Wireless RERC - Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

Presentation Available -- Reaching People with Disabilities: Wireless Emergency Alerting & Accessibility

mz22 — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:58:58 +0000

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

Publication Type:

On June 30, 2015, Wireless RERC researchers Salimah LaForce and DeeDee Bennett, PhD presented results of the 2014 Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) Survey and a Survey of Alert Originators Use of WEA at a webinar hosted by the Georgia Emergency Preparedness Coalition for Individuals with Disabilities and Older Adults. WEAs are a component of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security. During an emergency, alert and warning officials need to provide the public with life-saving information quickly. IPAWS provides public safety officials with an effective way to alert and warn the public about serious emergencies. However, research has shown that WEAs are not always effective for people with disabilities. This webinar shared information about awareness of and access to WEAs by people with disabilities.

The webinar, produced by the Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) at Georgia Tech, is one of few to ever provide both captions and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting for the audience.

Related Files:

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Wireless Emergency Alerting and Accessibility (2).pdf	1.13 MB

Reaching People with Disabilities: Wireless Emergency Alerting and Accessibility

mz22 — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 20:52:56 +0000

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

Please join us for a FREE Webinar entitled:

Reaching People with Disabilities:

Wireless Emergency Alerting and Accessibility

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST

This webinar will have captioning and a sign language interpreter.

The Georgia Emergency Preparedness Coalition for Individuals with Disabilities and Older Adults is pleased to present a webinar on the accessibility of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) to people with disabilities. WEAs are a component of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security. During an emergency, alert and warning officials need to provide the public with life-saving information quickly. IPAWS provides public safety officials with an effective way to alert and warn the public about serious emergencies. However, research has shown that WEAs are not always effective for people with disabilities. Join this webinar to learn information about WEA and people with disabilities.

Pre-registration for this FREE webinar is required.

To register for this webinar please click on the link below:

If you have any difficulty registering or if you have any additional questions, please contact the State ADA Coordinator’s Office at (404) 404-657-7313 (phone), 404-657-9993 (TTY) or via email at gaada@gsfic.ga.gov.

Presenter: DeeDee M. Bennett, PH. D.

DeeDee Bennett, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist in the Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP) at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on how wireless communication can be used when disasters happen. Currently, she is the project lead for three projects related to improving alerts and warnings for the whole community (specifically people with sensory disabilities and others with language barriers).

Dr. Bennett has authored in several places such as the International Journal of Emergency Management, Journal of Emergency Management, and two textbooks. She has also presented at several emergency management-related conferences. She has lectured at the undergraduate and graduate level. Her topics include Emergency Communications; Preparedness, Warnings, and Protective Action; Social Vulnerable Populations during disasters; Social Media use during Disasters; and Qualifying Exam Preparation.

Presenter: Salimah LaForce

Salimah LaForce is a Research Analyst for the Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP). She conducts policy and industry research and analysis for CACP’s emergency communications initiative. In her work she has conducted focus group and survey research in the areas of emergency communications and social media. Salimah serves as co-project director for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Integrated Alert and Public Warning System (IPAWS) CACP Collaborative Project 2 – informing citizens of features of mainstream technologies to enhance the effectiveness of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs); and Project 5, providing accessible next generation alerts. Additionally, Salimah is the project director for the Wireless RERC’s research project, Policy Approaches to Promote Access to Wireless Technologies.

For more information on the Georgia Emergency Preparedness Coalition for Individuals with Disabilities and Older Adults please visit: http://ada.georgia.gov/emergency-preparedness . You can also find us on Facebook by visiting http://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaPrepare?ref=hl.

ASL Interpreters provided by Deaf Services Unlimited. Captioning provided by AMAC.

The New Normal for Receiving Emergency Alerts

mz22 — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 15:04:31 +0000

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM)

Registration

Closed Caption Services (use separate browser)

November 2014 – FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) will co-host , IPAWS: The New Normal for Receiving Alerts, a webinar for practitioners, developers, and emergency managers on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 – 2pm to 3pm EDT. The webinar will feature installments related to various topics concerning:

Receiving alerts through cell phones, apps, web, etc.
Technical Advancements/Functionality
Best Practices/Governance
Relationship Building
When Can IPAWS Be Used?
Public Outreach Efforts

Registration for this free event is required. To register, please click here.

FEMA Office of Disability Integration and Coordination and IPAWS to Hold Roundtable

mz22 — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 19:15:28 +0000

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination (ODIC) and Integrated Public Alerts and Warning System (IPAWS) Program Management Office (PMO) will partner to host an open roundtable on May 7, 2014. The semi-annual roundtable offers industry partners and other stakeholders a chance to discuss the IPAWS program and “commercial and Federal initiatives that might be leveraged in support of the disability community.” While all IPAWS-ODIC roundtable discussions have focused on accessible alerting, this event will be the first to explore current organizational and individual efforts to enhance emergency communications. Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP to Hans.Yu@fema.dhs.gov or by calling (202) 646-3910. For those unable to attend, the event can also be accessed via webinar at https://femaipawslab.webex.com/femaipawslab/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=669895737.

