Emergency and Risk Communication Message Testing Laboratory

Baseline Heat Knowledge: A National Survey

The purpose of this study is to improve National Weather Service (NWS) heat communication by providing the NWS a baseline assessment of how their current heat information is accessed, and how the hazard, its impacts, and vulnerable populations are understood by public(s) in the continental United States (CONUS), including heat vulnerable populations. Determining the extent of public(s) knowledge and understanding about heat risk and vulnerabilities overall, as well as how they obtain that information, can help ensure heat information and products are disseminated effectively and communicated clearly.

In our prior work, we investigated the ways that the NWS communicates heat using social media accounts. Here, we found that they use a lot of technical language - or jargon - to describe heat risk and its impact on vulnerable populations. Jargon is language that is created by and for experts; this means that the language used by NWS may not be readily understood by non-expert audiences. Some examples of jargon include terms like “heat index,” “heat advisory,” and “wet-bulb globe temperature.”  

In this study, we use a mixed method approach by conducting 16 focus groups across the four NWS CONUS regions to understand how public(s) learn about heat risks and how they conceptualize and understand the hazard, its consequences, who is at risk, and heat jargon. Then, we will validate and extrapolate the extent of these beliefs via a generalizable survey across the four NWS CONUS regions.

Researchers

• Michele (Micki) Olson, Principal Investigator
• Jeannette Sutton, Co-Principal Investigator
• Bruce Pollock, Graduate Research Assistant

Presentations

• Olson, M. K, Sutton, J., and Pollock, B. (January, 2024) Assessing public understanding and interpretation of heat-related information for improved heat risk communication. The 19th Symposium on Societal Applications: Policy, Research and Practice, American Meteorological Society's 104th Annual Meeting. Baltimore, MD.

Submitted Presentations

• Pollock, B., Olson, M. K., & Sutton, J. (June, 2024). Evaluating public understanding and interpretation of heat-related information. 51st Conference on Broadcast Meteorology/7th Conference on Weather Warnings and Communication. Myrtle Beach, SC.
• Pollock, B, Olson, M.K., Sutton, J. (July, 2024). Extreme heat information: Bridging the gap between expert jargon and public understanding [Poster Presentation]. 49th Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop, Broomfield, CO.

AWARN Project

In the last decade, we have observed improvements to public warning channels through the use of wireless devices; however, broadcast and cable television warnings have remained relatively unchanged since the Emergency Alert System (EAS) was introduced in the 1990s. 

The potential for more advanced warning is now on the horizon as the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has already begun rolling out new broadcast signals (ATSC 3.0) known as NextGen TV across the nation. One of the benefits of NextGen TV is the opportunity to newly design and deliver alerts and warnings for imminent threat events based on the receiver’s location. There are also capabilities to set televisions, or other equipped devices, to turn on in the case of alerts within a geographic area. 

To best utilize NextGen TV and the opportunities that arise from its technological capacities, there is a need for additional research that considers attention in a potentially noisy information environment. Such a perspective makes it possible to design risk communication messaging that cuts through distraction, reduces cognitive overload, and facilitates self-efficacy responses.  
Working with a large interdisciplinary team from the academic, government, and private sectors, this project draws from literature on cognitive psychology, user interaction, and visual communication to show how the organization and presentation of visual risk information in a noisy environment can facilitate or impede effective decision-making. 

The project uses multiple methods including analyzing current warning displays, conducting focus groups, and eye tracking experiments that investigate variations in format and design. Broadcasters have expressed great interest in the results to guide their ongoing development of NextGen TV alert designs and visualizations.
 

Researchers

• Jeannette Sutton, Principal Investigator
• Michael Michaud, Research Scientist
• Sav Olivas, PhD Student
• Heather Sheridan, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology
• Greg Cox, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology
• Caroline Rafizadeh, PhD Student in the Department of Psychology
• Supriya Samaroo, Undergraduate Student in the Department of Psychology

Collaborators

• Kodi Berry, FACETs Program Lead at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA
• Kenzie Krocak, Social Science Team Lead at the National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA
• Holly Obermeier, Research Fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations
• Joseph Trujillo Falcón, PhD Student at the University of Oklahoma
• Nate Johnson, Vice President of Weather Content and Operations at NBC Universal
• Chad Davis, Chief Innovation Officer at Nebraska Public Media
• Ling Ling Sun, Chief Technology Officer at Nebraska Public Media

Funding

Funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric National Severe Storms Laboratory

Presentations

• Michaud, M. S., Sutton, J., Olivas, S., Obermeier, H., Berry, K., Sheridan, H., Cox, G., Johnson, N., Davis, C. (2024, January). NextGen TV warnings: What could they look like? 19th Symposium on Societal Applications: Policy, Research, and Practice. Oral presentation during the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. https://ams.confex.com/ams/104ANNUAL/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/436260

