An Integrated Multimodal Framework for Measuring Physical Team Processes During State Emergency Operations Center Activation

An emergency operations center (EOC) is the central hub of activity during a coordinated disaster response. The layout of an EOC must be intuitive, conducive to communication, and free of distractions. We use a mix of objective and subjective measures to inform layout decisions that aid interagency coordination, build effective transactive memory systems, and create resilient teams. We observed an annual drill at an EOC involving 65 individuals. Subjective responses indicate that the physical arrangement of the EOC may be of little importance, given participants’ willingness to move. Audio analysis reveals high degrees of centrality, despite uneven speaking shares, suggesting all speakers within EOC subgroups contribute to group-work. Video analysis exhibits strong temporal consistency, though future work is needed to improve detection confidence. Results demonstrate the plausibility of deploying multimodal methodologies to an EOC, as we find moderate success with video-based metrics and sensitivity to intra-team dynamics with audio recordings.