Sometimes it takes more than pepper spray and a kung fu grip to stay safe.
The University of Wisconsin has long armed students with technology to help Badgers stay on top of threats to their personal safety, as well as collect tips for protecting themselves.
For instance, a new website entirely devoted to safety launched this fall, providing information and advice for staying safe, and the WiscAlert system sends out voicemails and e-mails in case of an emergency.
But with the current WiscAlert system not everyone can always be notified. Reaching students and faculty between classes or away from their computers still presents an unfortunate gap in communication.
The new WiscAlert text messaging feature, which will be tested this fall, fills in that gap. Students and faculty will be alerted by way of a text message directly to their cell phones in the case of an emergency on campus.
Although still in its beginning stages, currently 12,655 people have subscribed to the text messaging service.
Our hope is that everyone will subscribe,"" said John Lucas, university spokesman and a member of the committee that implemented the text messaging option.
The text message alert system uses Wireless Emergency Notification System (WENS) technology, which is powered by Inspiron Logistics.
""Essentially what they're doing specifically for Madison,"" said Inspiron sales executive Steve Lehman, ""is they're using an 'opt-in' methodology which involves an entry point on your student website.""
Students will be able to follow the link directly, allowing them to place their information on and request to receive alerts from the system. University officials at participating institutions can send the text alerts from any web browser to cell phone numbers entered into the system.
The ""opt-in"" agreement is easily accessible through the My-UW webportal and subscription is free. It allows for an unlimited number of people to enroll.
According to Lehman, universities around the country are increasingly choosing text messaging technology. In fact, Lucas said the idea to use text messaging at Madison came from another Big Ten school, the University of Minnesota.
The process of making the text messaging service available in Madison was achieved through the work of a special committee, the University of Wisconsin Police Department, and the DoIt tech department.
""It ends up being a somewhat complicated process,"" Lucas said. ""You would think you'd just be able to interface their web server and plug in some numbers and be able to use it, but we decided to go a route where we were going to manage the system through the My-UW portal, and linking any sort of outside application with our own infrastructure ends up being fairly involved.""
""In a nutshell what we do is we send out true SMS text messaging, as well as e-mailing and paging, to anybody within the WENS,"" said Lehman. The message ""ultimately is delivered directly to the carriers, or the cell phone providers, and from there is disseminated out to each individual cell phone device. You use each individual cell phone tower, so there is no need for satellites or anything like that on campus at all.""
UW-Madison decided to implement the text messaging technology on campus in 2007, but began working hard to put the system in place during spring 2008 after murders near campus shook up the Madison community. The university also encourages using other technology, such as Facebook, to be aware of possible safety issues.
It's hard to know whether things like Facebook or text message alerts could prevent problems, or, Lucas points out, even if they would be used in a particular incidence. ""But,"" he said, ""certainly you want to have that option available as quickly as possible.
