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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.


The Blue Alert that woke the entire state of Texas
This message got a LOT of unwanted attention on October 7, 2024 after it was issued to the entire state of Texas at 4:53am. Reading...

Jeannette Sutton
Nov 4, 2024


Private Sector WEA messages? Yes, it's a thing.
On November 19, 2023, Adams County, CO issued a WEA on behalf of Suncor refinery on a Sunday morning at 4:32 am. It blasted phones...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 26, 2024


Source, Hazard Description, Location, and Time: the importance of a complete message
Actionable alert and warning messages should contain 5 elements: the source, hazard (plus description), location, actionable guidance,...

Jeannette Sutton
Nov 22, 2023


Message Content Order Can Affect Readability and Action
Wireless Emergency Alerts are typically sent during periods of imminent threat, where emotions are heightened and information seeking...

Jeannette Sutton
Nov 9, 2023


Creating internal consistency across messages
Three messages sent from 11:41 pm to 4:55 am in one night. While its uncommon to find multiple messages issued over the course of the...

Jeannette Sutton
Sep 30, 2023


Content order can affect readability.
Did you know that social scientists investigated the best order of WEA message contents? They did! And it looks something like the...

Jeannette Sutton
Sep 23, 2023


Post-event messages should inform people that they are safe.
WEA issued 6/27/2023 Researchers are learning a great deal about how to effectively communicate that an event has ended, an order has...

Jeannette Sutton
Jun 28, 2023


Brushfire
To the left (click image to enlarge), we include the original 90-character WEA and a revised 272-character WEA. The first message on the...

Jeannette Sutton
Feb 19, 2023
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