ANNOUNCE CFP: ISCRAM 2008 (SD6660)

[SDMAIL Peter Otto]

Posted by  "Peter Otto" <peteotto at gmail.com>

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CALL FOR PAPERS

5th International Conference on Information Systems 
for Crisis Response and Management
Washington, DC, USA 
May 4-7, 2008
http://www.iscram.org
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FOR A SPECIAL ACADEMIC SESSION ON

Applications of System Dynamics for Crisis Response and Management

Session ID: MOD-01

Motivation 

Decisive action during crises is most effective when the scope and
complexity of a problem is well-understood.  
In most situations, however, the implications of an emerging crisis
situation are hidden, and initial responses 
may exacerbate longer-term recovery.  Incomplete information, unknown
interdependencies, policy-resistant feedback 
loops and organizational barriers limit the ability to develop clarity and
cohesion among crisis responders. 
Simulation and simulation models enable testing of various assumptions and
provide decision-makers with the ability 
to explore the consequences of choices before and during a crisis. They can
also be useful as a mechanism to capture 
post-hoc insights into why problems occurred in previous crisis response as
an adjunct to root cause analysis. 

Research Area 

The use of system dynamics as a tool for crisis preparation, reaction, and
learning is still in its infancy.  
System dynamics modeling has been identified as a particularly good tool for
codifying and exploring complex domains.  
Its ability to incorporate hard and soft data and the explicit capture of
expert insight into these models grounds these 
models in ways not available to traditional techniques.  

As such, we are looking for academic research that helps improve the use and
dissemination of system dynamics-based 
crisis management and learning models.

Topics

* System dynamics simulation for after action analysis reporting and
response planning
* Formal and informal models to identify leverage points in emergency
response
* Techniques for transferring simulation lessons into emergency preparedness

* Mechanisms for development of actionable information through simulation
tools and experiments
* Ad-hoc extensions to existing simulations to support rapid decision making
* Simulation as a mechanism to manage information overload and stress during
crises
* Organizational structures and conflicts that improve or inhibit effective
crisis response and recovery


Type of contribution: 

Academic Session: we invite researchers from academia or research
laboratories to present their research or 
research-in-progress papers. Prospective presenters must submit a regular
research (or research-in-progress) paper. 
Papers that respond to the special session as well as those that apply
systems thinking or system dynamics to any 
aspect of crisis response and management are welcome. 

Important Notice: 

* All submissions must be formatted according to the ISCRAM 2008 formatting
guidelines. Templates and instructions 
  are published on www.iscram.org. 
* All submissions must be submitted through the ISCRAM 2008 conference paper
submission web page at 
  www.conftool.com/iscram2008. Instructions for the ConfTool system can be
found on www.iscram.org. 
* All papers and presentations will go through a double-blind review
process, leading to a decision of 
  (conditional) acceptance or rejection.
* Accepted papers will be included in the ISCRAM 2008 program and published
in the official proceedings if and only if 
  (1) the paper is formatted according to the instructions, 
  (2) the authors sign the copyright transfer form and 
  (3) one of the authors registers for the conference and pays the
registration fee before the cut-off date for early 
      registration. 
* Authors who have multiple papers accepted can only register for and
present one paper at the conference; co-authors 
  need to register separately.

Session Chairs:

Peter Otto
peteotto at gmail.com

Eliot Rich
er945 at albany.edu

Important ISCRAM 2008 Dates:

* December 21, 2007: Paper submission deadline
* February 10, 2008: Notification of (conditional) acceptance
* February 22, 2008: Early registration deadline
* March 1, 2008: Final camera-ready paper submission deadline
* May 4-7, 2008: ISCRAM 2008

About ISCRAM:

The ISCRAM Community is a worldwide community of researchers, scholars,
teachers, students, practitioners and 
policy makers interested or actively involved in the subject of Information
Systems for Crisis Response and Management. 
At its annual international conference alternating between the US and
Europe, the ISCRAM Community gathers to present 
and discuss the latest research and developments in this growing area during
an interactive and stimulating 3 day program. 
The ISCRAM Community also organizes an International Summer School for PhD
students and ISCRAM-CHINA, an annual conference 
for ISCRAM research in China. All information on ISCRAM can be found at
http://www.iscram.org 
ISCRAM 2008 will be held from 4-7 May at the George Washington University
(GWU) located in Washington, DC, USA. 
The conference will be hosted by GWU's Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and
Risk Management (ICDRM). 
All details on this conference will be made available via the ISCRAM website
mentioned above.
Posted by  "Peter Otto" <peteotto at gmail.com>
posting date  Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:35:26 -0400