connectivIT (connectivity) is Professor Leysia Palen's research group at the University of Colorado, Boulder. We are interested in how information technology connects people with each other and with the information they seek. We research and design socio-technical systems in/for a variety of contexts, with a focus on information technology in disaster and crisis situations. Our work is highly cross-disciplinary, and we have skills in technology design, social theory, and empirical research.
Crisis Informatics describes the lab's primary focus. We believe that the area of crisis informatics should take an integrated perspective on the technical, social and informational aspects of crisis. We situate our research activities within the context of the full disaster lifecycle—preparation, warning, impact, response and recovery. The "information arena" of disaster varies by the spatial, temporal and subsequent social arrangements of the hazard upon a built environment (see Palen & Liu, 2007, below). Such arrangements have distinct implications for technology implementation and deployment. Additionally, the extended social arena of disaster response is widening in the presence of pervasive information technology, and has significant consequences on emergency management practice, structures, and policy.