**1. Introduction**

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While considerable effort, if not always success, has been made in terms of the adoption of emergency response and communication technologies on a government level, the ability of private enterprise to adopt such emerging technology has for financial reasons been limited to only certain larger industries, e.g. power industry etc. Here we address the potential use of such systems, through the adoption of emerging technology in situations with short active time-frames, high potential impacts on significant populations, and low management resource contexts. In this chapter we focus on the specific context of special events and festivals as an example of these circumstances.

Studies on risk emergency response to extreme natural events, in the festivals & special events literature, is rare and requires more research (Getz, 2007). There is a lack of research focus on the application of theory to practice covering 'heat of moment' live risk response situations (Sonmez, Backman & Allen, 1993). Special events have been defined as one-off 'specific rituals, presentations, performances or celebrations that are consciously planned and created' (Allen, O'Toole, McDonnell & Harris, 2011, p. 11). They include sporting, cultural, business and celebratory live events. In the typology of specials events, festivals are seen as 'themed, public celebrations' (Getz 2007. p. 31).

Risk management practices, and in particular emergency management planning and response systems, are integral parts of modern special event management practice (Getz, 2007; Allen et al., 2011). The use of technology in special event management is widely adopted but little evidence of its holistic integration into the work practices of event managers has been identified (Knox, 2009). Recent event risk management texts (Tarlow, 2002; Silvers, 2008) accent the project management functions related to risk management but largely fail to address the potential use of ICT (information and communication technology) systems, including emerging technologies, as key components of this knowledge area.

The ability to provide affordable technological infrastructure that can be quickly ramped up in size and is widely accessible to stakeholders is essential when seeking to create a userfriendly and efficient system that enables time critical and multiple-direction decision making communication amongst stakeholders. A potential example of this might include

Cloud Versus Clouds: Emergency Response Communications

**2. Case study Woodford Folk Festival** 

Fig. 1. Woodfordia Storm Damage – January 2011.

Release)

*'The Queensland Floods have been a life changing event for many thousands of people and I know* 

Bill Hauritz, CEO, Queensland Folk Festival – 14TH March 2011(Woodfordia Mail Media

*that our organisers will rise to the challenge presented to us and build a stronger future'* 

at Large Scale Festivals and Special Events – Innovative ICT Applications 51

Our case study, the Woodford Folk Festival, is an Australian regional festival that is held over a six day period each December/January, originally at nearby Maleny it moved to its own property near the town of Woodford in Queensland Australia, in 1994. Here, 400 acres of farmland is being progressively reclaimed as 'environmental parkland'. It's mixed of natural landscape and built physical components can be described as a Blended Festivalscape (Gration, Arcodia, Raciti & Stokes, 2011), with the integration and preservation of natural elements of the environment being critical to consumer satisfaction with their festival experience. Woodford is a regional festival of music, arts and performance managed by the not-for-profit Queensland Folk Federation (QFF) and it currently attracts 100,000 - 120,000 attendees per year from a diverse demographic background. The site was transferred to the local government authority in 2011 with a long term lease being granted back to the QFF.

the adoption of smart phone applications as part of such an integrated system. Examples of Mobile Apps being created for specific special events are becoming more commonplace. An example of this is the business event focused Infosalons Group, (Info Salons - Event Technology). This type of targeted communication system is yet to be integrated into a more holistic communication system that covers areas such as emergency management functions.

Extreme Natural Events (ENE), such as cyclones, intensive storms leading to flooding, gale force winds, hailstorms etc., have historically impacted on many areas of the world to one extent or other. Climate change proponents forecast a more rapid increase in both the number and severity of such events. In addressing the risk involved for the tourism industry in managing these types of events Alison Sprecht (2008, p. vii) states that:

*'Risk is described simply as resulting from three main factors: (i) the nature of the hazard; (ii) the exposure of the elements to risk; and (iii) the vulnerability of those elements. Vulnerability can be further defined as the product of the susceptibility and resilience of the community and environment to the identified hazards. ENE's are a force of nature and cannot be modified, but risk of loss or damage can be reduced by modifying exposure and vulnerability. For this, a good knowledge of the likely ENE's is fundamental.'* 

For ENE's and other risk management situations, governments have a long history of utilising a blend of broadcasting media such as television and radio for alerting the public as to the nature and severity of the ENE, and delivering "what to do" information to citizens. Studies suggest the use of different mobile technologies to deliver emergency information in forms of weather warning and location based precautions (Krishnamurthy, 2002; Weiss et al., 2006). Other studies discuss issues of transmitting information through short message service (SMS) via mobile phone broadcasting system (Aloudat et al., 2007). However, these solutions do not provide an independent holistic and systematic framework in which key decision makers such as event managers can ensure appropriate collaboration for transmitting critical information. As such, the designing of an independent ICT based decision support solution, through a new web based sharing provision where decision makers from different agencies can actively communicate and perform decision making is proposed.

Delivering information to and from event attendees would be achieved through systematic and interactive communication linkages with relevant authorities and data sources, hence enabling the prioritising of action-taking in real time. As a specific ICT application, decision support systems (DSS) are gaining popularity to meet the domain-specific demands of clients for informed decision support. New technological provisioning platforms such as cloud computing show significant potential benefits, for the business/supplier as well as for public access requirements, when addressing significant access load demand in a very short time frame. Cloud computing may offer the advantage of a cloud (e.g. Internet or web based provisioning) based DSS service that can meet the emergency communication and decision making needs of key agencies and stakeholders in a wide variety of contexts and populations.

The chapter is organised as follows. Following on from the introduction (section 1) the next section (2) contextualises the major issues being addressed in a case study based on the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, Australia. The following section (3) examines the stakeholders and their relationships within the emergency communication system. The next section (4) examines cloud based approaches, while section (5) contextualises this through application to the case study and section (6) considers other advanced technologies for emergency management. The final section (7) provides for discussion and conclusions.
