Communication During Bushfires, Towards a Serious Game for a Serious Matter

Abstract

Australia is frequently hit by bushfires. In 2009, the ''Black Saturday'' fires killed 173 people and burnt hectares of bush. As a result, a research commission was created to investigate, and concluded that several aspects could be improved, in particular better understanding of the population actual behaviour, and better communication with them. The authors argue that agent-based modelling and simulation is a great approach to provide tools to improve mutual understanding: let managers test communication strategies, and let residents understand the managers' perspective. Concretely, they extended an existing simulator with a theoretically-grounded communication model based in social sciences; they added user interactivity with the model and investigated gamification to turn it into a serious game to involve the general public. The authors present the results of first experiments with different communication strategies, providing valuable insight for better communication with the population during such events. Finally, they discuss future extensions and generalisation of this simulator.