Comments on: E-mail is old fashioned—Finding new tools for crisis communication

By: lord visionz

lord visionz — Thu, 31 May 2007 06:23:10 +0000

if the emergency needs the students to be contacted in 0-5 mins then IM may be lacking a bit there…
text messages seem the perfect choice.. rit could have a database of all student’s cell phone numbers and an emergency message could be sent out as a broadcast message to all in the list..
or maybe have a pre recorded voice message play over by initiating a call to everyone … to make sure those who dont read text message are informed..

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:27:42 +0000

John, great ideas.

No one form of communication will ever be fool proof. That is why we need to have multiple channels with different strategies.

In terms of IM….Yes, we are talking with a vendor who could also provide this capability.

By: John Follaco

John Follaco — Tue, 15 May 2007 21:02:13 +0000

Bob, text messaging is still the best method I’ve heard. However, has much thought been given to utilizing an instant messaging device like AIM? What if we created an RIT Emergency News screen name, and posted away messages during times of “crisis” conveying emergency information? This could include snow cancellations.

There are some concerns, obviously. Who would operate it? What if the screen name accidentally got signed off (lost Internet connection) and some people missed the information?

It’s certainly not fool proof, but perhaps it’s worth a look. Students are constantly monitoring their buddy lists. This might be another opportunity to meet them on their “Main Street.”