Maximizing Trust in the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) Service

Woody, Carol; Ellison, Robert J.

doi:10.21236/ada609838

Cited by 10 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…To reach a wider audience, audible alerts and other information should be provided to all people using push technology (Woody and Ellison 2014;Chandler 2010;Rogers and Sorensen 1991). Push technology is technology that disseminates information to the public without requiring them to seek or search for it.…”

Section: Guidance On Outdoor Siren System Alerting For Those Under Immentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples of push technology includes outdoor siren systems, as well as public address announcements, NOAA weather radios, and wireless emergency alerts (WEAs). They goal here is to reach as wide an audience as possible, including vulnerable populations (e.g., non-English speakers) (Stokoe 2016;Woody and Ellison 2014;Donner, Rodriguez and Diaz 2012;Bruck and Thomas 2008).…”

Section: Guidance On Outdoor Siren System Alerting For Those Under Immentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to increase comprehension of the outdoor siren system, alert providers should accompany the siren tone with consistent, specific, and clear information both for people inside and outside the threat area (Woody and Ellison 2014;Kuligowski and Omori 2014;Dobbs and Fung 2009;Rogers 1985). Information can be provided to the public (to accompany outdoor siren systems) via a variety of channels, e.g., public address or announcement systems, radio/televisions, short-message services, Internet, WEAs, and NOAA Weather Radios.…”

Section: Guidance On Outdoor Siren System Alerting For Those Under Immentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• How can a community provide closure after an event? Should alert originators issue a final communication ("all clear" or "remain alert" notice); Note: An all-clear may be more useful for some types of disasters than others (Woody and Ellison 2014).…”

Section: Unanswered Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alerting under imminent threat: guidance on alerts issued by outdoor siren and short message alerting systems

Kuligowski¹,

Kimball²

2018

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s Technical Investigation of the 2011 Joplin, MO tornado identified that no widely accepted standards exist for emergency communications in tornado events and more specifically, policies involving the use of communication systems to alert the public in advance of tornadoes. This publication provides evidence-based guidance for communities on the creation and provision of public alerts, including both alerts provided by outdoor siren (warning) systems and "short messages" sent by social media or other short message service (SMS) platforms. It is the hope that this guidance can eventually be used as input for standardization, through codes and standards, of the procedures and practices for outdoor siren systems and short message alerts used by communities across the United States. Standardization of emergency communication policies and procedures could occur at multiple levels, including among multiple jurisdictions, state-wide, regionally, or even nationally.This document begins with a brief background on alerting systems, focusing specifically on outdoor siren systems and short message alerts. The next section presents the methods used for the development of evidence-based guidance on public alerts, including methods for review of literature on public response to public alerting systems, the development of preliminary guidance based on these reviews, and the finalization of the guidance presented here in this report. Then, guidance for communities on the creation and provision of public alerts for those under imminent threat is presented. This document ends with a discussion on unanswered questions, providing opportunities for further research into various areas of public alerting.

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Section: Guidance On Outdoor Siren System Alerting For Those Under Immentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Guidance On Outdoor Siren System Alerting For Those Under Immentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Guidance On Outdoor Siren System Alerting For Those Under Immentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Unanswered Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Alerting under imminent threat: guidance on alerts issued by outdoor siren and short message alerting systems

Kuligowski¹,

Kimball²

2018

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“…Research supports the inclusion of different languages for WEAs because of their ability to reach a broader audience (Woody andEllison 2014, Bennett 2015). The FCC disputes the suggestions that using a "'translate' button/link" is sufficient, since current automatic translation technologies can be inaccurate when translating emergency messages.…”

Section: Wireless Emergency Alerts (Weas)mentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of public response to short message alerts under imminent threat

Kuligowski¹,

Doermann²

2018

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)'s Technical Investigation of the 2011 Joplin, MO tornado identified that no widely accepted standards exist for emergency communications in tornado events and more specifically, policies involving the use of communication systems to alert the public in advance of tornadoes.This study is designed to develop evidence-based guidance for communities on the creation and provision of public alerts, including both alerts provided by outdoor siren (warning) systems and "short messages" sent by social media or other short message service (SMS) platforms. It is the hope that this guidance can eventually be used as input for standardization, through codes and standards, of the procedures and practices for outdoor siren systems and short message alerts used by communities across the United States. Standardization of emergency communication policies and procedures could occur at multiple levels, including among multiple jurisdictions, state-wide, regionally, or even nationally.This document focuses on short message alerts, specifically presenting a review of platforms, usage and public response. First, an overview is provided on the current status of short message alerts in the United States, i.e., the current short message technology available and the ways in which this technology is used in communities across the United States. Second, a review of the literature is presented on the ways in which people respond to short message alerts and the current limitations of these systems in light of these findings. This document concludes with a discussion on the key findings and recommendations from the literature on the ways in which to improve current short message alerts, based on the methods by which people receive and process these types of alerts. Following this work, a document will be developed to provide the overall evidence-based guidance for communities on the creation and provision of public alerts.

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From Social Science Research to Engineering Practice: Development of a Short Message Creation Tool for Wildfire Emergencies

2020

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During imminent threat emergencies, an authorities' ability to communicate with the public and provide them with timely and accurate information is imperative. Wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) sent via the integrated public alert and warning system are short message alerts that authorities can send to devices in specific geographical regions during times of imminent threat. These messages give authorities the ability to distribute important information in a timely manner to those who need it most. In September 2016, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to strengthen the WEA system, including increasing the character limit of WEAs from 90c. to 360c. for 4G LTE and newer devices. Implemented in December 2019, the additional 270c. provide authorities with an opportunity to share supplemental and clarifying information in WEA messages. Current research regarding best practices for creating short message alerts was reviewed and analyzed to develop evidence-based guidance, and in turn, create a tool that, with only fifteen user-prompts, can be used to rapidly create effective and informative wildfire evacuation messages of up to 360c. A message creator can use this tool by selecting or entering responses to each of the fifteen prompts. This article presents a bridge between social science research on short message alert effectiveness and the practical generation of messages during imminent threat emergencies. Future research is proposed to develop this tool for purposes other than evacuation, for hazards other than wildfires, and for systems other than WEA (e.g., mass notification systems).

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Maximizing Trust in the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) Service

Cited by 10 publications

References 1 publication

Alerting under imminent threat: guidance on alerts issued by outdoor siren and short message alerting systems

Alerting under imminent threat: guidance on alerts issued by outdoor siren and short message alerting systems

A review of public response to short message alerts under imminent threat

From Social Science Research to Engineering Practice: Development of a Short Message Creation Tool for Wildfire Emergencies

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