The role of information technologies in the integration and transfer of disaster knowledge

This study seeks to define the main factors and operational framework affecting the exchange of knowledge by means of modern information technologies within the disaster management community. Despite the considerable advances made in the field of natural hazard and disaster management, exchanges and interaction between members of the community have not yet reached a sufficient level to foster a symbiotic growth of the discipline. The advancements brought by information technologies like satellite communications, computer networks, and various decision support systems, may have changed this trend. The analysis of the diffusion and application of such technologies in a diverse sample of 96 disaster-management agencies (selected in the states of Alabama, California, and Massachusetts, and in the Italian regions of Campania, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Tuscany), confirmed the hypothesis that information technology can enhance the sharing of disaster knowledge, if attuned to the unique settings and professional culture of the local disaster-management community. Four basic factors appeared to be the key variables that affect the knowledge transfer process: (a) professional culture, (b) context, (c) technology, and (d) interaction