In response to yesterday's shooting in Virgina, LSU has started taking actions on the situation. They are looking to start an "Instant Text Message" system. They want to be able to send a text message alerting all students/faculty/staff about any kind of emergencies.
My thoughts: You know that number one on my list is the cost$$$. They are going to have to spend a lot of money to be able to set up any kind of system with these capabilities. Where are they going to get this money, more student fees? State Money? Federal Money? Where? One way or another the people (me and you) will have to pay for it. Why? Because of stupid people in the world who want to kill others for crazy reasons. I understand that preventive measures are great to have, but what can a "instant" warning do for a situation like that? I think that it may even draw more people to that area. I do not see how LSU's idea will help out the people on campus. I think that this is only proves that LSU did not ignore what happened. People like to see actions taken and it might even comfort people, knowing that they will be warned "instantly."
Feel free to leave you honest opions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Relax young jedi. If the LSU staff members have any good IT folks on the case, they will quickly realize that the answer to this endeavor is an already existing free downloadable program on the internet. One simply must enter in the list of numbers that they want to send a text message to, and voila. I would assume the students must consent to release their personal cellular numbers for this purpose, but the application to implement this idea already exists. And it's FREE.
In real-world practice, LSU will probably get some student, currently pursuing a Computer Science major, to whip up a school-branded application similar to what's already out there. But the cost for that is mere pennies.
I think it is great that LSU is working to find a way to alert students. Unfortunately, most college age students do not watch the news, so the only way they'll know is through an alert system or by word of mouth. Once a couple of students get that alert, it'll be all over campus. There's no way to know if a better system would have saved lives at Virginia Tech, but it doesn't hurt to have a good emergency system in place. Almost everyone has cell phones these days. And I certainly check my phone more than email, especially on campus.
glad to know that it will not cost much money to get it started. thank you for letting me know that cous.
steph, arent you proud that i actually watched the news to know about this. you thought i didnt care about your profession.
All I have to say is good thing I am not in college anymore. I all ready couldn't stand cell phones going off in campus, now everyones at the same time. That would definitely kill me. But hey I bet the guy who all ready got shot would appreciate his text.
You have to love those blogger that dont research the subject before posting a stupid blog such as it would cast us so much money. Especially being an engineer, you should have been able to ask someone at school about this. Good try though.
Wow Jacque. I can feel the love in your last comment. It's so warm.
I understand where Scott is coming from. He is relating the tragedy at Virginia tech with the tragedy that has been occurring at his own residence recently. The high cost of instant text message implementation can be easily related to the excessive medical bills being charged to the Andrepont family after repeated visits to the emergency room. Scott's health insurance provider has no doubt dropped him after incident number fifty-two and probably recommended he see a psychiatrist concerning a possible diagnosis of clinical depression, surfacing from the onset of repeated "accidental" injuries.
I'm lighting a candle for Scott right now. Hang in there cuz. We all love you.
glad to see that someone is seeing where i am coming from.
the only reason that this texting doesnt cost anything is because the government has not gotten their hands in it yet.
you still have to pay someone year round to be able to update the system and actually send out the message. being that it will be a state job, they are going to have to hire another person to do JUST that. trust me i have worked for the state, that is at least a full-time one man job. he will most likely have to have a computer engineering degree, they will hire him for $75,000/year.
Scott is just CHEAP- that is his only problem- I have to live with the guy- I should be getting the love sent to me- and its my hard earned money paying for all of these doctor visits that he has to catch on camera to share with the world- its just for attention I think...
I love you though Scott...
Post a Comment