Monday, October 08, 2007
R Txt Msgs the Best Way 2 Alert U?
Inside Higher Ed: "After the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech, the lesson many came away with was that e-mail alone won’t suffice to keep students informed about emergencies on campus. One solution widely regarded as both timely and technologically in sync with undergraduate habits was to use text messages to alert them to potential dangers."
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11 comments:
While the text message system of alerts is a good idea in principle, I'm not sure how well it's really working out. I was going to sign up until a classmate told me about how many messages she received at inconvenient hours for minor events. When the water to campus was broken earlier this semester, she got texts at 5 am that alerted her of something she'd known about for almost 12 hours. And she continued to get updates every few hours, even though the situation had barely changed. This system seems like more trouble than it's worth, especially if your cell phone carrier charges you for incoming messages. Better to keep it as one option among many.
The only problem I see with this is that people like me never either have a phone on them, or never answer phones. Another problem is that people get so used to messages being from friends that they wouldn't check their phone if a message did come in. I know that the best way to know that an alert has been sent at CMU is to listen for every phone in the room start ringing at once. My vote is yes, it is a good idea.
I think our system in place is great because it can send both text messages and voice messages. There are plenty of kids out there that don't have text capabilities and a system that utilizes those alone would alienate a great number of people.
As for what Varsenik said, I think that there should be some sort of prioritizing taking place there. Maybe if there were a minor alert, like the water situation, they could wait to send the text until a decent hour, but I would definitely want to know about a real emergency no matter the hour.
I personally think this is a great technological advance for campuses all over the world, but I specifically opted out. It may have been stupid to put my safety on the line but in the end I was right. After recent bomb threats, my friends in class got phone call after phone call of notices. I just rely on the fact that word woul dget around because most of the time I am around people any ways.
I think that adding the text message alert system is just one more way to attempt to help people know that there is an emergency (of some degree). If it doesn't work for someone, they can choose not to sign up for it, but for a lot of people it seems quite pratical. If nothing else it just puts the option out there, and the more ways community safety can be raised, the better. However, perhaps more strict guidelines should be used to define what is an "emergency." I feel as though there have been a lot of alerts received through the text system here at CMU for the number of not-crises there have been.
I can see both sides of this matter. Certainly the first problem that needs to be addressed, is what exactly to you classify as an emergency worthy of a message? The bomb threats we have had on campus, though all false alarms, needed to be alerted too, but in the case of the water main break? Not so much in my opinion. Simple flyers around the school can tell you that the water is not working...or the message on the my andrew page was more than enough. However, for the big emergencies, I would have to say a simple text message would be much more efficient than the recorded phone call they have been using...
I think the calling system currently in place here would be great if they changed it so that it would call more people simultaneously. There is a delay of at least twenty minutes, probably more, between the front of the list and the end. This coupled with a phone set for a different ringtone (possibly one that overrides silent settings, if your phone can do it) is probably the best solution. Most mainstream phones do not support different tones/vibrate patterns for texts.
Varying methods of communication are growing more and more common, allowing consumers to receive and send data by priority the best way they individually see fit. If text alerts work for you, fantastic. Personally, not a fan.
I think the idea is great, but it was quickly abused. i have heard from many of my friends that after our water incident they have mostly just stopped reading the texts. i think for it to be effective it needs to be a big emergency like a bomb threat or a shooting, not, "the water is back on."
it shouldn't be a "Boy who cried wolf" scenerio where one reacts the first few times but stops after it gets annoying. it needs to be reserved for important, urgent matters and emergencies.
there are two problems with this idea:
1. students don't want to be notified of every little thing that happens on campus. there should be one bulletin board where things can be posted (online of course) and if you want to know, you go get the information. too often colleges use mass communication to send their students endless amount of unneccessary crap, or worse, solicit advertisers who send us crap. THAT's why we switched to cell phones and our own personal email.
2. these text messages should only, ONLY, be used in case of emergency. that way, if you do get a text from CMU, you know that it's a MAJOR emergency. But really, if the emergency has to do with people on campus or the campus itself, there should be a better way for them to reach people than texting. What about, say, Amber Alerts, or something to that effect. Outdoor scrolling bulletins only used when there is an emergency? anybody? anybody?
I think that although text messages can most definitely be effective, they should never be used as the only means of communication. Whether or not declaring them as such would get all students to get on board the cell phone fiasco, that isn't the point. I don't think that students should need to sign up for a service in order to receive information that relates directly to their safety. Even more so, I think the more the better. Yes, when I got a phone call at 530 am telling me that, yes, I still was not allowed to drink the water, was really annoying in the moment, it might be worth that morning wake up in the event that someday there would be a more threatening situation. I think emails, phone calls, texts, flyers, anouncements on boards... you name it, whatever it takes to get the word out!
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