Mobile Pictographs for Disaster Communication
HIF-funded research project on pictograph use for disaster communication with linguistically challenged populations.
I used to work at University of Bremen until 2015 where I was manager of the Capacity Lab. Since 2015 I am working with the Sahana Software Foundation.
HIF-funded research project on pictograph use for disaster communication with linguistically challenged populations.
All-Hazard all-Media warning platform based on Sahana Eden.
A disaster alerting reporting system for smartphones and web, designed for developing countries.
A mobile crowdsourcing application for easy collection of geographic data.
Waidyanatha, Nuwan; Frommberger, Lutz
Comprehension and Appropriateness of Complex Mobile Pictographs for Crisis Communication Journal Article
In: Natural Hazards, 2022.
@article{2022-pictographs-nhaz,
title = {Comprehension and Appropriateness of Complex Mobile Pictographs for Crisis Communication},
author = {Nuwan Waidyanatha and Lutz Frommberger},
url = {https://rdcu.be/cPbfd},
doi = {10.1007/s11069-022-05402-y},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-06-08},
urldate = {2022-09-01},
journal = {Natural Hazards},
abstract = {In crisis situations, illiterates and people with other linguistic challenges are unable to understand text messages to inform or be informed of a situation. Pictographic interfaces have been proposed as a solution for empowering these marginalized and vulnerable populations, including elderly, people with disabilities, and foreigners. In this paper, we follow up on previous work and investigate the comprehensibility and appropriateness of prototypical complex alerting and reporting pictographs. We present results of a field study with illiterate people in Sri Lanka and the Philippines. We show that complex representations can very well be understood with respect to incident and severity, especially if context objects are shown. Additionally, we identify several aspects where further research is needed. We discuss the findings and propose further steps towards designing pictograph-based communication, especially on mobile devices.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Frommberger, Lutz; Waidyanatha, Nuwan
Pictographs in Disaster Communication for Linguistically Challenged and Illiterate Populations Journal Article
In: International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (IJISCRAM) , vol. 9, no. 2, 2017.
@article{frommberger-pictographs-survey18,
title = {Pictographs in Disaster Communication for Linguistically Challenged and Illiterate Populations},
author = {Lutz Frommberger and Nuwan Waidyanatha},
editor = {Silvera, Bañuls},
url = {https://www.igi-global.com/article/pictographs-in-disaster-communication-for-linguistically-challenged-and-illiterate-populations/201924},
doi = {10.4018/IJISCRAM.2017040103},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-12-31},
journal = {International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (IJISCRAM) },
volume = {9},
number = {2},
abstract = {This article describes how pictographs (or pictograms) can be an important means to communicate information about natural disasters to people that are lacking the capability to understand written text. This does not only include illiterates, but also foreigners not speaking the local language. While it is widely accepted that pictograph-based communication can play a major role, there is no established workflow to include this kind of symbols in early warning or disaster reporting practice. This article investigates the topic of pictograph-based communication systems, especially in the field of natural disasters, with a focus on the use of linguistically challenged populations. The authors analyze existing literature, take a look at existing pictograph resources, analyze a first field study with marginalized populations and derive conclusions for a design process for pictograph-based disaster communication systems.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Waidyanatha, Nuwan; Bhandari, Biplov; Frommberger, Lutz
Communication Policy Research South (CPRsouth2017), 2017.
@conference{waidyanatha-CPRSouth2017,
title = {Usability and Acceptability of the Sahana Situational-Awareness Platform in Myanmar, Maldives, and the Philippines},
author = {Nuwan Waidyanatha and Biplov Bhandari and Lutz Frommberger},
url = {https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3058620},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-09-01},
booktitle = {Communication Policy Research South (CPRsouth2017)},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}