Alert system hopes for more numbers
Published Dec. 4, 2007
A system designed to alert UM system students, faculty and staff of emergencies is fully operational, but registration for the new alerts is progressing slowly, Information Technology Director Terry Robb said.
The system can alert users of an emergency through phone calls and text messages, but only 12.2 percent of students have updated their cell phone numbers, according to Division of Information Technology reports. Only 1.95 percent of students have registered for text messages alerts.
"Obviously, we're going to have to do a lot more advertising, working with the student groups and such to get those numbers up," Robb said.
He said the Division of IT hopes to increase cooperation with the Missouri Students Association and the Residence Halls Association by attending those organizations' meetings to promote the system. He said they also hoped to inform students through Summer Welcome and mass e-mails in October and April.
Robb said the university already has access to all student, staff and faculty e-mail addresses, another option for delivery of the alerts. The university can also contact staff and faculty through their business phone numbers.
So far, 11.4 percent of faculty and staff have updated their cell phone numbers and 5.48 percent have registered for text message alerts, according to the reports.
He said that because landlines are no longer available in residence halls, only e-mail addresses are available for students who haven't updated their contact information.
Chris Koukola, an assistant to the chancellor for University Affairs, said promoting the system is an ongoing process.
"I think it will be important for us to do reminders every semester," she said. "This is going to be an ongoing process that we'll be doing always, forever."
She said she would consider holding focus groups with students to determine why many students aren't signing up for the alerts.
"We used our traditional means of reaching the campus," she said. "Now we need to try something else."
Robb said the system is being tested, but it could be activated in case of an emergency.
"If we had to use it today, we could," he said.
Robb said there are no plans to conduct a campus or system-wide test.
"We're just going to sample test," he said.
Robb said the Division of IT conducted a test Monday. He said tests would be planned for the administrators who would activate the system, building coordinators and residence hall coordinators.
He said the UM-Rolla campus tested the alert system last week and UM-Kansas City officials are deciding how to test the system there.
Students can register their phone numbers or other contact info through the online myZou student information application.
The university mounted a campaign to promote the new system and encourage students to update their contact information through posters on campus and advertisements in local publications and Web sites.
MU is also exploring other emergency notification systems. On Nov. 20, during the Thanksgiving recess, a Columbia-based company tested its e-Fob emergency system on the MU campus.
The system broadcasts a signal to an emergency alert keychain that can alert its carrier of an emergency and give instructions. The system can also broadcast to televisions and other displays.
"It's an interesting system, and it can probably be used very well as a supplement to the system we have now," Robb said.
According to an MU news release, university officials used the test to evaluate the technology's potential for use on campus.
