A rapid, information-centric, development (RAPID) framework to construct multi-lingual textual communication systems in support of disaster relief operations

Multinational humanitarian support operations are crucial as the international community continues to react in response to natural disasters worldwide. The purpose of this research was to develop and study a process to facilitate the rapid construction of textual communication systems across a natural language barrier, in support of disaster relief operations.; With over six thousand known, living languages on earth, it seems unlikely in the near future that a complete set of translation systems will be available to support multi-lingual networks and organizations that deploy throughout the world in response to natural and man-made disasters. What is required is a conceptual framework to rapidly construct these multi-lingual textual communication systems for minority languages, which will facilitate the transfer of information and knowledge between disaster survivors and relief workers.; This research studies, outlines, and demonstrates the benefits of such a conceptual framework to address these challenges in computer supported written communications for multi-lingual applications. This rapid, information-centric, development (RAPID) framework is a five phase process. First, an on-line communication path is determined and established. Second, domain goals and key information requests are identified. Third, a multi-language model is developed to facilitate the transfer of information and knowledge. Fourth, language resource packages are developed to populate the model. The fifth and final phase is system integration.; This research primarily demonstrates how this new, holistic, information-centric approach can be utilized to rapidly construct machine translation applications, facilitating the gathering of timely and accurate information for disaster response operations given only a human translator as a resource into the target language.; German and Thai language laboratory studies followed by a Lahu language field study in Northern Thailand suggest that application development under the RAPID framework supports the actual timelines associated with rapid disaster response worldwide. This framework has the demonstrated capability to facilitate the gathering of accurate information for the initial assessment of survivors' needs, and can have real-word, pragmatic benefits in underdeveloped regions.