This paper, co-auhored by Tzuhao Chen, Ramon Gil-Garcia, Brian Burke and Derek Werthmuller is published in the ACM Proceeding series at https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3657054.3657108

Emergency communication is crucial in saving lives and avoiding property damage during natural or human-made disasters. Advancements in digital technologies have expanded the ability of emergency managers to reach citizens, particularly through the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system, which notifies citizens in a specific geographic area via their own mobile devices. There have been numerous studies from the perspective of citizens, but limited research has been conducted from the perspective of the message senders and focusing on the technology they use. This study aims to better understand the perspective of emergency managers by examining a case where a participatory design (PD) approach is utilized to create a digital tool that allows them to write messages more efficiently and effectively. We seek to understand the processes necessary to implement effective PD in a technology application used for emergency messaging and also investigate stakeholders’ needs and expectations, as well as the role of knowledge exchange during the design process.