{"id":14801,"date":"2023-06-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/designcompass.org\/?p=14801"},"modified":"2023-05-31T22:52:54","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T13:52:54","slug":"national-alert-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/designcompass.org\/en\/2023\/06\/01\/national-alert-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency text messages in Seoul: the worst emergency alert experience analyzed by designers"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 6:41 in the morning of May 31st, all smartphones in the Seoul area rang loudly. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has sent an emergency text message. A message was sent to prepare for evacuation and to help evacuate children and the elderly first. Naver Home was in a state of inaccessibility, and there was nothing related to searching on Google. I was able to figure out what the situation was like through Twitter, and at 7:03 am, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security sent an emergency disaster text message again, and informed that the alert issued by the Seoul Metropolitan Government was sent incorrectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udc41\ufe0f Designer Eye<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Criticism is strong. This alert was a serious flaw. There was a warning that North Korea would launch a projectile, and the alarm was raised because it fired in the south 10 minutes before texting. It's such an urgent text message, but the most important content is missing. Rather, it amplified public anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This incident made me realize how important user-centered thinking and accurate writing are. It could have been expressed better depending on the context and circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an emergency, the most important thing is quick and clear action. When you're really in a hurry, you need to ask for action rather than talk. A car rushes in, but 'a car is going to you, so avoid it!' 'Damage!' is faster than<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this warning was not 'evacuation' but 'preparation for evacuation'. If the emergency is such that you have to evacuate right away, it may be appropriate to say the action of evacuating as quickly as possible. (But even that was 10 minutes late.) It was a sentence that raised many questions about why and how to prepare for evacuation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no way to find an alternative or answer to this. Naver Home, which is used the most, is dead, and only articles from 10 hours ago appear on Google searches. I looked around the three terrestrial broadcasters on YouTube, but there was nothing special. I was barely able to figure out what was going on with Twitter's trending keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83d\udcd5 Editor's Notes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It felt like I was using the worst usability app that alerted me to all my notifications with loud sounds and red text. The combination of ambiguous requests for action, unknown reasons, and no alternatives to find information only amplified the confusion. Even the mumbled broadcast somewhere amplified my anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought about faith. When an earthquake occurred in Japan, I think I felt the same way I did when I checked the information on Twitter. And I also remembered the unforgettable and heartbreaking accident that happened in the past. Can we really trust the communication of these national institutions in the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More and Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n