User Needs Group

1
User Needs Group

• Status Report to the Commercial Mobile Service
  Alert Advisory Committee
• May 16, 2007
• Gary K Jones, UNG Deputy Chair

2
UNG Mission

• The primary mission of the User Needs Group (UNG)
  is to address the needs of the customers of
  commercial mobile service (CMS) providers that
  voluntarily elect to transmit emergency alerts,
  particularly non-English speaking customers (see
  WARN Act Section 603(c)(4) and those with other
  special needs such as people with disabilities
  and the elderly. Thus, UNG will develop
  recommendations under which electing CMS
  providers may offer subscribers the capability of
  preventing the subscribers device from receiving
  emergency alerts, or classes of alerts, (other
  than an alert issued by the President),
  consistent with section 602(b)(2)(E) of the WARN
  Act. (WARN Act 603(c)(5))
• In its work, the UNG will review proposals by the
  other informal working groups as it relates to
  the needs of end users, particularly addressing
  both network and CPE issues. The UNG also will
  work with NIST on standards and technologies
  issues related to the delivery of alerts to
  people with special needs.

3
UNG Participants

• CMSAAC participation
• City of New York (Leader)
• T-Mobile (Deputy Leader)
• Texas Association of Broadcasters
• WGBH National Center for Accessible
  Media/Gallaudet University
• FLASH
• Mississippi Council on Aging
• Poarch Band of Creek Indians
• Onset Technology
• Cingular/ATT
• Association of Public Safety Communications
  Officials
• NTI Group, Inc.
• Maryland Relay-State of Maryland
• Michigan Association of Broadcasters

4
UNG Issues Being Addressed

• The UNG will develop recommendations under which
  electing CMS providers may offer subscribers the
  capability of preventing the subscribers device
  from receiving emergency alerts, or classes of
  alerts, (other than an alert issued by the
  President), consistent with section 602(b)(2)(E)
  of the WARN Act. (WARN Act 603(c)(5))
• The User Needs Group believes there will be a
  substantial number of users that would like to
  have the option of partially opting-out of the
  imminent threat class of alerts.
• The UNG draft conclusions
• a capability of opting-out of all but the
  Presidential level messages
• a capability of opting-out of all but the most
  extreme event warnings
• a capability of opting-out of only AMBER Alert
  notifications

5
UNG Issues Being Addressed

• Determine user categories for which
  recommendations will be made
• Defining emergency message formats for special
  needs users (e.g., text, video, audio), basing
  its recommendations on the service profiles
  defined by the Communications Technology Group
• UNG Draft Conclusions
• Deaf/Hard of Hearing - Unique vibration attention
  signal for devices that provide a vibration
  signal. Unique audio attention signal should
  have more than one frequency, and not be very
  high frequency as hearing loss tends to be most
  prominent in the high frequencies.
• Blind/Low Vision No unique needs regarding
  attention signal. Speech version needed for
  blind people. High contrast display, don't use
  color to carry information, use sans serif font,
  adjustable size if possible

6
UNG Issues Being Addressed

• UNG Draft Conclusions (Continued)
• Cognitive - No unique needs regarding attention
  signal. Useful to have simple language, minimize
  abbreviations. Include most crucial info at the
  top.
• Manual dexterity - No unique needs regarding
  attention signal. Minimize scrolling and
  manipulation.
• Elderly - Combinations of disabilities are common
  in elderly persons. Unfamiliar behavior of the
  device could cause confusion in some- recommend
  to keep it simple
• UNG draft conclusion for all categories of users-
  Do not require any special action to turn off
  alert. A familiar command like "hang up" or
  "end" is recommended.

7
UNG Issues Being Addressed

• Making recommendations for a common look and
  feel for alerts, alerting controls, and
  provisioning mechanisms across electing service
  providers diverse technology platforms
• The UNG draft conclusions There should be a
  distinctive alert tone and vibrating cadence for
  CMA Messages. Common icons/symbols in black and
  white should be used where practical. This is not
  meant to limit the use of color, only that the
  color of the icons does not represent any needed
  information.
• Making recommendations regarding subscriptions,
  control, notification, and presentation
  formats/mechanisms appropriate to the needs of
  various special needs users
• Many features being discussed for CMAS support
  accessibility but some areas are unresolved. 
  Recommend CTG review list and attempt to address
  the areas needing resolution.
• Drafting the Consumer Notification that will be
  issued by non-electing service providers,
  electing service providers and partially electing
  service providers
• The UNG will begin addressing this at our next
  Face to Face meeting. Group also considering
  consumer education needs.

8
UNG Issues Being Addressed

• Use of Symbols/Icons to be displayed on the
  mobile device
• Symbols considered for initiators only not for
  event types
• Symbols that are US-Specific but risking making
  handsets too specific in the global market and
  risking no symbol adoption by US carriers or
  worse, declining to participate in CMAS
• Roaming issues if symbols are US-specific what
  will be displayed on roaming handsets that have
  no symbols embedded in the handset software
• Symbols that are global but that requires
  global standardization and could delay
  availability on handsets until standardization is
  complete
• Symbols proposed (at least some) lose their
  detail and possibly meaning when reduced and
  displayed on a low contrast screen
• Possible consideration of simple symbols such as
  a circle with a W for weather but these would
  not come from a known standard set of symbols
• What is the mechanism for instructing the mobile
  device to display the symbol and what is its
  interaction with text to speech software

9
UNG Issues Being Addressed

• Work with other Working Groups in determining Use
  Cases
• The UNG is considering applicable use cases
• Evacuate
• Shelter in place
• All clear/never mind
• Request for public assistance
• Case examples
• Sudden natural disaster (e.g., tornado)
• Predicted natural disaster (e.g., hurricane)
• Police event message (e.g., sniper suspect at
  large)
• Man-made disaster message (e.g., nuclear
  accident)
• Man-made infrastructure disaster (e.g., hazmat)