Why an emergency alert system isn't adopted: the impact of socio-technical context

Authors:
Philip Fei Wu;Yan Qu;Jennifer J. Preece
Affiliations:
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland;University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland;University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
Venue:
BCS-HCI '08 Proceedings of the 22nd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Culture, Creativity, Interaction - Volume 2
Year:
2008

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the laggard adoption of an SMS-based emergency alert system on a university campus. Based on findings from in-depth interviews and a focus group, we discuss some critical issues in designing and implementing such alert systems, with a focus on the socio-cultural factors that de-motivate people to use them. Our findings show that, even for a system with simple technology, the adoption process involves complex interactions between individual perceptions and the social context in which the system is situated.