Virginia Tech: The Challenge of Instant Communication in a Crisis
<p>Wednesday, April 18, 2007
I have been percolating some ideas about how to better integrate technology into a crisis plan I am currently working on. My work with the Red Cross over the years has sharpened my senses and I do have some idea of how to successfully communicate during a crisis. However, this week's events at Virginia Tech have given me some further ideas.
I don't want to start getting clinical about this before I say that I am deeply moved by the tragedy this week. Having lived in Virginia for many years I feel close to the tragedy, and moreover, because we have a dear friend who is a professor in the engineering department in V-Tech. I heard from him Tuesday night and am grateful that both he and his freshman daughter are okay.
That expressed, there are many lessons to start learning, especially as we prepare for the unexpected and communicating to large groups in crisis.
There was a great <a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/0-0&fp=462693b442b2782f&ei=IHMmRqKHJMCGswHGq9S0Cw&url=http%3A//online.wsj.com/article/SB117685626072073360.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsj&cid=1115495034">story in the Wall Street Journal today</a> that (registration req.) discussed the use of disseminating information via texting in a crisis. I have pulled some of the information about services from that article.
My main takeaway from this event is the need for redundancy of communication. There need to be both high and low tech layers of communication to be most effective. First and foremost, an organization has to have a strategy to get in touch with all of the stakeholders and employees that need to be reached. A good start is a list of employee cell phones and home phone numbers that are ready to use in an emergency, as well as emergency contacts.
Having a <a href="http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2006/06/crisis-communication-bird-flu-and.html">crisis communication plan</a> is essential to get the most out of our communications, but here is an incomplete checklist of tactics to consider:
<b>High Tech Strategies</b></p>
<p><ul><li>Have a service set up to send instant text messaging (SMS), one such service is run by <a href="http://www.omnilert.com/notification_products.html#amerilert">Omnilert </a>and costs about $9,000 per year, another for schools is and opt in service run by <a href="http://www.mobilecampus.com/">Mobile Campus</a></li><li>Set up redundancy in the servers to handle any increased load</li><li>Set up and Instant Communication Platform, something my friend <a href="http://ike.pigott.name/occam/">Ike Pigott </a>calls the Situation Room. Running this on a blog platform is a really handy way to control the speed of getting the message out.</li><li>Immediate updates on the web page that could be pulled from a blog platform</li><li>E-mail blasts</li><li>Harness the culture of Facebook and MySpace and maintain profiles there for instant communication, especially in the aftermath of events</li><li>Make the online information you share easily viral so that it can be passed on via blogs and other social media without diluting the message</li><li>Use YouTube to distribute video responses to a wider audience</li></ul></p><p>which includes advertisements
<b>High Touch and Lower Tech</b></p>
<p><ul><li>Equip employees across the areas that might be affected in a Paul Revere-like system of notifications. Distribute pagers and give training for instant response in disseminating messages across wide geographic or spread out operations.</li><li>Consider a service to deliver mass phonecalls to cell and home numbers</li><li>Employ an audio warning system, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/18/scitech/pcanswer/main2697647.shtml">like the siren system installed at UT Austin</a> after the shootings there in 1966, or better yet, one with audio voice warnings, as by <a href="http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/collegiatetimes/footage.mov">this video</a> it seems they used at V-Tech</li><li>Have good relationships with bloggers and mainstream media to get messages out fast</li></ul></p><p>This is just a start of the list and it will be governed by the needs of an organization and budget. However, these kind of "incidents" could happen anywhere and we need to be prepared to meet the challenges. Do you have anything to add to the list?
posted by Kami Huyse at <a href="http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2007/04/ambulances.html">1:41 PM</a>
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Original Source: Communication Overtones
<a href="http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2007/04/ambulances.html">http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2007/04/ambulances.html</a>
This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License</a>.</p>
Kami Huyse
2007-06-19
Brent Jesiek
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License
eng
Caltech mourns VT tragedy
By Yang Yang
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Some found out when they checked the morning news, only to be greeted with horror; others learned about it when concerned parents began calling. The rest discovered the gruesome news when fellow students began discussing it.
By lunchtime Monday, every student at Caltech was well aware of the two shootings which left 33 dead that occurred earlier that day at Virginia Tech.
"I first found out about this when my friend began talking about it at lunch," junior Henna Kermani said. "At first I couldn't believe it."
For Ricketts RA Amy Eastwood, a Virginia native, the shootings struck a little closer to home.
"My initial reaction was shock. I kept checking back [and] the number of casualties kept increasing and increasing. It was so sad, an RA was killed. He was a triple major, member of the band, 4.0 kind of guy. Why?" she asked.
