FW-HTF-P: Transforming 911 dispatchers into Next-Generation 911 analysts: Sustainable innovation for training, workflow, and technology resources for NG911 emergency communications

Implementation of the Emergency-Services IP Network and Next-Generation 911 (NG911) infrastructure in the United States allows citizens to contact 911 dispatchers in Public-Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) using voice, text, and streaming video. Furthermore, PSAPs will be able to receive automated alerts and situational awareness information from IoT sensors in buildings, vehicles, and wearable devices.

However, this flood of data now goes to a workforce of 911 dispatchers trained as telephone and radio operators, not data analysts. While national policy goals for accessible, efficient, and resilient 911 service motivate the ongoing implementation of NG911 infrastructure and services, the operational challenge of processing the volume, velocity and variety of data communicated to PSAPs by citizens, sensors, and connected devices has yet to be solved.

In response, this project aims to help 5000+ U.S. PSAPs retrain a workforce of 911 dispatchers as NG911 analysts capable of making sense of multichannel, multimodal information. This project aligns with the objectives of the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program by creating government-industry-academic partnerships that can develop future workers and technologies capable of improving the accessibility, efficiency, and resilience of 911 service during future emergencies.

The project team is facilitating participatory design workshops with early-adopter PSAPs to co-design scenario-based training simulations that allow cross-functional teams including 911 dispatchers and NG911 analysts to develop expertise in distributed, multimodal sensemaking. Informed by integrated theories of sensemaking, the workshops are helping researchers and practitioners understand the domain-specific competencies NG911 analysts will require to notice cues in multimodal information and heed/encode external representations that support the work of 911 dispatchers and first responders.

The project team is using this knowledge to develop scenario-based training resources that extend sensemaking approaches to worker training developed in cognitive science and naturalistic decision-making. Additionally, the project team is facilitating workshops with government and industry stakeholders to co-design joint-action plans for sustaining practitioner-led innovation in the design of technologies supporting distributed, multimodal sensemaking.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.