Start Date:

Wednesday, May 7, 2014 - 1:00pm to 3:15pm

Additional Information:

IPAWS-ODIC Roundtable Webinar

IPAWS-ODIC Roundtable Closed Captioning

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

Office of Disability Integration and Coordination

Subscriptions:

Emergency Communications

FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Program Management Office Receives “Greatest Citizen Impact” Award

mz22 — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:37:55 +0000

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)

More information about IPAWS and Wireless Emergency Alerts

FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Program Management Office (PMO) was honored with the “Greatest Citizen Impact Award” for its IPAWS system by the American Council for Technology’s (ACT’s) Industry Advisory Council (IAC) at their Igniting Innovation Showcase in Washington, D.C.

IPAWS is a national alert and warning system available for use by state, local, territorial, tribal, and federal public alerting authorities to send emergency alerts to citizens. IPAWS receives and authenticates the messages transmitted by the alerting authorities, and at the same time, routes them through a single interface to various systems such as the Emergency Alert System for radio and television, Wireless Emergency Alerts or WEAs sent by participating mobile carriers directly to cell phones, NOAA Weather Radio and other public alerting systems.

The ACT-IAC Institute for Innovation, an association that promotes government and industry interaction to produce government information technology innovations, selected 30 organizations to participate in a one-day event to showcase their technologies.

Leadership and staff in FEMA’s IPAWS PMO conducted live WEA demonstrations throughout the day, and spoke to showcase attendees about IPAWS and its impact on public safety officials and the American people. During the showcase, ACT-IAC judges, comprised of both government and industry representatives, viewed each demonstration and attendees were allowed to vote for their favorite technical innovations.

Innovations were critiqued on several factors: demonstrates a leap in creativity by using innovative tools, methodologies, or processes to implement new solutions; develops an agile solution that shows the promise of inspiring successful replication, transferability, and scalability by other governmental entities; achieves tangible, quantifiable results; impacts and demonstrates significant cost savings/cost avoidance, productivity and performance, and leverages the ability to reach out to multiple stakeholders to formulate, build, and implement a solution.

Be Part of a First – The IPAWS Unique Alert Services (UAS) Series

mz22 — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 21:46:31 +0000

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)

Webinar Invitation (includes log-in information for the March 12th webinar)

February 2014 - FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Program Management Office (PMO) is holding the first webinar of the IPAWS Unique Alert Services (UAS) Series on Wednesday, March 12th, 2014 at 12:00 PM Eastern Time. This webinar series is IPAWS PMO’s answer to the alerting practitioners’ request to provide more information on unique alert services and tools available on the market. Some of the services demonstrated and discussed will include(among other things) information on how alerts are delivered (road signs, text messages, smartphone apps, web-based) and how alerts are presented (textual, visual graphics, geospatial map view, loudspeaker, siren). Following are the March presenters:

March 12^th at 12:00PM ET: NPR Labs and Monroe Electronics

March 26^th at 12:00PM ET: Deaf Link, M-EAS and MIR 3

Serving the Whole Community through IPAWS

mz22 — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 15:14:37 +0000

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

emergency alerts and warnings

accessibility

Alerting the Whole Community: Removing Barriers to Alerting Accessibility

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released Alerting the Whole Community: Removing Barriers to Alerting Accessibility, a report outlining the current efforts made to ensure accessibility for people with access and functional needs within the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). According to the report, approximately 25% of Americans may need “assistance or accommodation to receive emergency alerts,” including people with disabilities and limited English proficiency. The report highlights that IPAWS works to increase accessibility of alerts for all individuals through multi-modal and geo-targeted dissemination while implementing standards that “developers of accessibility products and services can modify their products and services so end-users will receive alerts issued through the IPAWS system.” Noted challenges to ensuring accessible alerts and warnings, as noted by the report, include educating the public as to the importance and capabilities of IPAWS, and adoption of IPAWS within all communities. Galain Solutions notes that despite the challenges, “FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is moving quickly toward their goal of making sure alerts and warnings are fully accessible by the whole community.”

GAO Report on Emergency Alerting Released

mz22 — Fri, 31 May 2013 12:41:03 +0000

Emergency Alert System (EAS)

Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS)

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

GAO - Emergency Alerting: Capabilities Have Improved, but Additional Guidance and Testing are Needed

May 23, 2013 — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the report “Emergency Alerting: Capabilities Have Improved, but Additional Guidance and Testing are Needed.” The report reviews the changing capabilities of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) in addition to the results of the nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Primarily, the report highlights that while IPAWS has the capability to better disseminate alerts and warnings through the creation of the alert aggregator, barriers to implementation remain, including insufficient guidance, inability to test the IPAWS system, and insufficient public outreach. The report also notes that during the 2011 nationwide test of EAS, approximately 82% of reporting broadcasters and cable operators received the alert and only 61% of those reporting were able to redistribute the alert due to technical failures at public entry point (PEP) stations, shortened test length, and outdated monitoring assignments. As noted by the report, the implementation of IPAWS may help overcome some of the limitations traditionally seen in the “effectiveness of the national-level EAS.” Specifically, IPAWS will help to disseminate alerts and warnings to a larger portion of the population through dissemination in many modalities including radio, television, mobile alerts and “messages to specialized alerting devices for individuals with disabilities.”