Applying the lessons of the attack on the world trade center, 11th September 2001, to the design and use of interactive evacuati

The collapse of buildings, such as terminal 2E at Paris' Charles de Gaule Airport, and of fires, such as the Rhode Island, Station Night Club tragedy, has focused public attention on the safety of large public buildings. Initiatives in the United States and in Europe have led to the development of interactive simulators that model evacuation from these buildings. The tools avoid some of the ethical and legal problems from simulating evacuations; many people were injured during the 1993 evacuation of the World Trade Center (WTC) complex. They also use many concepts that originate within the CHI communities. For instance, some simulators use simple task models to represent the occupants' goal structures as they search for an available exit. However, the recent release of the report from the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (the `9/11 commission') has posed serious questions about the design and use of this particular class of interactive sys...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: CHI
• Authors: C. W. Johnson
• Keywords: ACM Classification Keywords, CHI 2005, CHI Communities, Human Computer Interaction, Large Public Buildings