**3. Emergency communication network**

As can be seen in figure 1 the emergency communication networks utilised by the majority of event managements are vary basic and unidirectional in nature.

Fig. 2. Information exchange for emergency risk management communication.

In terms of our festival case study, emergency response management relies primarily on a layered communications approach based on private (in venues and offices on site) and public telephone services, mobile telephones supported by two mobile service provider towers and a series of radio communication systems operating during the festival by both festival management and external emergency services. Communications to the Public is via a number of public address systems located in the venues and verbal announcements, with

Cloud Versus Clouds: Emergency Response Communications

**5. Proposed approach** 

event emergency situations.

interaction methods (Table 1).

at Large Scale Festivals and Special Events – Innovative ICT Applications 55

*network design and management inside the cloud*" (p. 297). As such, Cloud computing provision has been used as a modern architecture of shared computing services. These services are

After the introduction of web-based utility services by Amazon.com, many service providers became increasingly interested in utilising the cloud computing platform for launching new services that met their client group demands, including minimising labour and implementation expenses (Santos, Gummadi & Rodrigues, 2009). It is therefore surprising that the use of cloud based services for the effective communication and decision making of multiple parties is still largely overlooked given the potential benefits. As such we provide a conceptual approach of cloud provision to improve communication in event risk management contexts. In theory our concept represents a convergence of

A SWOT2 (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of cloud computing within different business perspectives has been described by Marston, Li, Bandyopadhyay, Zhang and Ghalsasi (2011) in which the importance for understanding the business related issues were highlighted. In other words, it is important to thoroughly analyse business problems before implementing the cloud based application. The study (Marston et al., 2011) identified two major trends that create and represent effective cloud computing application. These were 1) "IT efficiency, whereby the power of modern computers is utilized more efficiently through highly scalable hardware and software resources" and 2) "business agility, whereby IT can be used as a competitive tool through rapid deployment, parallel batch processing, use of compute-intensive business analytics and mobile interactive applications that respond in real time to user requirements" (p. 177). According to Marston et al. (2011) the concept of efficiency represents effective use of the computing resources located in geographical areas mainly for offering cheaper access to different services over the Internet. On the other hand, the concept of business agility implies that cloud computing must able to play differing roles for businesses, enabling the use of computational tools on the Internet as free or public access points that can be deployed and scaled as quickly as possible. It also helps reduce the need for the huge upfront investments that characterize enterprise IT setups today (Marston et al., 2011). Following the second principle we propose that the use of cloud based applications for event risk management emergency situations provide a significant improvement to traditional managerial and communication tools.

Cloud based provisioning supports event based emergency management strategies through enabling an appropriate collaboration. This approach, as illustrated in figure 3 below, allows for greatly improved information flows between the multitudes of stakeholders involved in

Emergency stakeholders at events can be categorised as to their needs, powers and

The conceptual model (figure 3) connects different decision makers with public for improved risk and event management practices. It offers a collaborative environment in

2 SWOT analysis is a tool for evaluating artifacts or organization and its environment

mainly elevated through computing utility rental by service providers on the Internet.

communication and decision making through the use of cloud based services.

no easy ability for two way communication. A professionally developed risk management plan is accessed through printed and online manuals, notices and other desktop materials and training processes.

The research literature is largely silent on the ways in which effective communications can happen in the 'danger zone', when extreme weather conditions are either happening or threatening to happen. Concentration is primarily on the early stage identification, assessment and mitigation strategies. What is needed is a clear means to bring together up to date information from a variety of sources, combine this data in a manner than integrates with the risk management plan and then enables this information to be communicated, in a timely manner, to relevant stakeholder groups as required. Weather updates from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) need to be available to all stakeholder groups to enable them to make personal and corporate decisions. Internal and external management groups need to have access to information from multiple sources (input) and to be able to communicate messages detailing new information to hand, decisions made and actions needing to be taken (output). This information exchange enables the managing, controlling and balancing of risk exposure scenarios directly with each other in real time to avoid confusion and potential duplication. The public need to receive live information updates from BOM, so they can assess this on a personal risk basis, as well as 'massaged' updates from the Emergency Incident Control Centre (EICC) that collates action recommendations from Internal and External management stakeholders. An ideal system would necessitate a feedback loop that provides the Public with the ability to contact the Emergency Incident Control Centre (EICC) in cases of actual or perceived risk to self, others and property being encountered during the event. This feedback loop would enable resources to be better allocated and new or additional information to be placed within the decision-making system.

Given the wide variance in potential input expertise a user-friendly layered approach would be needed. For example volunteer workforces, at events such as Woodford, would require easily learnt and operated risk response tools that ensure the capacity of volunteers is not exceeded (Earl, Parker, Edwards & Capra, 2005). Indeed information flowing back from these volunteers could range from verbal to use of mobile smart phones to, for example, send photographs of a dangerous earth subsidence. How these varied communications are delivered, received, shared, analysed in relation to other information, responded to, and used in deciding on coordinated actions requires a sophisticated communications system which the authors suggest is best handled through cloud based solutions.
