In an effort to rapidly communicate with students in the event of an emergency, the administration sent 15,000 e-mail invitations to Send Word Now.
As of yesterday, 38 percent of the student body had responded by submitting their primary contact information.
"In the first hour we had 1,100 people sign up," said Dawn Irish, the associate director of outreach for University Information Technology (UIT). "By the end of the first day, we had 23 percent signed up."
The e-mail asked students to register their cell phone numbers and preferred e-mail addresses in the Send Word Now system. In the case of an emergency, administrators can use that information to simultaneously contact students, faculty and staff members.
According to Irish, 38 percent of the student body and 40 percent of the Tufts faculty and staff have already submitted their information, bringing the total average to 39 percent.
Since the initial rush after the e-mail, however, "registration has definitely slowed down," she said.
Some students noticed a glitch in early registration, as an error screen was displayed instead of fields to enter contact information.
"We were a victim of our own success," Irish said. "We had such a response from the community that the Send Word Now servers were flooded. They had never received such an influx before."
To avoid such problems in the future, Send Word Now has updated its server capabilities, and, according to Irish, UIT will send future e-mails in staggered batches of 2,500.
On Tuesday of next week, the second round of Send Word Now invites will be e-mailed, this time only to students, faculty and staff members who did not register the first time. "We don't want to annoy the people who have already done it," Irish said.
According to Geoff Bartlett, the technical services manager for the Department of Public and Environmental Safety, a specific sign-up goal has not been set.
"It is hard to say what to expect," he said. "It doesn't look like our experience is different from other places."
While both Bartlett and Irish stressed that 100 percent participation would be ideal, they acknowledged the limitations of any communications system.
"In a crisis we're not going to get word to everyone, as some cell phones will be off [and there are] differences in cell phone coverage," Bartlett said. "But if we reach five people in a class of 20, then word of mouth will pick up the slack."
Irish explained that after the second e-mail invite, UIT will look at the registration data and selectively target any groups that have not yet signed up.
"What's blown us all away is that everyone has signed up and responded pretty much consistently," Irish said. "There has been no demographic trend as of yet."
She also said that UIT will do a system-wide test of Send Word Now in November. A test message will be sent to every registered user, but Irish said the specifics of the test have not yet been finalized.
"We want any potential lessons learned to be learned during a test," she said.
Another feature of the Send Word Now system is the Get Word Back option, which allows administrators to ask questions and get a text message or keypad response about students' whereabouts and status during an emergency situation.
"In an emergency an option might be 'Press 2 if you need help,' although it is hard to say what each option would be," Irish said. The responses would be tailored to the specific emergency.
Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said he has not received any complaints about the system.
"Given that it is a logical response to Virginia Tech, people are quite understanding of why we are doing this," he said.
And according to Bartlett, they have no need to be concerned about their privacy. "We've clearly taken steps to ensure privacy and assure people of their security," he said.
