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Do Emergency Text Messaging Systems Put Students in More Danger?
Title: Do Emergency Text Messaging Systems Put Students in More Danger?
Date: 2008
Author: John Bambenek and Agnieszka Klus
Institution: EDUCAUSE Quarterly
Bibliographic Entry:
John Bambenek and Agnieszka Klus. “Do Emergency Text Messaging Systems Put Students in More Danger.” EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Volume 31, Number 3, 2008. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0833.pdf (Accessed December 16, 2008)
Electronic Link: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0833.pdf
Key Words: SMS text messaging, emergency messaging services
Summary of Key Points, Issues, Conclusions:
The featured article presents a series of argument by the author to answer the question: Can text messaging protect a campus population or do they put people at risk? The author argues that the use of SMS text messaging for emergency messaging services is inefficient and unsafe due to the following reasons:
- The use of SMS text messaging does not help during emergencies but only to supplement crowd control afterwards.
- SMS text messaging fall short of providing reliability, fast delivery, and controlled access
- The use of SMS text messaging for emergency services provides the opportunity for overuse and abuse.
- SMS text messaging would paralyze normal voice communication system.
- SMS text messaging may be used to manipulate a campus population for malicious messages from anywhere in the world
The author concludes with the statement, “The use of text messaging tools is woefully insufficient and dangerous for use in emergencies.”
Name of Researcher: Oludayo Olusanya
Institution: Integrative Center for Homeland Security, Texas A&M University
Date Posted: 01/08/2009