The sad events today at Virginia Tech should cause more university administrators to examine systems like Mobile Campus. I discussed this system on April 11, and noted that University of Florida officials use this system to tell students and staff about campus closings.
A text messaging system pushes information to subscribed users. The state of Hawaii is considering a similar system to send text messages to citizens about tsunamis, earthquakes, and traffic jams.
CNN quoted several students who said they were unaware of what was happening until they saw armed police officers in their classroom building. Some students and staff learned about the shootings when they checked the university web site. As we learned on October 15, timely official information can keep people from reacting to rumors.
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