Paper short abstract:

Our post-industrial societies are confronted with evolving crises. To learn from them and increase sociotechnical systems’ resilience, this paper assesses how crisis actors can build and appropriate a digital return of experience platform.

Paper long abstract:

In various high-risk industries (e.g. aviation industry, hospitals, nuclear research centers), post-crisis management frameworks (called return of experience- REX) have been institutionalized and standardized in an attempt to better anticipate and manage incidents, accidents, and disasters. These REX systems aim, in principle, at stimulating collective learning from previous events and enhancing sociotechnical resilience. Aware of the existence of such frameworks in industries, several Belgian crisis actors (e.g. actors from the police, fire and health services) have called for a REX framework suited to the Belgian crisis management context. But how can such a framework be implemented and “made to work”?

Leaning on risk assessment and STS literature and existing REX systems, this paper highlights a pervasive tendency within REX to analyze disasters from a top-down perspective, which may black box the crisis actors inputs and the incidents analysis. Taking a reverse approach, through a participatory design process (based on interviews, participatory observations and focus groups), this project invents a bottom-up REX platform with crisis actors (REX users) at the Belgian level. Once produced, returns of experience documents are diffused on this platform to prompt collective learning from previous crises and increase our sociotechnical system’s preparedness and resilience. Finally, building on the participatory design process, the present paper discusses stakes, potential advantages and pitfalls that such an engaging and shared platform entails.