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Ann Willis explained that her research proposal addresses the adoption of information technology (IT) by emergency response organizations, and is specifically focused on whether IT improved the ability to respond, and if its adoption caused changes to the organization's structure. The dissertation will follow what IT is being used at the Federal, state, and county levels; how it was introduced; and what happened in terms of organizational impacts after its introduction. A qualitative, case study approach will be used because the organizational context is critical. Concerns for validity and generalizability of the data collected will require cross-case studies and modeling.
The presentation described the investigator's plan for development of the dissertation, including: historical and real-time approaches to case selection; data selection using documents, contracts, and interviews; reparatory grid technique for understanding how employees thought about technology in an organization; development of the case study; and modeling techniques.
Claudia Garcia's and Alison Herring's research investigated the outcomes seen in the recovery of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, from a tornado that destroyed a significant portion of the community. It followed the forces behind community acceptance of sustainable development as introduced by Federal and state agencies following the disaster. These forces were studied at the micro-, meso-, exo- and macro levels.
At the micro-level, the investigators, with social service providers, sampled residents who represented a broad mix of classes, ethnic groups, and age ranges. The majority of the residents felt energy efficiency was an important value because it saved them money, which was then spent in the local economy.
At the meso-level, the researchers studied community organizations that were formed to guide the recovery - a commission and several committees. One of the things they looked at was the role of previous experience. Arkadelphia had, several years before the tornado, been faced with a 14% unemployment rate and had organized a task force to deal with the problem. Many of the same people who successfully worked on that problem also were leaders in the tornado recovery effort. The opportunity to transform the community was another object of the study, and the community had already achieved some level of consensus about creating a new downtown, increasing green spaces, and moving toward more owner-occupied single family homes, rather than mobile homes. Community orientation was a third area that interested the survey team. Arkadelphia has a high level of volunteerism, an extension of their religious faith that was directed through close networking between the various churches. The community's vision of the future, or deciding what to sustain, was reinforced by organizing within 10 days of the tornado and continuing the discussions for two months. Those who lead the community's recovery effort believed they would get Federal funding necessary to make the transformations they envisioned, yet these funds were never fully realized. They displayed a commitment to their ideals of greater owner-occupancy, with curbs, gutters, and front porches. HUD and the State of Arkansas provided funding for home equity buy downs (a loan of 30% of the value, which would not have to paid back if the family remained in that dwelling for seven years).
At the exo-level, the researchers found that the Federal relief agencies imparted significant influence on community leaders to adopt sustainable development concepts. At the macro-level, the mix of cultural beliefs, values, and political forces at work in Arkadelphia arrived at the solution of sustaining the community through smart building (energy efficient single family homes). However, an adverse effect occurred when the community decided to prohibit mobile homes, making affordable housing sparse for low-income families.
Jack Rozdilsky presented background information, the present situation, and a plan of action for his research on human adjustments to natural hazards on the island of Montserrat. This 39.5 square mile island, under British control, faces an annual hurricane threat and endured considerable destruction from the 1989 Hurricane Hugo (95% of homes were destroyed). Volcanic activity, occurring since 1995, has reduced the habitable land area to less than 12 square miles. Residents' sense of place and cultural identity remain significant forces pushing for re-development using sustainable strategies.
Seismic events in 1996 and 1997 produced lava flows, dumped hundreds of tons of ash, killed 19 persons, destroyed the capital city and business and transportation systems, prompted an evacuation, and effectively halted tourism. An evacuation effort was designed by the British government for 2,000 persons. It offered £2,400 to those wishing to relocate to England, but it met with resistance and was only accepted by 40 people. The Islanders' cultural identity and sense of place, feelings that the financial incentive was insufficient to afford a decent standard of living, and that their government's plan did not consider re-development of the safe zone served as barriers to the success of this effort. Since then, the British government has agreed to pursue redevelopment using sustainable development strategies, with geological data serving as one basis for those decisions. Rozdilsky plans to travel to the island as a visiting scientist and guest of the British Geological Society to evaluate natural and social science factors in order to then design the questions which will guide his further research.
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