Inevitably, some began to wonder about whether such a massacre could happen at Caltech.
"Obviously, I imagined whether or not it could happen here," sophomore Cliff Chang said. "It's the same as the reaction to Columbine, [you wonder] if any of the other students you don't really talk to is thinking about [shooting everyone]."
To address potential concern, a campus-wide gathering was held on Tuesday. There, chief of security Gregg Henderson and director of counseling Kevin Austin addressed the handful of people who showed.
Security looks to expand immediate notification list
According to Henderson, Caltech is one of the safest schools in the U.S. The campus has rarely seen violence, much less deadly shootings. The last fatal incident on campus occurred in April 1994; no students were involved or harmed in the event.
The Institute has emergency response plans for shooter situations, but Henderson could not disclose any details.
Coincidentally, Caltech emergency dispatchers underwent training two weeks ago for emergency conditions such as a shooter on campus.
"We just went through training with our dispatchers on those exact things, gathering information, making sure proper notifications [are made] to agencies outside of Caltech that we may need to bring in," Henderson said.
New mass notification system being put in place
A major concern raised by the Virginia Tech shootings is timely notification of crimes in hopes of preventing more harm.
The Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990, better known as the Clery Act, mandates that universities "shall make timely reports to the campus community on crimes considered to be a threat to other students and employees ... that are reported to campus security or local law police agencies. Such reports shall be provided to students and employees in a manner that is timely and that will aid in the prevention of similar occurrences."
In the case of Virginia Tech, mass emails were sent to students two hours after the first shooting, some argue that time gap was too long.
Caltech recently began subscribing to a mass notification system called ConnectEd, which is capable of sending alerts through email, phone and text message.
However, currently the system only sends notifications to members of the crisis management committee, a "representation from across the campus, from student affairs to faculty, to counseling," according to Henderson. Members include Dean John Hall, Assistant VP of student affairs Erica O'Neal, and Assistant VP of Campus Life Tom Mannion.
There has been talk of adding the rest of Caltech to the ConnectEd system.
"We anticipate beginning to populate ConnectEd with the entire campus, students, faculty, and staff in the near future," Henderson said. "[To do so] we will need community members to submit the various methods that ConnectEd uses for communication, including e-mail, home and campus phones, cell phones, and text to us. More information about the system will be provided as we move forward with the project."
The best course of action when one suspects a shooter is to inform security, not trying to intervene, according to Henderson.
"We are a very secure campus, I can provide security," he said. "I can put people out there to patrol the grounds... [but] people need to communicate with us, if you have something that feels suspicious, [if] your initial reaction is [that] something's not right, call us immediately, let us come in and figure out what's going on."
Counseling center emphasizes help, not fear for mentally ill
Austin emphasized prevention at the campus gathering on Tuesday. By identifying troubled individuals and getting them counseling and professional help, he said, violent incidents with trouble individuals can be prevented.
Changes in one's behavior may highlight deeper issues.
"It's easiest [to notice change] when you already have a relationship with a person, because you have a baseline of what's normal for them," Austin said. "Perhaps the person stopped going to class, stopped going to dinner, they seem much more pessimistic, quieter, less responsive [and] less interested than what they used to be."
The counseling center regularly handles students, 20% of the undergraduate population has been seen by the center, according to Austin. Most go to just talk about their issues, but three to 10 students a year are hospitalized for their own safety.
People with mental illnesses are not predisposed to violence and should not be treated like threats, Austin strongly stressed. These individuals need care, not fear.
"If you look at the Virginia Tech shooter, he was a loner and had a mental illness," Austin said. "Those two things alone don't predispose people to violence... [Things which may cause violent tendencies] are extreme trauma: witnessing something horrific, being an object of abuse or [the person is] subjected to violence themselves."
To reach out to someone who may be having trouble, Austin recommended opening a friendly conversation. Rather than trying to evaluate the person's mindset, just describe the changes the person is undergoing and express concern about the shift in behavior. Although one might think it's meddling to do so, the conversation may help immensely.
"The strength of this place is that students look out for one another, they should continue to do so," he said. "But sometimes there is reluctance to draw attention to someone needing help, encourage them to take the next step."
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Original Source: <a href="http://tech.caltech.edu/TECH/04_19_2007/article1.html">The California Tech - April 19, 2007</a>
Yang Yang
2007-06-14
Sara Hood
Permissions:
Marissa Cevallos <tech@caltech.edu>
editor-in-chief, The California Daily
eng