Time-critical information services: analysis and workshop findings on technology, organizational, and policy dimensions to emergency response and related e-governmental services

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses a general framework for understanding and researching end-to-end performance of inter-organizational e-governmental services and reports the findings from an expert workshop held at the National Center for Digital Government. The focus of this paper is on time-critical information services (TCIS) - the medical necessity to deliver emergency services as rapidly as possible coupled with the dependence of these services upon accurate and timely information from multiple organizations. The authors outline a TCIS model and then discuss an invitational workshop that allowed for expert (academic and practitioner) input and feedback on TCIS dimensions and the best means for understanding their occurrence in on-the-ground emergency services. Workshop participants analyzed TCIS from a socio-technical perspective and provided conceptual, practitioner and methodological critiques and suggestions. Overall, participants found the concept of TCIS to be a valid model for understanding, researching, and developing e-government systems within the specific context of emergency response as well as within the broader context of time-critical services to the public. Workshop recommendations focused on the need to closely assess inter-agency and inter-organizational information exchanges along and between three levels: technical, organizational, and governance. The paper concludes with a discussion about future research directions based on the analytical framework and workshop findings.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS

Keywords:
e-government, emergency medical services and response, performance evaluation, time-critical information services