The Cross-Impact of Murray Turoff on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Bartel Van de Walle Department of Information Systems and Management Tilburg University The Netherlands

Visiting researcher at NJIT Collaborative Systems Lab Faculty Member CIS (and later IS) Department 2000 – 2003 Really started working with Murray AFTER return to Europe Started ISCRAM in 2004 ISCRAM06 conference at NJIT in May 2006 Papers, chapters, special issues, book, sessions, mini-tracks, … COLLABORATIVE HISTORY

GDSS and DGSS CMC Voting and Arrow’s paradox (“social choice and individual values”) Collaborative Hypertext WHY COLAB?

Most Influential Papers - for me: M. Turoff, "Computer-mediated communication requirements for group support", Journal of Organizational Computing 1, , (1991). S.R. Hiltz, K. Johnson, and M. Turoff, "Experiments in group decision making: communication process and outcome in face-to-face versus computerized conferences", Human Communications Research 13 (2), , (1986). Rao and Turoff paper on Collaborative Hypertext, 1990

AfterBefore

Special Section in Communications of the ACM, March 2007

Traditional Systems Tend to be top down Follow designs done for single agencies or organizations Somewhat bureaucratic Assume largely verbal interaction Pre-segments groups to “manageable” size Tend to encourage rule following and often promotes rigidity Can work for single homogenous group

ISCRAM SYSTEMS Heterogeneous very large communities Allow group formation to be dynamic Allow for quick delegation of authority by role assignment Provide for timely oversight and accountability Encourage flexibility of response Encourage strong personal ties among responders and resulting cohesive groups Provide support for all phases of the emergency response process as well as everyday use for other regular functions

Use ISCRAM for virtual communities and people will be trained to join given the right emergency situation Allow communities to build a knowledge system in their area In organizations employ ISCRAM for all teams and committees dealing with problems that cut across the organization Example Future Research: Virtual teams and communities

Change and disruption is more common than we think, even in commerce, and getting more frequent The technology exists to do it However, does the organizational motivation and understanding exists to do it? Observations:

The issue is designing new virtual organizations and communities that will change existing organizations and the way things are done

What shall we call it… Bayes Markov Turoff Bayesian Markovian Turovian

The issue is designing new virtual organizations and communities that will change existing organizations and the way things are done Turovian View on ISCRAM

ISCRAM New Developments

Example: Tilburg Univ. Students in 2005: Disaster Recovery projects in Sri Lanka ISCRAM Students “without borders”

Soooo.... a lot of serious work ahead of us Murray! Let’s enjoy it!