Cell phone becomes new town crier

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They can also use a timer feature that students can set in situations where they might be afraid. For example, a student can turn on the timer when walking through a remote or secluded area, and if the timer goes off before the student can deactivate it, campus security is contacted and emergency officers are dispatched. This feature is useful in cases where a student is attacked or incapacitated and is unable to push a panic button for help.

In either case when campus security is alerted, a student profile pops up on the dispatcher's desktop, complete with a map of where the student is located. Students include information on their profile, such as where they live and if they have any special medical needs.

Putting cell phones to work
Montclair State University was one of the first universities in the country to implement the comprehensive Rave Wireless service. For the past two years all incoming freshman have been required to purchase a handset and wireless service through the university. The university has worked closely with Sprint Nextel to improve cellular coverage on campus. It has also worked with Rave Wireless to develop a suite of applications.

When the school, which has roughly 12,000 undergraduates, polled students about what kinds of services they would find useful, text messaging alerts and safety features like the GPS-enabled tracking were among the top two or three.

But Montclair also had a much larger vision for how to use cell phones. The school, located in a suburb of New York City, caters largely to commuters. And cell phones seemed like an ideal way for the university to remain connected to students when they were off campus, said Edward Chapel, vice president for information technology at the university.

"The greatest challenge for us was engaging the students when they drove off campus," he said. "We wanted to be able to reach out to students wherever they were to keep them connected to the university. And since 98 percent of the students already had cell phones, it seemed like a logical choice to use that technology."

In addition to safety and security alerts, the university uses the alert system to keep students informed about events on campus. Students can choose which SMS alerts or RSS feeds they want to sign up for, such as messages about sporting events or for individual classes. They can also create their own social-networking groups to inform other classmates of events or meetings.

Montclair also uses the GPS tracking feature to keep students updated about its transportation services. Shuttle buses on campus are outfitted with GPS receivers, and students can track where buses are directly from their handsets.

Rave Wireless today sells its software and services only to colleges and universities. But the company has also been contacted by representatives from several cities interested in use the text alert and Rave Guardian applications in their communities.

Newark, N.J., for example, has expressed interest in using the GPS tracking service so that residents can use the public bus system more efficiently. City officials are also interested in using the GPS alert applications to connect residents to police faster, Desai said.

He added that the alert features could easily be implemented in any community and could have been hugely helpful during such crises as Hurricane Katrina or during and after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in New York and Washington, D.C., to help keep people informed of what was happening. During the aftermath of these tragedies, cell phone networks were jammed with phone calls, but text messages were still able to get through the network.

This is the main reason why the Department of Homeland Security is looking at including text messaging as part of a new digital alert system that could go into effect later this year.

"Any community could use text message alerts or GPS technology," Desai said. "Since most of the infrastructure is with the mobile operators, it's really not expensive to implement either."

[blueshore]

It looks nice, but...

the problem is that most teachers and professors ask students to TURN OFF the cell during class. That could be solve by using a PA system.

Also, since SMS does not provide with a special method to display an Alert message, a early warning could be interpreted as just another message. New cell phones could be upgraded with software that identifies certain flag and put the cell phone in an Alert mode (similar to the EAS).

Finally, no everyone can afford a cell phone in some areas, as basic plans are usually $30 and up. Universities can provide with low cost plans and support phone recycle programs: even a simple WiFi device capable of display an alert message, or even a pager (good old trusty pager) could be provided free to the new students to be returned when graduated.

[bkblair]

Best Option Available Today

Most students turn off their ringer and use the vibrate mode almost exclusively. They don't actually TURN OFF the phone itself.

So they would get the message and it would indicate who it was from w/o having to read it just like any other message sent today.

Until something better comes along, THIS IS THE WAY TO GO!

[Renegade Knight]

Fair Points

BUT the issues can be solved. Push technology can push out a warning. Tornado, or Evacuation.

Cell phones may not be univesal but they are as close to it as exists now.

Even if you don't have one someone next to you does.

It's the right idea. The wireless folks can propose how to make it happen or they can have it dictated to them by the government.

Either works for me.

[shinsccr8]

West Chester County New York

Is actually Westchester county New York.

Love the idea though. I remember being in college(last year.....) hoping to get class cancellation notices quicker. This problem would obviously be solved if all had broadband access with email phones but that would have to wait for another couple of years to be standardized. one thing is that this technology may become obsolete one broadband becomes cheaper and PDA phones become standardized.

[meyersm]

thanks, will fix

we appreciate your tip.