When disaster strikes with technology, it usually disrupts communications. This makes it harder to keep people up to date on the status of the downtime. Then as I’m trying to fix the problem, every text or phone call slows down the repair as I respond to requests for updates.
When planning a technology alert system, I had two requirements:
- It should be painless and easy to update
- Users should be able to receive those updates even in the event their computers were down.
I settled on using Twitter for technology alerts. Users can subscribe to the alerts through text messaging so they will receive the alert soon after I post it. There are eight Twitter accounts for KCS Tech alerts and updates: kcstech, kcsestech, kcshctech, kcshstech, kcsmstech, kcsnwtech, kcsoltech, and kcswvtech. The main account, kcstech, is used to publish alerts and updates that pertain to the technology of the entire Kenton City Schools District. The remaining seven accounts are for alerts and updates that only affect an individual building. To subscribe to an account through text messages, text follow kcstech to 40404. If you are already a Twitter user, you can just follow the accounts.
For example, if you are a teacher at Espy, you would want to text 40404 with follow kcstech and follow kcsestech.
If you don’t want to follow through your cell phone and just want to see what’s up, you can also visit the Twitter page for each account, which is twitter.com/kcstech (replacing kcstech with the Twitter account you would like to see).
Please check with your texting plan before subscribing, each text could cost you $.25 or more!