Message Design Dashboard for Wireless Emergency Alerts

Hazardous events, ranging from toxic materials leaks to mass casualty incidents, and seasonal weather events compounded by changing climate conditions and crumbling infrastructure, pose a significant risk of harm to populations around the globe. Communication of warnings, potential impacts, and the protective actions that can be taken to reduce injuries or prevent loss of life is vital at the onset of potential disaster. Governments at all levels have recognized the need to communicate to their constituents, resulting in a nationwide policy: the Warning, Alert, and Response Networks Act which led to the development of the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) System and the coordination of participating wireless carriers to deliver alerts and warnings to mobile devices to those at risk. This nationwide approach means that regardless of location, alerts and warnings can be delivered to those at risk. Technological advances such as WEA have emphasized and prioritized capabilities to broadcast geo-targeted emergency alerts to populations throughout the United States. Research on human perceptions, behavioral intent, and protective actions taken in response to these mobile-delivered messages is limited.

Collaborating with CTG, this project will address this gap by developing a tool - the Message Design Dashboard (MDD) - to help emergency managers write effective messages for public alert and warnings, as well as develop presentations, training materials, and workshops to educate alerting authorities on developing effective public alerts and warning messages. At the conclusion of the MDD design, project team members will conduct training seminars/workshops at events and conferences as directed by FEMA.

Researchers

• Jeannette Sutton, Principal Investigator
• Ramon Gil-Garcia, Co-Principal Investigator
• Derek Werthmuller, Co-Principal Investigator
• Michele Olson, Project Manager

Collaborators

Michelle Wood, Professor in the Department of Health Science at Cal State Fullerton

Funding

Federal Emergency Management Agency - Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (FEMA-IPAWS)

Publications

Alerts and warnings on short messaging channels: Guidance from an expert panel process. Sutton, J. & Kuligowski, E. (2019). Natural Hazards Review. 20 (2).

Sutton, J., & Kuligowski, E.(2019). Guidance on Creating Alerts and Warnings for Short Messaging Channels.

Sutton, J., & Kuligowski, E. (2019). Alerts and warnings on short messaging channels: Guidance from an expert panel process. Natural Hazards Review. 20(2)

Bean, H., Liu, B. F., Madden, S., Sutton, J., Wood, M., & Mileti, D. (2015). Disaster warnings in your pocket: A qualitative study of how audiences interpret wireless emergency alerts. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 24(3), 136-147.

Bean, H., Liu, B., Madden, S., Mileti, D., Sutton, J. and Wood, M. (2014) Comprehensive testing of imminent threat public messages for mobile devices. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). College Park. 

DeYoung, S.E., Sutton, J., Nichols, K., Farmer, A., and Neal, D.  (2019). “Death was not in the agenda for the day”: Emotions, behavioral reactions, and perceptions in response to the 2018 Hawaii Wireless Alert. International Journal of Disaster Risk Research. 36, 101078. 

Wood, M., Mileti, D., Bean, H., Liu, B. F., Sutton, J., & Madden, S. (2017). Milling and public warnings. Environment and Behavior.

Sutton, J., & Kaufmann, R. (2017). Designing imminent threat messages for an unfamiliar hazard. Communication Teacher.

Forecasting and Communication of Extreme Heatwaves in NYC 

When one imagines deadly weather conditions, hurricanes, snowstorms, or tornadoes are generally the first phenomena to come to mind. However, extreme heatwaves (and extreme temperature in general) are significantly more deadly on an annual basis.  Improving the accuracy and communication of extreme temperature products is vital to reducing the impacts of extreme heat on vulnerable populations in urban settings.  

Working with collaborators in the UAlbany Center of Excellence and the Atmospheric Science Research Center, Co-PIs Sutton and Germain will conduct usability testing in the ERC lab leading to the design, development, and testing of a static webpage that will provide decision-aids for National Weather Service core partners to effectively communicate risk to vulnerable populations.

Researchers

• Jeannette Sutton, Co-Principal Investigator
• Sav Olivas, Research Assistant
• Mike Michaud, Research Assistant

Collaborators

• Nick Bassill, Principal Investigator

Funding

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Papers

Olivas, S., Sutton, J, Olson, M.K. Unlocking Potential: Analyzing the Content, Style, Structure, and Interactivity of Mesonets as Operational Dashboards (in review).

Presentations

Olivas, S. & Sutton, J. Using data dashboards to communicate extreme temperature risk: An assessment of visual display and design. Presented at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society. Session on: From data systems to decisions: Synthesizing data, models, and results to produce actionable Earth Science information (Part 2). Denver, CO.

Olivas, S., Michaud, M. & Sutton, J. Using data dashboards to communicate extreme temperature risk: An assessment of visual display and design. Presented at the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society. Session on: From data systems to decisions: Synthesizing data, models, and results to produce actionable Earth Science information (Part 2). Denver, CO.

