Measuring the quality of humanitarian information products

Insights from the 2015 Nepal earthquake

Conference paper (2018)

Authors

Hossein Baharmand University of Agder
M. Comes System Engineering - TPM , University of Agder
Research Group
System Engineering (TPM) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2018 Hossein Baharmand, M. Comes
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77703-0_13
Framework Information quality 2015 Nepal earthquake Humanitarian response
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

Department

Multi Actor Systems

Research Group

System Engineering

Abstract

Information plays a critical role in humanitarian assistance. It has become a product that is shared for multiple purposes such as situational awareness, decision-making, coordination, reporting, and attracting funding. In the aftermath of sudden onset disasters, humanitarians are constrained with huge workload, time pressure, and uncertainties and thus, information products are often criticized with respect to quality issues. In this paper, we aim at developing an empirically grounded framework that can measure the quality of information products through accuracy, objectivity, completeness, and consistency. We validate the framework with the help of practitioners and apply it to the information products of UN WFP for the 2015 Nepal earthquake response. Our analysis shows that the quality of studied information products could be improved with respect to consistency, accuracy, and objectivity. We discuss the implications of our study and propose future research directions.