Alert system to warn via text message

In light of the April 16 tragedy at Virginia Tech, a Chicago-based firm is providing universities nationwide with a service to immediately alert students of emergencies through text messaging.\nInteractive Mediums, based out of Chicago, is a “mobile technology company that provides marketing and communications solutions for companies and universities alike,” according to a press release. Due to the events last week and the potential threat of mass shootings at public-education facilities, Interactive Mediums has decided to offer emergency alert services to universities at no cost, said Tyler Stock, Interactive Mediums’ director of public relations.\nStock, an IU alumnus who graduated in 2006, said that the company felt mass text messaging would be the best way to inform students of an attack similar to that of last week’s. \n“Interactive Mediums does everything SMS (short message service) from voting in contests like you see in “American Idol,” to broadcasting messages through subscription lists,” Stock said. “We think that this is the best way to get the word out in case of an emergency.”\nStudents will be able to join the subscription list by one of two ways provided by Interactive Mediums and approved by IU, Stock said. One way is by text messaging the University’s individualized code to Interactive Mediums’ platform, which would then enter the student’s cell-phone number into the database. \n“This is the easiest and my preferred way to sign up,” Stock said.\nThe other way would require the University to collect cell-phone numbers at registration and enrollment, Stock said. Currently, IU currently has no \ncontract offering students this service, which is still in the early stages of development.\n“We are a fairly new company, established last year,” Stock said. “After the occurrence at Virginia Tech, we decided that since we have the technology to do so, we should offer our services to universities.”\nFreshman Dylan Rivard said campuswide text messaging seems like a good idea.\n“As long as they don’t spam your phone, this is a great plan,” Rivard said. “Everyone would be able to know immediately and be able to take appropriate measures.”\nFreshman Margaret Weiser agreed. \n“Even if a person doesn’t own a cell phone, there’s no way to escape their presence,” Weiser said. “Chances are you’d be around someone who got the text message.”