Hci for emergencies

Abstract

Emergencies put people in a particular state of mind and often also in difficult physical situations. When de-signing information technology for emergencies, these two sides have to be taken into account in the various activities supporting design. This includes studying and understanding the users and the influential factors for good designs, engaging the users in the design process as well as evaluating designs in realistic ways. There are challenges specific to emergencies in all of these activities, as well as in new technologies ranging from wearable computing to distributed information systems. This workshop is meant as an opportunity for interdis-ciplinary discussion as well as practical hands-on ex-change of experiences regarding these challenges. The goal is to work towards a better understanding of the challenges, technologies, practices, and design meth-odologies relevant to HCI in emergencies.