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Read. Understand. Apply.
The Warn Room blogs apply 70 years of research to the practice of alerts and warnings. We show how evidence-based changes to message content, style, and structure can create more effective warnings.


Over-alerting: Incomplete, inconsistent, and not actionable
Recently, my colleague Dr. Michele Wood and I published a paper that defines and identifies dimensions of over-alerting. While some of...

Jeannette Sutton
Sep 9
Closing the Communication Loop: thoughts about campus alerting
When people have been told to protect themselves by taking shelter; when the conditions are highly uncertain; when the threat holds a...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 29


When a warning has ended, what do you say?
When a warning has ended, do you send a message or do you let silence speak for you? Do you let the public figure out that the coast is...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 18


BOLO... for what? This is why people opt out.
One of the advantages of Wireless Emergency Alerts is their ability to alert people, without requiring them to opt in, and to do so in a...

Jeannette Sutton
Apr 27


Completing the communication loop with a post-alert message
There are a few reasons that really stand out about why an alert originator of public safety communicator could choose to send a...

Jeannette Sutton
Mar 6


A Model Plain Language Wildfire Message
Once in a while, a message will pop into the warn.pbs.org feed that is exceptional. This is one of those times. ** A complete, plain...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 13


Thoughts on Cancelling the Missing Person Message
A few weeks ago, we wrote about "what makes a good missing person message?" and why an "all clear message" is so important. In this...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 10


All Clear Messages and Active Shooters
All clear messages are designed to do one thing: let people know that the event has concluded and they are safe to return or resume...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 6, 2024


"All clear" messaging; emphasizing event resolution
We frequently get questions about 'what conditions warrant a follow-up WEA' and 'what content should those messages include'? In...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 28, 2024


A Well-Written Cancellation Message for a Boil Water Advisory.
The National Weather Service has done quite a bit of research on the use of the terms "watch", "warning", and "advisory", demonstrating...

Jeannette Sutton
Dec 1, 2023


Including hazard impact information increases message understanding
Sometimes, threats and hazards may seem self-explanatory; other times, a hazard impact statement will help the receiver to understand why...

Jeannette Sutton
Aug 5, 2023


Law Enforcement warning and all-clear
A series of messages about law enforcement activity. The Warning Gallery has many examples of incomplete warning messages that would...

Jeannette Sutton
Jun 10, 2023


Cancellation messages
WEA sent 1/31/2022 Cancellation messages, also called "all-clear" or "post-alert messages," have been under-studied by warning...

Jeannette Sutton
Jan 31, 2023


Warning has been lifted...but what does that mean?
WEA sent 10/16/2022 at 11:47am Back in January 2018, following the ICBM WEA that will go down in infamy, it became pretty clear that...

Jeannette Sutton
Oct 15, 2022
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