Article: CAP-ONES: an emergency notification system for all Journal: International Journal of Emergency Management (IJEM) 2009 Vol.6 No.3/4 pp.302 - 316 Abstract: In this paper, we present an ontology-based system for managing emergency alert notifications. Our purpose is to generate emergency alerts that are accessible to different kinds of people, paying special attention to more vulnerable collectives like impaired people. By adapting alerts to different devices and users, we can allow Emergency Management Systems (EMSs) to communicate with collectives like blind or deaf people who otherwise are unreachable by usual channels. Moreover, if we consider the constraints imposed by the nature of the emergency situations, we can also improve the information transmission to cope with situational disabilities (e.g., smoke during a fire can cause low vision problems). We centred our system architecture on two characteristics: 1) an ontology that codifies knowledge about accessibility, devices, disabilities, emergencies and media so the alert notification can be tailored according to different parameters, 2) an open standard like the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) that enables our system to interoperate with other existing systems. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: CAP-ONES: an emergency notification system for all

Authors: Alessio Malizia, Pablo Acuna, Teresa Onorati, Paloma Diaz, Ignacio Aedo

Addresses: Departamento de Informatica, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. ' Departamento de Informatica, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. ' Departamento de Informatica, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. ' Departamento de Informatica, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. ' Departamento de Informatica, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain

Abstract: In this paper, we present an ontology-based system for managing emergency alert notifications. Our purpose is to generate emergency alerts that are accessible to different kinds of people, paying special attention to more vulnerable collectives like impaired people. By adapting alerts to different devices and users, we can allow Emergency Management Systems (EMSs) to communicate with collectives like blind or deaf people who otherwise are unreachable by usual channels. Moreover, if we consider the constraints imposed by the nature of the emergency situations, we can also improve the information transmission to cope with situational disabilities (e.g., smoke during a fire can cause low vision problems). We centred our system architecture on two characteristics: 1) an ontology that codifies knowledge about accessibility, devices, disabilities, emergencies and media so the alert notification can be tailored according to different parameters, 2) an open standard like the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) that enables our system to interoperate with other existing systems.

Keywords: emergency management systems; EMS; accessibility; design for all; emergency notification; emergency alerts; blind; deaf; visually impaired; hearing impaired; information transmission; ontology; accessibility; disabilities; impairment; open standards; common alerting protocol; interoperability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2009.031568

International Journal of Emergency Management, 2009 Vol.6 No.3/4, pp.302 - 316

Published online: 11 Feb 2010 *

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Title: CAP-ONES: an emergency notification system for all

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