Emergency Notification
for a Mobile Community
EDUCAUSE Live!
May 3, 2007
Mark Katsouros ([email protected])
Telecommunication & Network Services
The University of Iowa
Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily represent the
opinions of any other entity.
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Recent Events
 Our hearts and prayers go out to our colleagues from Virginia Tech, and
to all the members of the Virginia Tech community affected by the
terrible tragedy there. The U. of Iowa particularly empathizes, having
had a similar incident occur on our campus in 1991 (Gang Lu).
 Please note that any observations or suggestions made during this talk
are not meant to "second guess" the handling of the Virginia Tech
tragedy in any way.
 At the same time, we know this tragic event has generated tremendous
interest within higher education, particularly when it comes to concrete
steps which campuses might be able to take to improve their own
readiness.
 One area which seems to particularly resonate at many sites is
emergency notification.
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Some Potential Notification Scenarios
Emergency
– Active Shooter
– Bomb Threats
– Severe Weather
– Hazmat
– Terrorist Attacks
Non-Emergency
– Class/Event/Meeting Cancellations
– Important Deadline Announcements
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Who Might be Notified
 All Members of the Campus Community in a Particular Part of
Campus, such as All People in a Particular Building or Quadrant
 Those with Responsibility for Particular Facilities or Buildings,
such as Building Managers or Resident Assistants in Residence
Halls
 Institutional Executive Leadership
 Emergency Response Teams
 Communications Staff
 Students/Employees who May be at Home or in Transit
(Sometimes you'd like folks who are currently off campus to
simply stay off campus until an incident has been resolved.)
 Parents, Spouses, and Others who May be Worried about
Family Members Going to School at the Site of an Incident
 Users with Special Needs / Disabilities
 Or Simply All Members of the Campus Community (and
Possibly Even the Entire City / Neighboring Communities)
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The (Potential) Challenges
 Communicating with Mobile, Diverse, and Multiple
Constituencies
 Communicating with so Many at Once, and Quickly
 Difficulty of Use / Lack of System Familiarity
(Especially During an Emergency)
 Establishing Policies/Procedures (Separate from the
Technology)
 Institutional Contact Database
 Media Overload/Reliability/Timeliness
 Message Delivery (Conciseness vs. Enough
Information)
 Costs
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The Spectrum of Solutions
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“Sirens”/Loudspeakers
Voice/Phone (Especially Cell Phones)
Text Messaging (SMS)
E-mail
Web
RSS Feeds
Pop-ups
Video/CATV
Instant Messaging
AM/FM Radio
Two-Way Radio
Emergency-/Weather-Band Radio
Fire Panel Alarms with Voice Enunciation
Public Address Systems (Including Mobile/Portable)
Digital Signage (Including Changeable Message Signs on Roads)
Word of Mouth (More Help in an Emergency Situation than One Might
Realize)
EDUCAUSE Live!
5/3/2007
Some Supplemental/Indirect/Convergent
Technologies That (Might) Help
VoIP
IP Video
Wireless
GPS
GIS Mapping
RFID
Text-to-Speech
TTY/TDD
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Why a Multi-Pronged Approach
is Probably Necessary
Potential Media Failures/Bottlenecks
Diversity of Individual Communication
Capabilities
Diversity of Individual Preferences
Diversity of Emergency Situations
Diversity of Contact Locations
Individual Disabilities
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The Different Models in the “Electronic
Message Pushing” Genre of Products
 Local
 Hosted
 Hybrid
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Advantages
Disadvantages
· Cost (Potentially)
· Total Control
· Single Point of Failure
· Capacity
· System Maintenance
· Access to System (Potentially)
· Huge Capacity
· No Local Equipment
· Access to System
· Cost (Potentially)
· Possible Data Security Issues
· All/Most of the Above
· All/Most of the Above
EDUCAUSE Live!
5/3/2007
How a Few of the Vendors Seem to Stack up
(Based on Individual Research/Trials)
 Reverse911 (Hybrid)
– GIS Mapping
– Extra/Contingent Calling Capacity via Hosted Part (Per-Call-Minute Pricing
Model)
– Single Point of Failure
 Automated Message Delivery System (Local)
– IP Video Messaging and SIP/“Presence” Support
– Potential Calling Capacity Issues
 Xtend’s Emergency Campus Notification (Local)
– NTSC Video Support
– Digital Signage Support
– Potential Calling Capacity Issues
 Connect-ED (Hosted)
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Excellent Calling Capacity (and Unlimited Calls Pricing Model)
Seemingly Most “Multi-Pronged”
API
SMS Support
Web Access
EDUCAUSE Live!
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Non-Emergency Uses of Those Solutions Supporting
Unlimited Calls (Cost-Recovery/-Sharing Opportunities)
Opt-in Special Event
Announcements/Reminders
Specific Class Announcements
Drop/Add Deadline Reminders
Bill Due Date Reminders
Athletics
Alumni
Other Student Clubs / Chat Groups
Etc.
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Current Trial at The U. of Iowa: Connect-ED
 Quickly Gotten off the Ground
 Data Imports from Enterprise Directory, so Same Self-Service Portal
Facilitates Maintained Contact Info
 Microcosm of Multi-Pronged Concept (Voice, E-mail, and SMS Support,
with More Apparently Coming)
 “Unlimited calls” model naturally supports continued testing and system
familiarity.
 “Unlimited groups” further add to flexibility of system.
 In the interest of time, considering going with such a hosted solution
immediately (1st year), then possibly an RFP.
 Policies still need to be developed/ratified, which is critical.
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Additional Resources
 ACUTA is compiling a collection/summary of its
members’ plans, to be posted on the ACUTA website
(http://www.acuta.org).
 Archives of [email protected]
(http://listserv.educause.edu/archives/cio.html)
 EDUCAUSE Business Continuity Management
Constituent Group (http://www.educause.edu/12480)
 EDUCAUSE Business Continuity Planning Resource
Page
(http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=
142)
 Internet2 Disaster Planning and Recovery Group
(http://security.internet2.edu/dr)
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Additional Resources (cont’d.)
 Joe St Sauver’s “Mass Real Time Emergency Notification”
Slides from I2 (http://www.uoregon.edu/~joe/notification)
 Lengthy Study Conducted in Florida
(http://ec.creol.ucf.edu/FinalReport_EmergComm.pdf)
 SUMMARY-Emergency Notification Systems.xls from
EDUCAUSE CIO Archive (http://listserv.educause.edu/cgibin/wa.exe?A3=ind0610&L=CIO&P=1881333&E=2&B=-------------070607060106030807070506&N=SUMMARYEmergency+Notification+Systems.xls&T=application%2Fv
nd.ms-excel)
 Presentation planned for upcoming Joint ICS/Wireless
Meeting at EDUCAUSE 2007
(http://educause.edu/ICSMeetings/12872).
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Acknowledgement
Some information was liberally
borrowed from Joe St Sauver’s “Mass
Real Time Emergency Notification”
Slides from I2, with his kind permission.
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Q&A
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