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Univ. of Illinois Goes War-of-the-Worlds On Students
theodp writes "'Strange beings who landed in New Jersey tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from Mars.' (Orson Welles, 1938). 'Active shooter at BUILDING NAME/INTERSECTION. Escape area if safe to do so or shield/secure your location.' (Univ. of Illinois, 2011). An alert message sent out Thursday to 87,000 emails and cell phones warning recipients to escape from an 'active shooter' at the University of Illinois was an error, the Office of the Chief of Police confirmed. 'The alert sent today was caused by a person making a mistake,' explained an email. 'Rather than pushing the SAVE button to update the pre-scripted message, the person pushed the SUBMIT button. We are working with the provider of the Illini-Alert service to implement additional security features in the program to prevent this type of error.'"
To turn keys that initiate the Minute Man launch sequence...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
It meant to say "Reactive HOOTERS at State & Main."
It's part of a new network detection system for big, non-artificial breasts detected by a camera system. The roll out is initially for Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, the AI is being perfected by the NCSA guys.
But Schroyer said some students were shaken by the initial alert and criticized the university for taking about 12 minutes to send an email confirming it was false.
"That was unacceptable in my opinion," he said.
Really? 12 minutes is too slow? The thing sent out 87,000 e-mails (which takes a while no matter how big and distributed your mail system is), and the person who made the error probably didn't notice until either they got the e-mail or somebody who did told them.
I think 12 minute response time for something like this is pretty impressive.
Do you want to cancel the alarm?
[Cancel] [Cancel]
Bert
... if there was a real shooter, and it still said BUILDING NAME/INTERSECTION. Thanks for the heads up, morons!
They will revive clippy from the dead to assist the user in sending the message. This way he will only be able to send the message if he really wants to.
Although.. He may go postal afterwards..
How about prompting for a CONFIRMATION before spamming thousands of text messages/emails out?
Sounds like UI needs a better UI on their emergency notification system.
It sounds like they have no way to test the message other than it sending it out to every address in the alert list.
Let's say in this case after updating the message templates, the person hit 'save' rather than 'submit'. On the bright side, then no message would have been sent. On the not-so-bright side, no message would have been sent!
Don't you want to know before there's an actual emergency that your emergency message is working? Not that this incident was an intentional test, but shouldn't they have a test after updating the message template?
The really scary part is that we live in a society where the police have to pre-prepare texts and emails to warn students that someone is shooting up their school.
Linux O Muerte!
We are working with the provider of the Illini-Alert service to implement additional security features in the program to prevent this type of error.'"
A security feature is not what you need.
I predict in a few years we'll never hear the truth about how "the employee was hurriedly trying to send a message to alert the students about the shooter....... BUT couldn't get the message out due to a new security feature implemented in the Illini-Alert service, requiring knowledge of a manager's password. The manager was either (choose one): [unavailable at the time, OR unable to properly enter the password] before the shooter stormed in the room and blasted the pair of them."
You need an auditing function to make sure the person who causes the message to be sent is accountable, proper training, AND a reasonable precaution to ensure they won't do it accidentally, while ensuring you don't make it any harder to do so, or do anything that will make the authorities unable to send a message; extravagant security features have that risk, especially if implemented improperly.
And given their track record of having an unconfirmed "submit" button right by a safe button.... I wouldn't hold hopes too high. Either the user was doing it wrong, or the design is flawwed.
at least all these students know that there's a system in place, and that it works!
I just hope it doesn't turn into an inordinate amount of "Are you SURE?" prompts.
"Are you sure you want to send this alert?" YES / NO
"Are you SURE? You're saying there's a shooter on the loose.." YES / NO
"OK, so you're certain.. *BLAM*
I kid...I'm sure they'll implement a better system then that.. but really.. is it broken? How long have they had this system? How many false alarms have there been before?
Sounds like yet another case of "label everything as 'submit' syndrome". In my opinion "Submit" should be banned as a button label. It's only used by people too lazy to come up with a proper label. In this case I recommend "Broadcast now", with a red background and a suitable "alert" icon (eg. yellow triangle with an exclamation mark).
