Information and Knowledge Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5758 (Paper) ISSN 2224-896X (Online) Vol.6, No.2, 2016 40 Systematic Review of Information System Journals on the Use of Web 2.0 in Mass Emergencies Najeeb Abdulhamid Gambo Department of Computer Science, Brunel University London Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, London UK Abstract The study reviewed 32 literature from MIS Quarterly and European Journal of Information Systems on the use of web 2.0 in humanitarian emergencies. The exercise adopts Wolfswinkel, Furtmueller & Wilderom (2013); Webster & Watson, (2002) approach to systematic review where methods, themes, authors and the use of tools were studied, analysed and synthesized. The insight gained from the study reveals the availability of interoperability framework in EU and USA. Others are paucity of authors from the developing world, gaps in the use of ICT tools in the humanitarian situations as well as the overwhelming use of quantitative approach across the two journals. Findings from the review will help in identifying gaps and crafting research question. Keywords: ICT, Humanitarian Emergencies, Systematic Review, MIS Quarterly, European Journal of Information Systems 1. Introduction From USA to Australia, China to Japan, Haiti to Philippines, Kenya to Guinea, Liberia to Sierra Leone to Nigeria and lately Nepal the story is the same. Humankind had suffered from misfortune that comes in size, shapes and forms. This misfortune could be natural, other times manmade and in some circumstances the combination of both. From 2005 to date, disasters such as earthquake, flood, armed conflicts, disease outbreak and wildfires caused the loss of human lives and rendered countless victims homeless. In USA alone, hurricane Katrina, Rita and super storm sandy, destroyed over 440000 square miles impacting at least 24 states and affecting over 9 million people (Chou, Zahedi and Zhao, 2014). It is within the growing concern of IS community (Call for Paper 2013) on the role of ICT in complex social problems, this review is undertaken to help in identifying research gap. Against this backdrop, the following research questions is drawn with the view that it will help in guiding the review: (a) What form of ICT tools are mostly used by humanitarian agencies and why and how are they using them and in what ways are they aiding rapid response capacity and preparedness during emergency situations? (b) Do humanitarian organizations have policy frameworks on information sharing and interoperability and in what ways do they facilitate decision-making as well as a response, coordination and collaboration between first responders, stakeholders and the victims? The previous questions will help in refining the scope of this study (Wolfswinkel, Furtmueller and Wilderom, 2013) and can also be taken on the following detailed aspects: In what ways are these tools and frameworks similar to or different from the ones used in developed countries? How are these tools aiding humanitarian workers, volunteers and victims during an emergency situation? This paper is organised as follows: first it deals with steps for searching and identifying literature; second, the researcher analyses methods featured in both MIS Quarterly (MISQ) and European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS) literature; third, it features thematic review followed by general observations and discussions, and finally, the researcher summarises the insight derived from reviewing MISQ and EJIS articles. 2.0 Identification of Relevant Literature In order to have a sound and well-expounded review with a firm foundation for advancing knowledge (Webster and Watson, 2002), this study adopts to use scholarly peer-reviewed journals. For the purpose of this exercise, the emphasis is on two top IS journals namely MISQ and EJIS. Adopting Wolfswinkel, Furtmueller & Wilderom (2013) approach to the literature review, this study restricts itself to the use of electronic journals. The reviewer uses Business Source Premier and Palgrave McMillan databases for MISQ and EJIS respectively. The decision to limit the use of these online databases is premised on the repositories extensive collection coverage. The former have collections dated back to 1st March 1977 to date while the later has collection as per back as 1991. Then again, the reviewer adds two criteria for excluding articles from the two journals. The exclusion includes any journal article that is in a language other than English and search output that is incapable of retrieving the full article. For this study, the following keywords are used: ‘ICT’, ‘Twitter’, ‘OpenStreetMap’, ‘Facebook’, ‘YouTube’, and ‘Instagram’. Next, the reviewer encloses quotation marks on ‘social media’, ‘web 2.0’, ‘online social networks’, ‘digital media’, and ‘social network’. The enclosure is to enable the search engine to look for the