Location-Based Mobile Phone Service Utilisation for Emergency Management in Australia Anas Aloudat University of Wollongong
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2010 Location-based mobile phone service utilisation for emergency management in Australia Anas Aloudat University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Aloudat, Anas, Location-based mobile phone service utilisation for emergency management in Australia, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Information Systems and Technology, University of Wollongong, 2010. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/3321 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Location-Based Mobile Phone Service Utilisation for Emergency Management in Australia A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy From University of Wollongong By Anas Aloudat School of Information Systems and Technology Faculty of Informatics 2010 Author’s Certification I, Anas Aloudat, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy degree, in the School of Information Systems and Technology, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Anas Aloudat 8 December 2010 ii Dedication To the 173 people who lost their lives in the Black Saturday Victorian Bushfires in Australia on February 7, 2009. iii Abstract Mobile alerts, notifications and location-based emergency systems are now an established part of mobile government strategies in an increasing number of countries worldwide. In Australia the national emergency warning system was instituted after the tragic Victorian Bushfires of February 2009 to enable the provision of public information from the government to the citizen at the time of an emergency. But, moving on from the traditional short message service notification to a more advanced location-based service, this study is an investigation of the major issues faced by government, business and society at large, towards the realisation of a fully fledged national location-enabled emergency system for personal mobile devices in Australia. The investigation is carried out with the main stakeholders of location-based services in Australia through a self-administered mail survey with the general public, in conjunction with a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with key informants. The quantitative data is analysed mainly using the partial least squares method. The qualitative data is analysed using content analysis techniques. The findings show social acceptance of a national location-based mobile phone emergency service in Australia, in spite of general concerns about infringements in privacy. People acceptance of the service is largely driven by the trust placed in the government as the controller of the service, and in the service as an admissible useful means for managing emergencies. A number of barriers to the nationwide utilisation of the location-based mobile phone emergency service are identified and discussed, and a discourse of recommendations presented for the purpose of setting realistic objectives and expectations for the service in Australia. This study significantly contributes to the body of practical knowledge towards the development of more informed deployment and diffusion strategies for location-based emergency services in Australia. It also contributes to the scholarly literature offering new insights on the issues pertaining to the public offerings of location-based services in the domain of emergency management where comparable studies have been rather limited. In addition, the study contributes meaningfully to the current theories of acceptance by providing empirical evidence to retain the role of the attitude construct in the attitude-behaviour relationship, especially when studying the social acceptance of new electronic government applications and initiatives. Limitations of this research work and prospective directions for investigation are also presented. iv Acknowledgments “All the credit is due to Allah, The Lord of all the Worlds, and only the mistakes have been mine” Malik Al-Shabazz (Malcolm X) First and foremost, I would like to genuinely thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Katina Michael, who I can also say is now a friend, for her insightful support and gentle guidance which have always provided me with a clearer perspective on the issues that constitute real world research from the initial conceptualisation of the research problem to the very final moment of writing the thesis. I could not have wished for a more supportive, understanding, thorough and knowledgeable supervisor than Katina. I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Jun Yan, for his friendly support and for all the quality time he spent guiding me through the complications of this research. I have been so privileged to have Dr. M.G. Michael as a very close friend and mentor. Together with Katina, they have always been there for me throughout my candidature. Their confidence in me has kept me going through some of the most trying times in my life personally and in this research journey. I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to each respondent and interviewee who has participated in this research. Although their names shall remain anonymous, a special mention and deep debt of gratitude has to be given to each of you, since without your contribution none of the outcomes of this study would have been possible. I would like to thank the staff, at the School of Information Systems and Technology, the Faculty of Informatics, and at the library, at the University of Wollongong. You were all truly wonderful and supportive during my studies. I gratefully acknowledge the substantial support of the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects funding scheme, under project DP0881191, entitled “Location- Based Services for Emergency Management: Finding the Balance between Privacy and v Security”, a subproject of “Toward the Regulation of the Location-Based Services Industry: Influencing Australian Government Telecommunications Policy” grant, from the period of October 2008 till December 2009. The views expressed in the thesis are those of the author are not necessarily those of the Australian Research Council. I have been quite fortunate to have the support of special and dear friends from both Australia and Jordan, to whom all I am truly grateful. I would like to specifically mention Omar Alhujran and his family for their warm support towards me and my family during my years of study. I am deeply indebted to my loving parents, Zakiyah and Mustafa. Everything I am today are because of your countless sacrifices. You have been and continue to be my greatest inspiration. A debt of gratitude goes also to my siblings: Enas, Asal and Eyas. I thank my young children, Awj, Mustafa and Ameer, whose childhood play (albeit sometimes very very noisy) during my days of study were, and will always be, pleasant melodies to my ears. I am so very grateful to my wife Nebal. Without your love, patience, tenderness, warmth, understanding and support, taking care of our kids while giving me the time and chance to write yet another paragraph in the thesis, this dream would never have been realised. And finally, to the loving memory of my grandmother Hamdeh (1914-1991) — even after all these years, you are in my thoughts daily Grandma. I miss your face beaming unutterable tenderness upon me. I miss you so very much. vi List of publications Book chapters 1. Aloudat, A. & Michael, K. 2011, 'The Socio-Ethical Considerations Surrounding Government Mandated Location-Based Services during Emergencies: An Australian Case Study', in M. Quigley (ed.), ICT Ethics and Security in the 21st Century: New Developments and Applications, IGI Global, Hershey, Pennsylvania. Journal articles 1. Aloudat, A. & Michael, K. 2010, 'Toward the Regulation of Ubiquitous Mobile Government: A Case Study on Location-Based Emergency Services in Australia', Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 31-74. Refereed conferences 1. Aloudat, A. & Alzoubi, Y. 2010, ‘Rankings of Importance of Location-Based Services Utilisation for Emergency Management’, paper presented to the IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS2010), Wollongong, Australia, June 7-9, pp. 406-410. 2. Aloudat, A., Michael, K.& Abbas, R. 2009, 'Location-based services for emergency management: A multi-stakeholder perspective', paper presented to the Eighth International Conference on Mobile Business (ICMB2009), Dalian, P.R. China, June 27-28, pp. 143-148. 3. Abbas, R., Michael, K., Michael, M.G. & Aloudat, A. 2009, 'Case Studies of Commercial Location-based Service Offerings in Australia', paper presented to the Eighth International Conference on Mobile Business (ICMB2009), Dalian, P.R. China, June 27-28, pp. 188-195. 4. Al-khamayseh, S., Alhujran, O., Aloudat, A. & Lawrence, E. 2006, 'Intelligent M- Government: Application of Personalisation and Location Awareness Techniques', paper presented to the Second European mGovernment Conference, Brighton, UK, August 30-31 & September 1, pp. 1-10. Conference proceedings 1. Aloudat, A. & Michael, K. 2010, 'The Application of Location Based Services in National Emergency Warning Systems: SMS, Cell Broadcast Services and Beyond', in Proceedings of the National Security Science and Innovation, Australian Security