Understanding Failures of Emergency Warning Systems from a Representation Perspective: A Case Study from Germany

Effective emergency communication is crucial, as it increases a population’s attentiveness and ability to respond to emergencies in a timely manner. However, authorities have sometimes struggled with using emergency warning systems (EWS) effectively, leading to warnings that are late, inaccurate, or sometimes are never issued at all. This research investigates a national EWS from a representational theory perspective by means of a case study. From our analysis, we identified seven types of impediments that occur in different structures of the EWS and hinder its use. The analysis of these impediments resulted in a better understanding of the EWS and its structures and helps in diagnosing the causes of ineffective EWS use. Our study demonstrates that representational theory can guide the analysis of how users interact with the different levels of an EWS structure to identify impediments, the alleviation of which can lead to effective use.