1. Reorganizing the Knowledge in Government Documents for Quick Response of Emergencies Dr. Lili RONG Associate Professor Institute of Systems Engineering Dalian University of Technology, China llrong@dlut.edu.cn

2. Contents  1. Background  2. Analysis of the emergency knowledge  3. Necessity of reorganizing knowledge  4. Approach to reorganizing knowledge  5. Integration of the reorganized knowledge  6. Implementation of the system  7. Conclusion

3. 1. Background  The emergencies happened become more frequent than before in the rapid developing world.  The 9.11 terror in 2001, the SARS in 2003 and the tsunami in 2004 are the typical emergencies.  Nowadays, the “emergency response” has become a hot topic in many fields.

4. 1. Background (cont’d)  Emergency may take place in any situation at any time, and is difficult to be forecasted by human beings.  Therefore, it is very important to make right decision quickly when we face any unexpected situations.  For controlling the emergency effectively, the decision makers need to know what to do, how to do, who does, where the resource is as soon as possible.

5. 1. Background (cont’d)  The knowledge usually is distributed in many files including laws and bylaws, rules and regulations, emergency plans, technical guides and so on.  Because these files are published by different governmental departments, the knowledge is not organized to be a solution for a certain emergency (problem-driven).  So it is difficult for decision-makers to make quick response when an emergency occurs.

6. 1. Background (cont’d)  To find and use emergency knowledge effectively is the main task for quick responses.  The objective of our research is to find a method for transforming the emergency knowledge from government documents to a solution for a certain emergency.

7. 2. Analysis of the Emergency Knowledge  A general quick response framework is built up after analyzing some emergencies, such as SARS, nuclear radiation, environment pollution, earthquake and so on.  Because the emergency response is problem-driven, the framework is structured by considering all aspects needed for solving the problem.

8. The general framework of emergency response n

9. The General Framework of Emergency Response  All the emergency problems should be solved by Commander Center and Functional Departments.  When an emergency problem occurs, the relevant departments should execute a series of tasks, using related manpower, plans, experts and material, etc.

10. Classification of the Emergency Knowledge  According to the general framework, emergency knowledge is classified into four kinds:  Event knowledge The situation of emergency problem, such as time, place and grade.  Subject knowledge The commander center and functional departments related to the emergency response.  Task knowledge Tasks and the relationships among the tasks.  Object knowledge The object of salvation in the task of departments.

11. Classification of the Task Knowledge  The task knowledge is classified into five types: Know-what, what about the task Know-when, the relationships among the tasks Know-who, who executes the task Know-how, the approach to the task Know-where, the resources of the task, such as experts, equipments, fund, government documents, and where they are.

12. Emergency Knowledge Event Knowledge Subject Knowledge Object Knowledge Task Knowledge Know-what Know-when Know-who Know-how Know-where Classification of the Emergency Knowledge (Cont’d)

13. Emergency Problem Commander Center Functional Departments What happened What have to do What the object is Which departments Event knowledge Know-what Object knowledge Subject knowledge What need to do When to do Who dose How to do Where the resource is Know-what Know-when Know-who Know-how Know-where Knowledge in the Framework

14. Event Knowledge Subject Knowledge Know-how Know-where Know-what Know-who Object Knowledge n Task Knowledge Know-when

15. 3. Necessity of Reorganizing Knowledge  The file-documents and the problem-documents The file-documents are original government documents carried the emergency knowledge, such as laws and bylaws, emergency plans, rules and regulations, technical guides and so on (not problem-driven). The problem-documents are reorganized emergency knowledge from file-documents as a solution for solving an emergency problem (problem-driven).

16. List of Some File-Documents about SARS TypeFile Name Laws and bylaws “ China Infectious Disease Prevention Law ” “ China Common Health Emergency Reactivity Bylaw ” “ SARS Management Method ” Emergency Plans “ China Common Health Emergency Reactivity Plan ” “ Liaoning Province SARS Emergency Reactivity Plan ” “ SARS Treatment Plan ” Rules and Regulations “ SARS Clinic Criterion ” “ SARS Treatment Rule ” “ SARS Patient Management Rules ” “ SARS Epidemic Situation Exploration Plan ” “ SARS medical protection Guide ” “ SARS health education rule ” “ SARS laboratory Safe operation guide ” “ countryside SARS Prevention Rule ” “ vehicle SARS Prevention Rule ”

