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Alert! Best Practices in Emergency Notification
Webinar sponsored by Rave Mobile Safety
June 20, 2012
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1986 – Jeanne Clery murdered at Lehigh University1990 – Clery Act becomes law2007 – Virginia Tech shootings2008 – Eastern Michigan Univ. fined - Laura Dickinson murder
Growing Public Concerns about Awareness of Campus Safety
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“It Can’t Happen Here” – or could it?
Feb. 16, 2010
Photo: Harry Scull Jr./The Buffalo News
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What did we learn?
1. Emergency alerting system worked well.
2. Social media moved faster than we could.
3. No one was harmed – but it was national news anyway.
4. It didn’t end when the police cars rolled away - there was a second-day story.
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How can we do a better job of notifying people during emergencies?
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Research Questions
1. What motivates students to enroll in an alert system?
2. Do students prefer text messaging or social media? Why?
3. Are there any meaningful differences based on demographics?
4. What influences students to obey the instructions we send?
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University at Buffalo survey
Surveyed 572 students (Fall 2010)• 53% female, 47% male• 65% U.S., 35%
international• 66% undergraduate,
34% graduate/ professional
• Wide variety of majors and class years
Focus groups (Fall 11)
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Knowing about alert system isn’t enough to drive sign-ups
Aware of system92%
8%
Subscribed 63%
Not sub-scribed 37%
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Reasons to enroll
Students say they enroll in order to• Feel safer• Be better prepared for
emergencies• Get a good value for the cost
Not because they’re afraid or believe themselves to be at risk!
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01/01/0904/04/0906/12/0908/18/0911/01/0901/11/1004/15/1006/20/1008/25/1011/24/1002/03/1105/03/1107/15/1109/19/1112/08/1103/02/120
50
100
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200
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300
Library “gunman” incident
Snow storm (closing)
Voluntary enrollments to campus alert system
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Alert sent
Alert sent
2011
University Communications: Subscriptions over 3 years
2009 2010
PromotionPromotion
01/01/0903/30/0906/05/0908/09/0910/17/0912/27/0903/24/1005/30/1008/01/1010/13/1001/02/1103/22/1106/05/1108/11/1110/14/1101/01/120
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150
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Promotion
Start of Academic Year
Start of Academic Year
Start of Academic Year
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UB Alert: subscriptions in 2011
01/01/1101/21/1102/13/1103/15/1104/15/1105/06/1105/27/1106/21/1107/12/1108/01/1108/21/1109/10/1110/01/1110/21/1111/15/1112/13/110
50
100
150
200
250
300
PromotionsPromotions
Alert sent
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What channels do students prefer?
We presented five scenarios and asked for each, would you want the alert to be delivered by text message or by social media (or both).
• Snowstorm• Shooting• Building problem (fire, gas leak)• Health issue (swine flu, water contamination)• Crime on campus (robbery, purse snatching)
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Text message Social media
85%
60%
Students want both channels, but tend to prefer text messaging
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Why do students choose social media?
Social media is preferred for:• Richer content (videos, photos,
etc.)• Interactive (ask questions, confirm
information, check on welfare of friends)
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Why do students prefer text messaging?
Text messaging is preferred for:• Trustworthy information
• Accurate• Relevant• Timely
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Does incident type affect channel choice?
Type of incident – and perceived risk - doesn’t affect choice.• Natural vs. man-made• Scope and impact (more or less critical)• Intentional or accidental
Implication: choose channels for what they can do – not what kind of incident you have
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Who influences student behavior?
“Regarding campus emergencies, I would care what ___________ think I should do.”
1. University officials2. My parents3. Other people who are important to me4. My professors5. My friends
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International studentsMore likely to prefer social media for
• Rich content• Ability to interact with a
community online
Perceive higher levels of risk from campus emergencies, for themselves and their friends
Are more concerned about what influential others expect
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Women vs. Men
Female students were more likely to:• Trust the information they receive
during a campus emergency.• Perceive higher levels of risk to
themselves or their friends.• Believe that signing up for the
emergency alert system will be beneficial.
• Are more concerned about what influential others expect them to do.
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Intention to comply with alerts
Subjective Norm
Safety Threat
Financial Threat
Information Trust
What influences students to comply?
Predicts Compliance
Does Not Predict
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Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEMA_-_32414_-_FEMA_press_conference_at_the_opening_of_a_disaster_recovery_center_in_Queens.jpg
What does it mean for practitioners?
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Improve your subscription rates
1. Sell the benefits
2. Use influential others
3. Take advantage of seasonal demand
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Offer multiple channels
1. Students want both kinds of channels• One to many• Many to many
2. They want different things from each• Authoritative information• Ability to verify – and check on each other
3. Improve students’ ability to receive messages• Inform them of the available channels.• Ask faculty to allow texts to be received in
class
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Demographics matter.• Cultural and gender norms matter in
emergency communications.• Tailoring by group is difficult – instead, use
multiple channels.
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Use the power of leaders to guide behaviorStudents rate “university officials” as the most
influential figures during emergencies.
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
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Driving Compliance
1. Establish compliance as the norm on your campus.• Help students see that others are
complying.• Ask faculty and staff to model the behavior.
2. Zealously guard the quality of your information.• People are more likely to comply if they
believe the message is credible, relevant and timely.
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Limitations
Additional research is needed- to confirm these insights - to explore them in greater detail- to learn more about compliance
Data was taken from only one university - - things might be different where you are
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Sources
Han, W., Ada, S., Sharman, R., Rao, H. R., and Brennan, J., “Critical Factors Affecting Compliance to Campus Alerts”, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2011), Shanghai, China, December 4-7, 2011.
Han, W., Ada, S., Sharman, R., Rao, H. R., and Brennan, J., “Critical Success Factors to Improve Compliance with Campus Emergency Notifications”, 17th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Detroit, Michigan, August, 2011
Ada, S., Rao, H., R., Sharman, R., “Online Social Networking Site (Sns) Use at the Campus Emergencies, International Conference on Inforamation Systems (ICIS), St. Louis, Dec. 2010.
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Questions?
Image source: http://alignment.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/class-size-doesnt-matter/