At about 9 p.m. on Sunday, Duke plans to test a system that can automatically highlight emergency news and other alerts on websites across the university.
The new alert bar will supplement the "Urgent" bar that already appears on the Duke.edu home page during emergencies, thereby reaching members of the Duke community who do not look regularly at the home page.
"The Duke home page serves as the front door for many people," said Paul Grantham, assistant vice president for communication services. "But many of our students, faculty and staff spend the majority of their time on other Duke websites as part of their daily work and studies. For instance, Duke Today is a more useful site for most of them. We wanted a better way to share critical information with people who are not spending time on the home page, which is meant more for external audiences."
New syndication technology will make the alert bar appear when needed on the home pages of participating Duke schools and administrative departments. It will accommodate two levels of information. Level 1 alerts, represented by a red bar, will be used for emergencies and will link to the DukeALERT website (emergency.duke.edu) for additional information (see figure 1). Level 2 alerts, represented by an orange bar, will be used for important messages such as about pending severe weather or a gas leak in a building. These lower-level but still serious notices will link to the Working@Duke section of Duke Today (today.duke.edu/working) for more information (see figure 2).
The syndicated alert bar is the latest component of Duke's growing set of alert tools, which already include sirens, text messages, email blasts and an emergency telephone line. After the alert bar has been successfully tested, it will be made available for Duke schools and departments to include on their sites.