If you want an extra layer of protection, require a checkbox labelled "enabled broadcast button" to be checked first. While unchecked, the Broadcast Now button is grey.
Also, this wasn't a "War of the Worlds scenario". In the WotW scenario, an fake broadcast is intentionally staged as a real broadcast. In this scenario, a real broadcast was accidentally sent at the wrong time.
``Gee, I was going to edit that before sending it, but I pressed the wrong button!
What I was going to write was
"NO active shooter at /"
But my butterfingers slipped before I had a chance to put in the "NO". ''
I'm sorry, but this looks like an obvious attempt to try to mitigate the consequences of playing a prank.
I was passing BUILDING NAME/INTERSECTION just when I got the text and really panicked.
All the poor souls who are looking down and reading a text while the shooter stalks... How about a "heads up" policy being instituted at the school? Or a directional gunfire analysis certificate mandatory for all students? Or a "Typing Under Pressure" exam followed by a "How to Use the Illi-Alert System" for all shooting alert writers?
Poor GUI bite another person in the ass.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I have a built in warning system, mother nature gave it to me, it's called a pair of ears. Unless the shooter(s) is/are using a silencer, I can HEAR the shots fired, and the general direction they are coming from. The other warning system (fight or flight) tells me to either return fire or duck and cover. Are people too busy twittering to pay attention to the world around them?
Mod up the poster who said we're in no more danger than we were in years past.
"We are working with the provider of the Illini-Alert service to implement additional security features in the program to prevent this type of error."
After implementing the "additional security" we will hear how they were unable to send an alert for an actual event because the Chief of Police was dealing with the problem and couldn't come in to put his code in.
How close together did the developers put the SAVE and SUBMIT buttons? And was there an "Are you sure?" Yes/No prompt?
This reminds me of when I was trying to submit new media content to a website which shall remain unnamed...the delete button was just next to the post new button, and when I accidentally clicked on delete...poof. There goes my existing content. Not even a confirmation prompt.
Why isn't there a "Are you sure?" prompt after you click send to prevent this kind of thing.
And this is why "[SAVE MESSAGE TEMPLATE FOR LATER USE] [SEND MESSAGE IMMEDIATELY]"
is better than "[OK] [CANCEL] [ABORT] [ERROR] [RETRY]"
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
Really? Mass Panic for no reason. The person shouldn't be held accountable the lame mass notification vendor should be...MyStateUSA. Horrible.
This is why we need to get bureaucrats out of every possible office as they obviously do not think.
Those that can, do. Those that can not, suck off the Federal pig .
Do Not Let Them Manage my Healthcare.
The solution is a lot more simple then everyone is making it. "Update" should be a button you click with a mouse. Actually sending the message shouldn't be a button, rather it should be a multi-key sequence/shortcut that either sends the message or better yet, produces the actual send button. The shortcut can be listed on the dialog box where it currently exists, and a properly composed paragraph can encourage reading of the short warning about sending, since the operator is reading for the shortcut already. The lack of being presented right away with a simple button *should* (there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rule) prevent accidental occurrences like this one. The extra work involved should break the pattern/trance we tend to fall into when doing repetitive tasks.
Clippy:
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
The real question is what happened after the everyone starting hitting Reply to All?
I'm an alumni of the U of I, and I work here as well. I get these notifications. I thought I'd bring up 2 points:
Overall, I'm satisfied with the system and I was impressed by the very explicit letter from the chief both explaining the error and accepting the blame for the mistake. She also detailed the upcoming efforts to address the error. I'd like to see the same level of accountability from my ISP or phone company.
The Internet has no garbage collection
Essentially they just need to add an interrogatory screen that says "This will actually SEND the message out. Are you SURE you want to do this?"
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
From: Illini-Alert
To: "Alert Recipients"
Reply-To: "Division of Public Safety"
Date: 24 Mar 2011 09:40:51 -0600
Subject: Active Shooter/Threat
Active shooter at BUILDING NAME/INTERSECTION. Escape area if safe to do=
so or shield/secure your location.
