CTG UAlbany Study Examines Role of Technology in Emergency Messaging
ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 31, 2024) — Relaying information to the public during emergencies is critically important. However, gaps remain in understanding how technology can and should be used for disseminating messages. A new study from the University at Albany’s Center for Technology in Government (CTG UAlbany) aims to address these gaps, particularly as it pertains to local municipalities.
“Thanks to technological advances in recent decades, governments can instantly reach citizens through multiple channels,” said CTG UAlbany Director J. Ramon Gil-Garcia. “However, what is still missing in the literature is a better understanding of the role of technology use for emergency messaging, particularly among local governments. Our study aims to tackle this issue by determining the types of technologies in use by emergency managers, their constraints, and strategies that could help managers cope with these limitations.”
Writing in Government Information Quarterly, authors Tzuhao Chen, Gil-Garcia, G. Brian Burke, Alessandria Dey and Derek Werthmuller utilize the “Technology Affordances and Constraints Theory” (TACT) to analyze interview data from 18 local emergency management agencies in the United States in order to investigate four questions:
- What digital artifacts are used for writing and sending messages?
- How do the artifacts afford emergency managers in writing and sending messages?
- What are the constraints that impede effective messaging? and
- How do governments cope with those difficulties?
Digital artifacts, in the case of the study, refer to technologies that assist individuals in writing, sharing and delivering emergency messages to the public. For instance, cell towers and the internet serve as infrastructure artifacts, whereas social media or mass notification software serve as message sharing artifacts.
“As more digital artifacts have become available for governments to write and send out messages (e.g., mass notification systems, social media, etc.), governments are increasingly more reliant on technology,” Gil-Garcia said. “Therefore, it is crucial to understand some of the pros and cons of these artifacts, which, in our view, also partly accounts for whether and how the message could be effectively and efficiently disseminated to the target audience.”
The authors were guided by the TACT theory in their analysis, which emphasizes that one cannot understand the uses and impacts of information systems on organizational goals without observing the interactions between the actors and the used digital artifacts.
They found that digital artifacts fall into four categories in terms of emergency messaging: basic infrastructure, internal information sharing, message writing and message sending. The authors then analyzed those artifacts through the lens of the TACT approach to determine potential problems that could arise in the delivery of emergency messaging, as well as strategies to mitigate the deficiencies.
“Existing research on emergency messaging indicates that the effectiveness of messaging depends on multiple factors, including receivers’ characteristics, message content and style, as well as the social and political contexts,” said Chen, a PhD student in Public Administration and Policy at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. “The findings extend current knowledge about emergency messaging from the point of view of front-line emergency managers and add insights into TACT.”
Emergency messaging today utilizes a variety of methods to Inform at-risk citizens about natural, human-caused, or technological emergencies, with the goal of saving lives and reducing damage. Whereas governments once relied on radio and television broadcasts to deliver emergency messages, agencies today can turn to social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook to send out emergency messages for myriad hazards.
The study shows that emergency managers employ various digital artifacts to fulfill different tasks to include internal information sharing (Zoom, Microsoft Teams), message writing (Microsoft Word, Grammarly) and message sending (social media, FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System).
Critically, the authors found that emergency managers’ ability to write and send effective messages at least partially depend on those artifacts.
For instance, digital artifacts such as cell towers provide a stable internet connection but could be unavailable during a power outage. Similarly, social media and message sending software might provide great benefits in terms of scale and scope but could be impeded by a manager’s lack of familiarity with the technology.
“Among its benefits, social media enables messages to rapidly circulate among the population, raising their awareness and advising necessary protective actions,” noted Chen. “However, problems can arise if there are power outages or if emergency managers aren’t familiar with the messaging platforms.”
More specifically, the findings suggest that the impact of technology on emergency messaging is twofold.
First, technology can be beneficial by facilitating the communication and coordination among agencies, ensuring that the message content is accurate and compatible with the different systems used, and boosting the reach of emergency messages.
Second, technology can pose a threat to messaging in situations where basic infrastructure fails, systems become overwhelmed, systems do not yield a satisfactory translation output or fail to support the input of certain characters, or users are unfamiliar with and/or unwilling to use the systems.
“These insights into technology affordances and constraints can benefit emergency management researchers, practitioners, and software providers. They can help in understanding the practice of emergency messaging and brainstorming ways to enhance positive outcomes while mitigating potential negative impacts,” said Chen.
For example, software providers offering support for both writing and sending emergency messages could explore integrating features with different affordances related to message writing and sending within a single platform. This would reduce or even eliminate the need for users to use multiple artifacts to fulfill their tasks.
“Furthermore, practitioners can draw lessons from our findings on how others have dealt with specific constraints that they may also encounter,” said Gil-Garcia. “Meanwhile, the constraints that emergency managers are unable to address may be addressed through a broader collaboration between higher levels of government, local emergency management agencies, and private companies.”