Last Thursday, U of T staff and students received a test voicemail from U of T Emergency Alerts, a mass-messaging system that lets the school contact subscribers with instructions during a crisis. Those with a UTORID can register their phone numbers to receive alerts.

The voicemail went out to 12,500 subscribers at U of T’s St. George and Mississauga campuses, as well as all landlines registered in the school’s database. Aizan Technologies, a Richmond Hill-based company, charges 10 cents per call. The university first experimented with the service last year to send out text and email messages, opting this year to use voicemail exclusively.

U of T spokesperson Erin Lemon said that while text messaging has its advantages, a voicemail would likely be more effective in a time of crisis.

“We’ve started by voicemail in part because the [text message] system limits us to 140 characters,” Lemon said. “I’m not sure whether that’s enough space to communicate in an emergency.” She added that a report of Thursday’s test is expected shortly, detailing how many people answered the call and how many do not have voicemail services on their phones.

“Part of the reason for the test is to balance the need for a longer message,” Lemon said. “My instinct is that people who are in class—where you obviously can’t answer your phone—they can probably have a look and see what a text message says.”

“We need to figure out a bunch of tools that overlap with each other so we’re confident we’re reaching as many people as possible,” she added.

U of T first signed a contract with Aizan Technologies in February 2008, the same week a gunman killed six people and wounded 18 in a murder-suicide at Northern Illinois University. Since then, a number of Canadian universities have implemented mass text and voicemail alert services, led by Windsor and UBC; the latter helped U of T set up its service.

Researchers at the University of Alberta, University of New Brunswick, and Simon Fraser University banded together to establish the Campus Emergency Messaging Research Group to look into the effectiveness of mobile and social networking emergency services. The group will publish the results of their three-year study in 2010.

System providers began to proliferate after the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, where university officials were criticized for alerting students by email more than three hours after the initial attack. At the time, there were suggestions of using a more traditional mechanism, like an alarm or siren. The University of California at Berkeley, for example, uses a siren and tests it on the first Wednesday of each month. Queen’s University has 22 video screens across campus that display information and emergency warnings.

“At first glance, [a siren] looks really intuitive. Not for the St. George Campus. We have neighbours to account for,” Lemon said.

The morning after Thursday’s test, U of T Emergency Alerts reported 134 new subscribers. Once a detailed follow-up report is released, the strategic communications department will consult with emergency management experts to assess the results and decide next steps.

Students can register with the service at alert.utoronto.ca/callme.