From: Illini-Alert
To: "Alert Recipients"
Reply-To: "Division of Public Safety"
Date: 24 Mar 2011 09:53:34 -0600
Subject: All Clear
The previous message was sent in error. For details, please read forthcoming=
MassMail.
No, the real version will say "shooter at BUILDING NAME/INTERSECTION, looking for INSERT NAME HERE".
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
This has nothing to do with War-of-the-Worlds, except that there was false panic. The Orson Welles broadcast was done as a fictional story, this incident was an accidental broadcast of an alert.
Next up, a headline saying "Oncologist Pretends to be Orson Welles with Wrong Diagnosis!"
"Active shooter" is police jargon for a Columbine-type situation.
The opposite isn't "passive shooter", but the term signifies (at least in some jurisdictions) a situation in which immediate action needs to be taken, rather than, say, waiting to call out the SWAT team.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
I work at a university too, and you're right about all ten!
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Luckily most of the students there (including me!) are far away or home for spring break this past week so this had much less of an impact than it sounds like. I wasn't worried in the safe confines of my Hawaiian hotel.
Everyone was actually reading them because we got 3 sent to us the day before because some restaurants on campus caught fire. But more importantly, campus population was almost nonexistent since all of undergrads are on spring break. On another note, while the email time is fairly rapid it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes for us to get the SMS which makes the system pointless. When we were informed of a snow day earlier in the semester (they used the same system) the way we all found out was the school's Twitter. I personally don't have a Twitter account but it seems they have scale figured out a little bit better, though i'm not sure how they handle push. The main problem I suppose is flooding the SMS network but I feel like most of us here would be more likely to get word of something via FB, Twitter, etc. and word of mouth than email alone and word of mouth.
The message we got actually said "BUILDING / INTERSECTION NAME" as the location of the alleged incident. To anyone with half a brain it was more than obvious that it was sent in error. I just waited and waited for the explanation. I never actually expected a corrected version with an actual location.
The bigger issue is the use of this system at all. It has been used twice so far (not including yesterdays bout of criminal stupidity). The first was for an "impending tornado" that never touched down. We already have a warning system for that. There are big loud sirens that everyone should be listening for when a nasty storm is rolling through and a watch/warning has already been issued by a non-university organization. The second was just earlier this week for a fire in a non-campus building to warn university employees based in nearby buildings. Who were already evacuated.
The university has now cried wolf three times. Time to file the alerts directly to spam.
...it was an INSIDE job?
... Mr Clippy when we really needed him?
You are about to make a career-ending move. Would you like me to:
( ) Stop the outgoing e-mail.
( ) Piss off and leave you alone.
( ) Update and circulate your resume.
Have gnu, will travel.
Word has it, there is this professor at UI who drinks only rain water and whiskey. He thinks fluoridation is a part of a mind control conspiracy. Could it be that he triggered the alarm?
This is how to design the perfect interface:
Offices should have sensors that detect gun shots and trigger an email alert.
This would be double plus good:
What makes people angry are false reports. Not with this system.
We are working with the provider of the Illini-Alert service to implement additional security features in the program to prevent this type of error.
most likely means: The same contractors who messed up basic usability in the original implementation will now get paid again to "fix" it. BTW what is with people using wrong words? Additional "security" features, my ass, this is HMI 101, nothing to do with security.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
The designer of the original [IGNORE] [ABORT] [RETRY] button selection seems to have found new work.
[SUBMIT] [SAVE] [OK]
Good point. And thank you for improving the system...
Say there's a really bad chemical spill in an area where students typically walk through... are you implying that the administrators should shoot the spill to trigger the alarm?
Of course not. To warn the campus of chemical spills, administrators should have a bottle of muratic acid on the shelf. If they want to trigger the chemical alert system, just spill it on the office floor, and this activates the chemical alert warning.
Absolutly no way of confusing the trigger events, and as I said: never ever a false warning.