17. Response Using File-Documents… Functional Departments File-Documents Emergency The knowle dge related to the Laws Bylaws Rules Guides … Problem A Commander Center Solving Delayed

18. Response Using Problem-Documents… Functional Departments Problem-Documents Emergency The knowle dge related to the Problem A A Commander Center Solutions A B C... Solving Quickly

19. Response Using File-Documents…  when a certain emergency problem A occurs, the decision-makers need the emergency knowledge about problem A.  The knowledge maybe exist in one or more file- documents.  The decision-makers have to extract and integrate the knowledge distributed in the file-documents onsite.  It will delay the procedure of emergency response.  Sometimes the emergency problem will not be solved effectively if the decision-makers can not find the knowledge in file-documents in time.

20. Response Using Problem Documents…  The problem-documents are the carrier of the organized knowledge based-on problems.  when a certain emergency problem A occurs, the decision-makers will find the problem-document A directly from the problem-documents.  In the problem-document A, the knowledge is related to problem A beforehand, and can be found directly.  It will speed up the procedure of decision-making.

21. 4. Approach to Reorganizing the Knowledge  We focus on how to form the problem-document A how to find the document A when the emergency problem A takes place.  We propose a method of reorganizing the knowledge in file-documents.  It consists of five steps.

22. Step1: Classify the subjects  The subjects related to the emergency response are classified into two types:  Commander center and functional department.

23. Step 2: Clarify the function of the Subjects  When an emergency problem occurs, the commander center will select the relevant functional department and assign relevant objects and tasks to them.  The functional departments will manage the relevant manpower, plans and other resources.

24. Step3: Determine the Knowledge Requirement of the Subjects  According to its function, the commander center needs the knowledge about: event, know-what, subject and object.  According to its function, the functional departments need five types of knowledge: know-what, know-when, know-who, know-how and know-where.

25. Step4: Create the relationships between the problem and the knowledge

26. Problem-Documents for Commander Center Problem-Documents for Functional Departments

27. Step 5: Identify the Knowledge Flow for the Emergency Problem Emergency Problem Commander Center Functional Departments Know- where Know-how Know- when Know-who Task Object Knowledge Subject Knowledge Event Knowledge Know-what

28. 5. Integration of the reorganized knowledge  The knowledge in the problem-documents can be expressed by either texts or graphs.  For emergency response, the knowledge should be extracted rapidly when situations happened.  As a systemic knowledge navigating tool, knowledge map (KM) uses the graph to express the knowledge that is usually carried by texts.  Knowledge map can provide people more comprehensive knowledge.

29. Using Three-Dimensional Knowledge Map  Knowledge map is very suitable to express the reorganized knowledge.  For dealing with the complex knowledge system mentioned previously, a traditional two-dimensional KM is not enough.  We therefore propose a three-dimensional knowledge map for emergency responses.  According to the different knowledge between the commander center and the functional departments, we build two types of knowledge map for them based-on the problem-documents.

30. The Structure of Knowledge Map for Commander Center wledge

31. The Structure of Knowledge Map for Functional Departments

32. 6. Implementation of the system  The developed system has been used by the departments in the emergency response to reorganize the emergency knowledge and create the knowledge map.  The departments can modify and make use of their knowledge according to their authorities.  Experimental Environment Structure: C/S DBMS: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Language: Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0

33. Interface for Commander Center

34. Interface for Functional Departments

36. Part of the Knowledge Map of SARS Commander Center

37. The Knowledge Map of SARS Functional Department (CDC)

38. The Node Dimension and the Relationship Dimension of the Knowledge Map of CDC Node Dimension Relationship Dimension Know-what Know-when

39. The Content Dimension of the Knowledge Map of CDC Know-who Know-how Know-where

40. 7. Conclusions  This paper presents a method of reorganizing the knowledge for emergency responses.  Using this method, the file-documents can be transformed to the problem-documents which are integrated by the knowledge map.  The knowledge for solving a certain emergency problem can be extracted from the knowledge map directly.  It is possible for decision makers to make right decisions quickly when an emergency occurs.  The method of knowledge reorganization and the framework of emergency response can be extended to various kinds of emergencies.