Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps

91 Pages·2011·5.74 MB·English

by  Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, National Research Council, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, Committee on Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Current Knowledge and Research Gaps

Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
Committee on Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices:
Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
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Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
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Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
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Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
COMMITTEE ON PubLIC RESPONSE TO ALERTS
AND WARNINgS ON MObILE DEvICES: CuRRENT
KNOWLEDgE AND RESEARCH gAPS
ELLIS STANLEY, Dewberry LLC, Western Emergency Management
Services, Co-Chair
JEANNETTE N.R. SUTTON, University of Colorado at Colorado
Springs, Co-Chair
LOUISE COMFORT, University of Pittsburgh
JOHN HARRALD, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
RICHARD G. MUTH, State of Maryland Emergency Management
Agency
DAVID ROPEIK, Ropeik & Associates
JOHN H. SORENSEN, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Staff
JON EISENBERG, Director, Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board
VIRGINIA BACON TALATI, Associate Program Offcer
SHENAE BRADLEY, Senior Program Assistant
v
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
COMPuTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMuNICATIONS bOARD
ROBERT F. SPROULL, Sun Labs, Chair
PRITHVIRAJ BANERJEE, Hewlett Packard Company
STEVEN M. BELLOVIN, Columbia University
SEYMOUR E. GOODMAN, Georgia Institute of Technology
JOHN E. KELLY III, IBM Research
JON M. KLEINBERG, Cornell University
ROBERT KRAUT, Carnegie Mellon University
SUSAN LANDAU, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
PETER LEE, Microsoft Corporation
DAVID E. LIDDLE, US Venture Partners
WILLIAM H. PRESS, University of Texas, Austin
PRABHAKAR RAGHAVAN, Yahoo! Research
DAVID E. SHAW, D.E. Shaw Research
ALFRED Z. SPECTOR, Google, Inc.
JOHN A. SWAINSON, Silver Lake Partners
PETER SZOLOVITS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PETER J. WEINBERGER, Google, Inc.
ERNEST J. WILSON, University of Southern California
Staff
JON EISENBERG, Director
VIRGINIA BACON TALATI, Associate Program Offcer
SHENAE BRADLEY, Senior Program Assistant
RENEE HAWKINS, Financial and Administrative Manager
HERBERT S. LIN, Chief Scientist
EMILY ANN MEYER, Program Offcer
LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Senior Program Offcer
ERIC WHITAKER, Senior Program Assistant
ENITA A. WILLIAMS, Associate Program Offcer
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500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001, call (202) 334­2605,
or e­mail the CSTB at
Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
Preface
This report presents a summary of the Workshop on Public Response
to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Current Knowledge and
Research Gaps, held April 13 and 14, 2010, in Washington, D.C., under the
auspices of the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Committee on Public
Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Current Knowledge
and Research Gaps. The complete statement of task for the committee is
provided in Box P.1.
The workshop was structured to gather inputs and insights from social
science researchers, technologists, emergency management professionals,
and other experts knowledgeable about how the public responds to alerts
and warnings, focusing specifcally on how the public responds to mobile
alerting.
Although this document was prepared by the above­named commit­
tee on the basis of the workshop presentations and discussions, it does
not, in keeping with NRC guidelines for developing report summaries,
necessarily refect a consensus view of the committee. Additionally, these
summaries should not be taken as remarks made solely by the scheduled
session speakers, because the discussions included remarks offered by
others in attendance, and the summaries of the workshop sessions pro­
vided in the chapters of this report are a digest both of the presenta­
tions and of the subsequent discussion. In keeping with the workshop’s
purpose of exploring an emerging topic, this summary does not contain
fndings or recommendations.
vii
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
viii PREFACE
BOX P.1
Statement of Task
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Commercial Mobile Alert
Service (CMAS) program is intended to provide alerts and warnings to over
80% of the American population on mobile devices (cell phones and pagers).
An ad hoc committee will plan and conduct a public workshop to examine cur­
rent knowledge and research on how the public responds to alerts and warn­
ings with a specifc focus on mobile alerting, examine related work on mobile
and text messaging, and identify research gaps relevant to the CMAS program.
The workshop will feature invited presentations and discussion. An unedited
t ranscript of the event will be provided to DHS and placed in the project’s public
access fle. A workshop report will be issued.
This workshop report reveals (1) the extensive body of knowledge
regarding alerts and warnings and the public response and action before,
during, and after emergency situations; and (2) the many questions that
arise when considering how to apply this knowledge to the Commercial
Mobile Alert Service (CMAS), which is currently under development—
and more generally to the use of mobile and other new information and
communications technologies for alerts and warnings.
Chapter 1, which covers the frst two sessions of the workshop, pro­
vides a brief overview of the CMAS program and its objectives, as well
as background information on the alerting process and public response.
Chapters 2 through 5 provide integrated summaries of the session pre­
sentations and the discussion that followed, organized by topic. Chap­
ter 6 summarizes the research questions identifed during the breakout
sessions and subsequent plenary discussion. Appendix A presents the
workshop agenda, and speaker biosketches are provided in Appendix B.
Appendix C provides the biosketches of the committee and staff.
Ellis Stanley and Jeannette N.R. Sutton,
Co-Chairs
Committee on Public Response to
Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices:
Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Public Response to Alerts and Warnings on Mobile Devices: Summary of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps
Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen
for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with
procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review
Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid
and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its pub­
lished report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets
institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to
the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain
confdential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish
to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Robert Kraut, Carnegie Mellon University,
Leslie Luke, San Diego County Offce of Emergency Management,
Dennis Mileti, University of Colorado, Boulder,
Helena Mitchell, Georgia Institute of Technology,
George Percivall, Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.,
Ramesh Rao, University of California, San Diego, and
Michelle Wood, California State University, Fullerton.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many construc­
tive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the con­
tents, nor did they see the fnal draft of the report before its release. The
review of this report was overseen by David Mendonça, Rensselaer Poly­
technic Institute. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was
ix
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