ABSTRACT
As we noted in Chapter 12, a significant challenge for multi-agency response arises from the need to share information among agencies. Whilst the challenge of sharing information is multi-dimensional, one commonly mooted solution is to use a common operating picture (COP) that is shared across agencies (Keuhlen et al. 2002; McNeese et al. 2006). The concept of a COP is similar to the blackboard architecture (Erman et al. 1980) in artificial intelligence; team members are able to post and retrieve information form a common repository to which they have equal access (Baber et al. 2013). In this way, everyone involved in an incident could view an up-to-date version of key information.
