Communicating with College Students in Emergencies 062012

Alert! Best Practices in Emergency Notification

Webinar sponsored by Rave Mobile Safety

June 20, 2012

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

“It Can’t Happen Here” – or could it?

Feb. 16, 2010

Photo: Harry Scull Jr./The Buffalo News

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.

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

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?

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)

Knowing about alert system isn’t enough to drive sign-ups

Aware of system92%

8%

Subscribed 63%

Not sub-scribed 37%

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!

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

150

200

250

300

Library “gunman” incident

Snow storm (closing)

Voluntary enrollments to campus alert system

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

50

100

150

200

250

300

Promotion

Start of Academic Year

Start of Academic Year

Start of Academic Year

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

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)

Text message Social media

85%

60%

Students want both channels, but tend to prefer text messaging

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)

Why do students prefer text messaging?

Text messaging is preferred for:• Trustworthy information

• Accurate• Relevant• Timely

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

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

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

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.

Intention to comply with alerts

Subjective Norm

Safety Threat

Financial Threat

Information Trust

What influences students to comply?

Predicts Compliance

Does Not Predict

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?

Improve your subscription rates

1. Sell the benefits

2. Use influential others

3. Take advantage of seasonal demand

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

Demographics matter.• Cultural and gender norms matter in

emergency communications.• Tailoring by group is difficult – instead, use

multiple channels.

Use the power of leaders to guide behaviorStudents rate “university officials” as the most

influential figures during emergencies.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

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.

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

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.

Questions?

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