A seminar presented in June 2012 for clients of Rave Mobile Safety. Provides research-based insights into how to effectively reach college students with campus emergency information.

1. Alert! Best Practices in
Emergency Notification
Webinar sponsored by
Rave Mobile Safety
June 20, 2012

2. Growing Public Concerns about
Awareness of Campus Safety
1986 – Jeanne Clery murdered at Lehigh University
1990 – Clery Act becomes law
2007 – Virginia Tech shootings
2008 – Eastern Michigan Univ. fined - Laura Dickinson
murder

3. “It Can’t Happen Here” – or could it?
Feb. 16, 2010
Photo: Harry Scull Jr./The Buffalo News

4. 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.

5. How can we do a better job of
notifying people during
emergencies?

6. 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?

7. 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)

8. Knowing about alert system isn’t
enough to drive sign-ups
8%
Not
subscribed
37%
Aware of system Subscribed
92% 63%

9. 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!

12. 250
50
150
0
200
300
100
01/01/09
01/19/09
02/13/09
03/19/09
04/11/09
04/29/09
05/17/09
06/05/09
06/25/09
07/13/09
07/31/09
08/18/09
09/05/09
09/23/09
10/17/09
11/07/09
11/29/09
12/17/09
01/05/10
02/16/10
03/06/10
03/24/10
04/15/10
05/03/10
05/21/10
06/08/10
06/26/10
incident
07/14/10
08/01/10
08/19/10
09/06/10
09/29/10
11/02/10
Voluntary enrollments to campus alert system
Library “gunman”
11/24/10
12/12/10
01/02/11
01/20/11
02/09/11
03/03/11
04/06/11
04/26/11
05/16/11
06/05/11
06/27/11
07/15/11
08/02/11
08/20/11
09/07/11
09/26/11
(closing)
10/14/11
Snow storm
11/03/11
11/30/11
12/21/11
01/11/12
02/04/12
03/02/12

13. 250
150
0
50
200
300
100
01/01/09
01/19/09
02/13/09
03/19/09
04/11/09
04/29/09
05/17/09
n
06/05/09
06/25/09
Promotio
07/13/09
07/31/09
Year
2009
08/18/09
Start of
09/05/09
Academic
09/23/09
10/17/09
11/07/09
11/29/09
12/17/09
01/05/10
02/16/10
03/06/10
03/24/10
04/15/10
05/03/10
n
05/21/10
06/08/10
Promotio
06/26/10
07/14/10
Year
08/01/10
2010
Start of
08/19/10
Academic
09/06/10
Alert sent
09/29/10
11/02/10
11/24/10
12/12/10
01/02/11
01/20/11
02/09/11
03/03/11
University Communications: Subscriptions over 3 years 04/06/11
04/26/11
n
05/16/11
06/05/11
06/27/11
Promotio
07/15/11
08/02/11
Year
08/20/11
Start of
09/07/11
Academic
09/26/11
10/14/11
11/03/11
11/30/11
12/21/11
2011 Alert sent
01/11/12
02/04/12
03/02/12

14. 250
0
150
50
200
300
100
01/01/11
01/07/11
01/13/11
01/19/11
01/25/11
02/02/11
02/08/11
02/15/11
02/21/11
03/02/11
03/15/11
03/28/11
04/05/11
04/13/11
04/19/11
04/25/11
05/02/11
05/09/11
05/15/11
05/21/11
UB Alert: subscriptions in 2011
05/27/11
06/04/11
06/12/11
06/19/11
06/26/11
07/02/11
s
07/08/11
07/14/11
07/20/11
Promotion
07/26/11
08/01/11
08/07/11
08/13/11
08/19/11
08/25/11
08/31/11
09/06/11
09/12/11
09/18/11
Alert sent
09/25/11
10/01/11
10/07/11
10/13/11
10/19/11
s
10/25/11
11/01/11
11/10/11
Promotion
11/18/11
11/29/11
12/07/11
12/13/11
12/20/11
12/28/11

15. 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)

16. 85% Students want both channels,
but tend to prefer text
messaging
60%
Text message Social media

17. 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)

18. Why do students prefer text
messaging?
Text messaging is preferred for:
• Trustworthy information
• Accurate
• Relevant
• Timely

19. 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

20. Who influences student behavior?
“Regarding campus emergencies, I would care what
___________ think I should do.”
1. University officials
2. My parents
3. Other people who are important to me
4. My professors
5. My friends

21. International students
More 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

22. 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.

23. What influences students to comply?
Subjective
Norm
Safety
Threat Intention to
comply with
alerts
Financial
Threat
Information
Trust
Predicts Does Not
Compliance Predict

24. What does it mean for practitioners?
Image source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEMA_-_32414_-
_FEMA_press_conference_at_the_opening_of_a_disaster_recovery_center_in_Queens.jpg

25. Improve your subscription rates
1. Sell the benefits
2. Use influential others
3. Take advantage of seasonal demand

26. 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

27. Demographics matter.
• Cultural and gender norms matter in emergency
communications.
• Tailoring by group is difficult – instead, use multiple
channels.

28. Use the power of leaders
to guide behavior
Students rate “university officials” as the most
influential figures during emergencies.
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

29. 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.

30. 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

31. 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.

32. Questions?
Image source: http://alignment.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/class-size-doesnt-matter/