has occurred that also citizen volunteers have been exposed suicide alerts by mistake (but not sent since the dispatching is overheard by the PSAP). Again, the ICT artefact and the surrounding back-office systems are central to the entire collaboration since they notify, dispatch and direct the volunteers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study is a continuation of a previous study of the initiative's early phases with only the citizen volunteers included, presented in Pilemalm (2019). This study adds data from security guards working as first responders in the studied areas, referred to in the study as semi-professionals, and also a comparison between the two groups.…”

Section: Study Aim and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Volunteer Co-production in Emergency Management in Excluded Areas

Pilemalm

2020

JeDEM

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This study explores ICT-enabled co-production using civil citizens and semi-professionals as volunteer first responders in excluded areas, in order to identify key factors and to compare the groups. It shows that volunteers can make a major difference if arriving first at an emergency site, e.g. saving lives, administering CPR and extinguishing fires. The semi-professionals are more protected than civil citizens where challenges relate to individual versus collective engagement, gender aspects, language barriers or insufficient legal protection. However, the citizens have an advantage in relying on easily accessible ICT support installed on their own mobile phones. For the initiatives to expand and enable long-term engagement, calibrated ICT solutions matching competence, role and language with incident and area are needed. The study confirms previous research arguing for the merging of policy science and information systems research in a rapidly digitalized public-sector transformation, but adds that they need to be complemented by perspectives from sociology in initiatives involving excluded areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Aim and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Volunteer Co-production in Emergency Management in Excluded Areas

Pilemalm

2020

JeDEM

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“…In contrast to digitalized volunteerism, few studies focus on a more organized form of volunteerism that is facilitated by specially developed ICT artifacts and coordinated with official response agencies. When this is the case, those few field studies that exist often refer to it as ICT-enabled or digitalized co-production of emergency response (e.g., Pilemalm 2019Ramsell et al 2019). In turn, co-production can be seen as the input the civil citizens offer to support the provision of public services and goods in organizations that they are not affiliated with (Ostrom 1996).…”

Section: Digitalized or Ict-enabled Co-productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digitalized Co-production of Emergency Response : Using Volunteers as First Responders

Alkusaibati

2024

Linköping Studies in Science and Technology. Licentiate Thesis

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Contemporary global challenges like global warming, rapid urban development, and the current unstable security situation, lead to an increase in large-scale crises (e.g., forest fires) alongside frequent smaller emergencies (e.g., house fires and traffic accidents). The increase in emergencies strains professional response organizations, necessitating additional resources. Civilian volunteers are therefore increasingly being integrated into the response system. The development is mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) which enable communication between professional responders (e.g., the municipal rescue services, the emergency medical services, the Public Swedish Answering Point) and citizens. While many studies focus on spontaneous volunteer activities emerging on social media, fewer examine organized volunteerism initiatives at the local emergency response level. Over a decade ago, a municipal rescue service in northern Sweden established an initiative recruiting volunteers as first responders and equipping them with basic response tools. The volunteers undergo training in tasks such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and fire extinguishing. They are dispatched to predefined response tasks using simple ICT applications like SMS lists or mobile apps. This initiative has expanded to other areas due to perceived benefits such as shorter response times and reduced casualties and material damage. The phenomenon can be labelled as an emerging form of ICT-enabled or digitalized co-production of public services. However, previous research indicates a research gap in understanding, describing, and defining this type of co-production. The overall aim of the thesis is to describe how these ICT-enabled initiatives emerge and develop over time and identify the related effects on the response system. This is expected to provide recommendations on how they can be developed and supported. This aim is divided into three specific objectives, where each has been addressed through a research paper: 1-identifying how the existing literature describes ICT-enabled/digitalized volunteerism in largeand small-scale emergencies, 2identifying how these initiatives emerge and operate, and can be maintained in small-scale emergencies, introducing more systematized knowledge on this concept, 3initially evaluating the contributions of volunteers in the initiatives. Leaning on a case study approach inspired by action research, a combination of data collection methods has been adopted, e.g., a literature review, interviews, and incident reports filled out by volunteers. For the data analysis, the theoretical lens of ICT-enabled/digitalized co-production of public services has been applied. The first paper is a literature review study that examines digitally enabled volunteering activities in crises and small-scale emergencies. It highlights the prevalence of studies on volunteers using social media for crowdsourcing in crises, often termed digitalized volunteerism which entails virtual and, or physical contributions b...

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“…First, five interviews with respondents from the central part of the municipality were conducted. Of these, two respondents are also included in the previous study that took place during the initial project phase and mainly embraced the perspective of the Fire Response Association [26]. Two focus group were then conducted in parallel.…”

Section: A Interviews and Focus Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All data were audio-recorded and transcribed. For the analysis, a thematic approach was used [26], clustering data into overall themes, with a focus on development, as exemplified in the questions above. Two researchers, performed the data collection together, including the construction of interview templates, and the data analysis.…”

Section: Total Number Of Respondents 16mentioning

confidence: 99%

Digitalized Co-production: Using Volunteers as First Responders

Pilemalm¹

2021

2021 Eighth International Conference on eDemocracy &Amp; eGovernment (ICEDEG)

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This study explores digitalized co-production using citizens as volunteer first responders in cities with as specific focus on socially vulnerable areas. It shows that volunteers can make a major difference, e.g., saving lives, administering CPR and extinguishing fires. The ICT artefact is crucial to the coproduction by allowing volunteers to be dispatched through their own mobile phones and providing geographical positioning. Identified challenges include to make individual engagement collective, to reduce the risk of the volunteers being exposed to dangerous situations and to further calibration of the ICT. The study argues for digitalization as an enabler of new co-production initiatives, with basic mobile ICT artefacts as the starting point, and that local public sector initiatives aimed to improve inclusion, safety and first response can have positive consequences both nationally and globally. It also contributes to a merging of research perspectives from public administration and information systems, with reference to digitalized co-production.

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ICT-Enabled Citizen Co-production in Excluded Areas – Using Volunteers in Emergency Response

Cited by 7 publications

References 24 publications

Volunteer Co-production in Emergency Management in Excluded Areas

Volunteer Co-production in Emergency Management in Excluded Areas

Digitalized Co-production of Emergency Response : Using Volunteers as First Responders

Digitalized Co-production: Using Volunteers as First Responders

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