Technology Aids VT Students and Families

My thoughts and prayers for the last 24 hours have been with the faculty, staff, students and families of the Virginia Tech family.

While scouring the major news sites for information of yesterday's senseless acts, I realized that technology played an integral and useful role in the tragedy.

Students and staff used cell phones and text messages to contact their loved ones to let them know that they were safe. When the cell phone network was overloaded, many people turned the fun-Net into the Useful-Net by posting messages on their Facebook and MySpace pages.

I am glad that technology played such a prominent and useful role in the senseless tragedy. Technology does, after all, have many good and positive qualities.

Hopefully school and government officials can use these examples to organize technology resources that can help the community in this type of situation. My suggestions are:

• Improve cell phone and computer networks to handle traffic spikes during an emergency.
• Educational and government organizations should develop, publish and publicize electronic communication plans for emergency situations.
• Educational facilities should organize cell phone groups to rapidly send message alerts to a campus community.
• Use the Emergency Broadcast System to send alert messages to the community.
• Use digital highway signs and digital billboards to broadcast alert messages.
• Encourage the use of Web pages, Facebook and MySpace as a communication vehicle for notifications.

It is my sincere hope that another tragedy like this will never occur. If it does, hopefully technology can be used to save lives or relieve the fear and worry of parents, family and friends of those involved.