Citation

Lundberg J, Törnqvist EK, Nadjm-Tehrani S. Disasters 2014; 38(4): 790-807.

Affiliation

Associate Professor, Department of Science and Technology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/disa.12076

PMID

25196337

Abstract

In presenting examples from the most extensive and demanding fire in modern Swedish history, this paper describes challenges facing hastily formed networks in exceptional situations. Two concepts that have been used in the analysis of the socio-technical systems that make up a response are conversation space and sensemaking. This paper argues that a framework designed to promote understanding of the sensemaking process must take into consideration the time and the location at which an individual is engaged in an event. In hastily formed networks, location is partly mediated through physical systems that form conversation spaces of players and their interaction practices. This paper identifies and discusses four challenges to the formation of shared conversation spaces. It is based on the case study of the 2006 Bodträskfors forest fire in Sweden and draws on the experiences of organised volunteers and firefighters who participated in a hastily formed network created to combat the fire.

Language: en