It’s called Blackboard Connect. No, it’s not a school kid’s latest video game. It’s a high-tech mass-notification system used by several municipalities across Northwest Indiana, most lately Portage. “I researched several (systems) and I like the features of Blackboard the best,” said Joseph Calhoun, the city’s director of administration and emergency management. “We can send out a message citywide, draw an area on a map on the computer and call everyone located inside that area, or draw a line down a street and call only those on that street.” Designed for government use, school campuses and businesses, Blackboard Connect gives city officials the ability to reach residents in minutes, whether it’s a time-sensitive emergency situation, event outreach or attendance notification. It’s also automatically activated for tornado warnings and other activations can be done via desktop or iPad. “We are still discussing using it for additional options, such as bill pay reminders at our utility department, and a two-way text feature that would allow people to text information about potholes or downed trees,” Calhoun told me. To date, Portage has 14,400 contacts in the system, most with multiple contact mediums allowing the city to reach them at home, work or on their cell phone. But Blackboard imported 13,000 of those contacts when the city contracted with the company. So there are several thousand more residents to reach. “Obviously, we need to do somewhat of a marketing campaign to get others to provide unlisted numbers, cell numbers, SMS text and email addresses,” Calhoun noted. I’m told that the city of Hobart also uses Blackboard, as do other region cities. Some Northwest Indiana communities use similar notification systems with other companies. Regardless, I’m all for it and I’m surprised that other residents are slow to respond or skeptical of signing up. “It’s just another form of governmental Big Brother keeping tabs on us,” said John Brubaker of Portage, a longtime reader who contacted me about his concerns. I understand there are some of you who feel like Brubaker, cynical about the ever-growing digital network of personal information at the fingertips of our government. And, worse yet, corporations or criminals (or is that a redundancy?). But some aspects of the Digital Age can connect us for positive and purposeful reasons, such as this notification system. For example, it was used by Portage officials to send a message regarding a teenage runaway who left her home on foot and who police were searching for. I first learned about Blackboard Connect through the city’s newsletter magazine and I immediately signed up for it at https://cityof portagein.bbcportal. (Nonresidents are welcomed to sign up, too.) Your city also may use such a system and I encourage you to sign up and get more connected, whether you use a landline phone, a mobile device or some new gadget I’ve never heard of yet.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 20:15:57 +0000