Olivas, S. & Sutton, J. (2024, July 14-15). Content Analysis of Mesonets Across the United States. [Poster presentation]. 48th Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop, Broomfield, CO, United States.

Eye Tracking the Storm

The goal of a tornado warning message is to alert individuals to impending threats and offer guidance on the actions to take to reduce harm and loss. However, warning messages must compete for attention in a busy information environment and a single warning message may serve as the sole alert to persuade a person that the threat is real and danger is imminent. 

Limited research has been conducted on how to best display messages on newer technologies, especially those that include the technological affordances for graphics and other visual elements. Evidence-based research can provide guidance on how to maximize the effectiveness of messages that communicate visual risk information.

In this project, we investigate how members of the public attend to and interpret warning messages that include visual imagery. We conduct mixed-methods, experiments using a combination of eye-tracking, think-aloud interviews, and post-test survey to investigate how individuals attend to, perceive, and process visual risk information.

When combined with robust theory, interviews, and self-reported survey items, eye tracking allows us to measure behavioral outcomes of cognition and decision making, including the nature of information seeking and processing which leads to self-protective actions under conditions of threat.

Researchers

Jeannette Sutton, Principal Investigator
Laura Fischer, Co-Principal Investigator

Funding

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Vortex-SE

Publications

Fischer L., Huntsman, D.O. Orton, G., & Sutton, J. (2023). You have to send the right message: Examining the influence of protective action guidance on message perception outcomes across prior hazard warning experience to three hazards. Weather, Climate, and Society. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-22-0092.1

Fischer, L. M., Orton, G., & Sutton, J. (2022). Show me and what will I remember? Exploring recall in response to NWS tornado warning graphics. Journal of Applied Communications, 87(3), 7. https://newprairiepress.org/jac/vol106/iss3/5/
 

Public Responses to the 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence and ShakeAlert

Studies of protective actions have been undertaken for a range of hazards that have significantly longer lead times/forewarning than an earthquake including hurricane, tsunami, flood, tornado, and technological hazards such nuclear threat and chemical spill. Research on protective actions in response to earthquake events has been conducted internationally (New Zealand, Japan) but little attention has focused on those behaviors in the United States (Nakayachi, Becker, Potter, & Dixon, 2019) . ​The novelty of earthquake early warning (EEW) in the US, and its ability to warn populations at risk, as well as the infrequency of shaking events that would trigger the system, has meant most ShakeAlert research to date have been experiments (see for example, Sutton, Fischer, James, & Sheff, 2020). Recent earthquake events have prompted the delivery of earthquake alerts providing the first opportunity of its kind to collect data on public perceptions and behavioral responses prompted from a warning message.    ​

This research investigates how people made sense of environmental cues, such as felt earth movement, and social cues, including the alerts received, to make decisions about taking protective action. We draw from theories of warning response (Mileti & Sorensen, 1990; Sutton et al., 2020; Wood et al., 2018), risk perception, and trust in automated systems to measure individual perceptions and other outcomes in response to EEW messages.  ​

Data are collected using two methods. First, we conduct a series of qualitative interviews with persons who experienced the Ridgecrest earthquakes in 2019 followed by a false earthquake alert in 2020. Second, using a representative panel of residents in Southern California, we collect survey data about public responses to earthquakes and earthquake early warnings.

Researchers

• Jeannette Sutton, Principal Investigator 
• Michele Wood, Co-Principal Investigator

Funding

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Publications

McBride, S. K., Bostrom, A., Sutton, J., de Groot, R. M., Baltay, A. S., Terbush, B., Bodin, P., Dixon, M., Holland, E., Arba, R., Laustsen, P., Liu, S., & Vinci, M. (2020). Developing post-alert messaging for ShakeAlert, the earthquake early warning system for the West Coast of the United States of America. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 101713.

Sutton, J., Wood, M. M., Huntsman, D. O., Waugh, N., & Crouch, S. (2023). Communicating hazard location in earthquake early warnings. Natural Hazards Review. 24 (4) https://doi.org/10.1061/NHREFO.NHENG-1723

Sutton, J. Wood M.M., Crouch, S., & Waugh, N. (2022). Public perceptions of U.S. earthquake early warning post-alert messages: Findings from focus groups and interviews. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 84: 103488

Sutton, J. Crouch, S., Waugh, N., & Wood, M.M. (under review). "We ran outside and waited for it to come": Resident experiences in response to a false earthquake early warning" Earthquake Spectra.

The research team at the ERC Lab comprises scholars with expertise and interests in sociology, information science, public administration, communication, cybersecurity, and library science. Research collaborators come from the fields of public health, agricultural communication,  mathematical sociology, and atmospheric and geological sciences. We welcome inquiries about lab affiliations and research assistantships.

Graduate Research Assistants