Universal design of ICT for emergency management: A systematic literature review and research agenda

Abstract

The primary objectives of this article are to give a systematic overview of the current state of the emerging research field of Universal Design of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Emergency Management, and to highlight high-impact research opportunities to ensure that the increasing introduction of ICT in Emergency Management can contribute to removing barriers instead of adding more barriers, in particular for the elderly and people with disabilities. A systematic review on various literature with respect to Universal Design, ICT and Emergency Management between 2008 to 2018 was employed in this study, and reviewed systematically using a predefined framework. The ultimate goal of this effort is to answer the following questions: 1) How strong is the coverage of research on Universal Design of ICT in Emergency Management in the different categories of Emergency Management ICT tools? 2) What potential next steps in research on Universal Design of ICT in Emergency Management have the highest potential impact in terms of improved Emergency Management and reduced Disaster Risk? We identify a set of gaps in the literature, indicating that there are some challenges where Universal Design is not so much taken into account in the technology development to support the different phases of the crisis management cycle. We also derive a research agenda based on areas that are missing in the literature, to serve a future research in the area of universal design and Emergency Management.