This document discusses the importance of design in disaster situations. It notes that natural disasters pose significant information architecture problems. It outlines the various stakeholders involved in a crisis ecosystem and emphasizes that during disasters, data and information alone are not enough - people also need time, context, authority, and empathy to effectively cope and respond. The document argues that design can help address these needs by facilitating communication between affected communities and aid organizations during and after disasters.

1. Designing for Disaster
!
!
!
Amy Silvers (@A_Silvers)
Big (D)esign | September 2014

2. Tropical Storm Sandy

3. NewYork City Metropolitan Area
!
Population >20 million

4. Some Facts About Sandy
• At its peak, the storm was over1500 km
in diameter
• 8 million people in the US lost power
• About 150 people died in the US
• Second-costliest storm in US history
(after Hurricane Katrina)

5. Breezy Point, Queens, NY

6. Text
NewYork City, October 30, 2012

7. Brooklyn, NewYork
October 30, 2012

8. Jersey Shore, November 2012

9. http://www.flickr.com/photos/b0jangles/
Jersey Shore, November 2012

10. Disclaimer:
None of this happened
to me.

11. West Orange, New Jersey

12. © NJTechTeacher

14. So...what does this have to
do with UX?

15. Us

16. Where
to get help; what to
do next.
How to cope with
new conditions
How
to help; engagement
with community
How to prepare and
prevent next time

24. A natural disaster is an
information architecture
problem.

25. Ecosystem of a Crisis
Primary victims First responders
Secondary
victims
Emergency
mgmt agencies
Federal State Local
NGOs/Aid
organizations
Volunteers
Friends/
Family
Media
Utilities
& services
Insurance
companies
Other govt.
agencies

26. Community-created outage map

27. GasBuddy.com Fuel Shortage Tracker

28. Google Crisis Response map

36. It turns out I’m not the
first person to think about
designing for disasters.

40. Data is not enough.
!
Information is not enough.

41. Ecosystem of Crisis
Information
Primary victims First responders
Secondary
victims
Emergency
mgmt agencies
Federal State Local
NGOs/Aid
organizations
Volunteers
Friends/
Family
Media
Utilities
& services
Insurance
companies
Other govt.
agencies

42. Time

43. Context
- access
- environment
- medium
- expertise

44. 2:02pm @RedCrossLW: #lakewoodfire #lwfire use these tags for
reporting, #fireline, #line_down, #addy, #city, #X_streets
2:04pm @RedCrossLW: #lakewoodfire #lwfire more tag reporting:
#wind, #visibility, #road_close, #injury, #num, #comment
2:06pm @RedCrossLW: #lakewoodfire #lwfire use this format:
#fire #city [city] #addy [address or cross streets] #floor [floor]
2:08pm @RedCrossLW: #lakewoodfire #lwfire use this format:
#imok [name] #city [city] #location [place] #addy [address or
cross streets]
2:10pm @RedCrossLW: #lakewoodfire #lwfire For those of you in
Lakewood, TN, use the #lwfire hashtag to report info.

45. Authority
- credibility
- consistency
- trust

46. Ethnography

47. Bus lines in NYC, November 2013

48. Empathy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycstreets

49. Empathy (belated)