Abstract
In a relatively new initiative, homeland security and other emergency management officials use wireless cell technology to communicate Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) messages to an increasingly mobile public. Severe weather warnings represent one type of WEA message that the public can receive on their cell phone. So far, officials have limited WEA messages to 90 characters of text and therefore have excluded information-rich weather graphics like warning polygons and radar images. The question remains if this lean messaging strategy effectively communicates the risk and severity of the storm. In the current study, the researchers created prototype WEA tornado warning messages equivalent to both popular mobile weather apps on the market and the National Weather Service’s iNWS service to compare to typical WEA text-only warnings. The study therefore investigates WEA weather warning message effectiveness across one of four conditions: (1) WEA (text-only) alert; (2) WEA text+NWS warning polygon; (3) WEA text+radar image; and (4) WEA text+warning polygon+radar image. Participants were told they were driving through an unknown region of the US. The researchers asked participants to assess the perceived risk, perceived severity, and likelihood to contact a loved one for each message. The results indicate the decisions did not differ as a function of warning type. Also, the participants’ times to make the three decisions were equivalent across all four types of messages.
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©2016 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Retraction
- Publisher Retraction of: Transforming the UK Home Office into a Department for Homeland Security: Reflecting on an Interview with a Litigant Defending Against Online Retaliatory Feedback in the US
- Research Articles
- Deliberative Risk Ranking to Inform Homeland Security Strategic Planning
- Population as a Proxy for Infrastructure in the Determination of Event Response and Recovery Resource Allocations
- Opportunities and Constraints to Rural HAZMAT Risk Reduction
- Cyber Defense as a part of Hazard Mitigation: Comparing High Hazard Potential Dam Safety Programs in the United States and Sweden
- Assessing Risk Following a Wireless Emergency Alert: Are 90 Characters Enough?
- Changes in Self-Reported Household Preparedness Levels among a Rural Population after Exposure to Emergency Preparedness Campaign Materials
- The Self-Organization of Digital Volunteers across Social Media: The Case of the 2013 European Floods in Germany
- Fire Department Turnout Times: A Contextual Analysis
- ‘Set Adrift’: Fatalism as Organizational Culture at Canadian Seaports
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Retraction
- Publisher Retraction of: Transforming the UK Home Office into a Department for Homeland Security: Reflecting on an Interview with a Litigant Defending Against Online Retaliatory Feedback in the US
- Research Articles
- Deliberative Risk Ranking to Inform Homeland Security Strategic Planning
- Population as a Proxy for Infrastructure in the Determination of Event Response and Recovery Resource Allocations
- Opportunities and Constraints to Rural HAZMAT Risk Reduction
- Cyber Defense as a part of Hazard Mitigation: Comparing High Hazard Potential Dam Safety Programs in the United States and Sweden
- Assessing Risk Following a Wireless Emergency Alert: Are 90 Characters Enough?
- Changes in Self-Reported Household Preparedness Levels among a Rural Population after Exposure to Emergency Preparedness Campaign Materials
- The Self-Organization of Digital Volunteers across Social Media: The Case of the 2013 European Floods in Germany
- Fire Department Turnout Times: A Contextual Analysis
- ‘Set Adrift’: Fatalism as Organizational Culture at Canadian Seaports