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Caller Needs and Reactions to 9-1-1 Video Calling for Emergencies

Published: 08 June 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Emergency services in North America have relied on the use of audio calls to the phone number, 9-1-1, since the late 1960s. In the coming years, 9-1-1 services will move to integrate media-rich calling capabilities such as video-based calling. We explore how video calling services should be designed through an interview study with people who have called 9-1-1 in the past. Our results show the potential for video calling to help people who are calling 9-1-1 describe their location to call takers, show the situation at hand, receive video-based instructions, and assist in cases with language barriers. Yet video calling raises issues around anonymity, consent, culture and gender-based biases, and camera work. 9-1-1 video calling is best thought of as a collaborative act where camera work is negotiated between callers and call takers where callers are willing to hand over control of the call if their privacy concerns can be met.

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Cited By

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  • (2024)Multimedia-Enabled 911: Exploring 911 Callers’ Experience of Call Taker Controlled Video Calling in Simulated EmergenciesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3643055(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
  • (2023)Protecting Video Streaming for Automatic Accident Notification in Smart CitiesResearch and Innovation Forum 202210.1007/978-3-031-19560-0_24(299-307)Online publication date: 15-Mar-2023
  • (2022)The Design and Evaluation of Emergency Call Taking User Interfaces for Next Generation 9-1-1Frontiers in Human Dynamics10.3389/fhumd.2022.6706474Online publication date: 16-Feb-2022
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    cover image ACM Conferences
    DIS '18: Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference
    June 2018
    1418 pages
    ISBN:9781450351980
    DOI:10.1145/3196709
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    Published: 08 June 2018

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    Author Tags

    1. callers
    2. emergency calling
    3. mobile video calling

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    DIS '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 107 of 487 submissions, 22%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 1,158 of 4,684 submissions, 25%

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    View all
    • (2024)Multimedia-Enabled 911: Exploring 911 Callers’ Experience of Call Taker Controlled Video Calling in Simulated EmergenciesProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3643055(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
    • (2023)Protecting Video Streaming for Automatic Accident Notification in Smart CitiesResearch and Innovation Forum 202210.1007/978-3-031-19560-0_24(299-307)Online publication date: 15-Mar-2023
    • (2022)The Design and Evaluation of Emergency Call Taking User Interfaces for Next Generation 9-1-1Frontiers in Human Dynamics10.3389/fhumd.2022.6706474Online publication date: 16-Feb-2022
    • (2022)RescueCASTR: Exploring Photos and Live Streaming to Support Contextual Awareness in the Wilderness Search and Rescue Command PostProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35129606:CSCW1(1-32)Online publication date: 7-Apr-2022
    • (2021)Everyday Emergencies: Challenges and Designs Involving 9-1-1 SystemsAdjunct Publication of the 23rd International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3447527.3474867(1-4)Online publication date: 27-Sep-2021
    • (2019)Sharing 9-1-1 Video Call Information between Dispatchers and Firefighters During Everyday EmergenciesProceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3322276.3322277(567-580)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2019
    • (2019)An Exploratory Study of the Use of Drones for Assisting Firefighters During Emergency SituationsProceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300502(1-14)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
    • (2018)Coordination Mechanisms for Self-Organized Work in an Emergency Communication CenterProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/32744682:CSCW(1-21)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2018

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