People Talk in Stories. Responders Talk in Data: A Framework for Temporal Sensemaking in Time- and Safety-critical Work

Abstract

Global crowdsourcing teams who conduct humanitarian response use temporal narratives as a sensemaking device when time is a critical element of the data story. In dynamic situations in which the flow of online information is rapid, fluid, and disordered, the process of how distributed teams construct a temporal narrative is not well understood nor well supported by information and communication technologies (ICTs). Here, we examine an intense need for temporal sensemaking: time- and safety-critical information work during the 2017 Hurricane Maria crisis response in Puerto Rico. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews reveals how members of a global digital humanitarian group, The Standby Task Force (SBTF), use a process of triage, evaluation, negotiation, and synchronization to construct collective temporal narratives in their high-tempo, distributed information work. Informed by these empirical insights, we reflect on the design implications for cloud-based, collaborative ICTs used in time- and safety-critical remote work.