The problem with SMS campus warning systems: An evaluation based on recipients’ spatial awareness

SMS warnings are critical to alert campus communities in case of emergency. But how effective are they in enabling users’ compliance with a warning? Our survey of a student sample shows a major flaw in the design of SMS warnings: they fail to provide their recipients with adequate spatial awareness; that, in turn, hinders their ability to counteract upon an active emergency. For example, recipients of a warning who are willing to comply with it may fail doing so because the SMS does not convey enough information to them. In particular, we discovered that recipients are often unable to identify the affected area sent in the SMS. That calls for a better understanding of how to design SMS warning systems which enable recipients of a warning message to unambiguously comprehend and act upon them.