Over the last decade we have seen the rapid development of self-organising systems and community-based responses to natural hazard events using readily available technology platforms accessed through mobile devices and networks. The Black Summer Fires (2019/2020), COVID-19 Pandemic (2020/2021) and the continuous east coast storm and flooding events since early 2022 have highlighted a need to better understand lessons learned from these community responses and to seek ways to work with and link them directly with government, agency, NGO and critical infrastructure approaches to disaster management.
Our information, technology and communications (ICT) research has focussed on several ways to do this. These include the development of:
• A systemic repertoires of collaboration approach to common operating pictures and situational awareness through lessons learned about natural hazards management from analysis of commissions of enquiry.
• An engaged scholarship framework to research agenda development through lessons learned from “tensions” highlighted by natural hazards key stakeholders.
• Reconceptualization of disaster stages though lessons learned by the synthesis of stakeholder perspectives and joint practitioner/researcher solution building activities.
• An understanding of individual and group influence on sense-making and trusted situational awareness about natural hazards through lessons learned by analysis of social media network structures and potential impact on design of government and agency communications policies and strategies.
In an age of artificial intelligence and machine learning the ICT landscape is at once one of great promise but also one of great instability and challenges. This presentation will discuss how these lessons learned can be used as a driver for effective and well-designed deployment and use of ICT by the sector, and to help shape the integration of community, agency, government, NGO and critical infrastructure provider perspectives in research for natural hazard response.