What is multi-modal communication? Are text messages alone sufficient?
With the Connect-ED for Higher ED service, campus officials can reach their community members in their own voice (at landlines, cell phones, and via e-mail) and via text messages (at cell phones, PDAs/other text-receiving devices, e-mail accounts, and TTY/TDD receiving devices for the hearing impaired). During a time-sensitive situation, multi-modal communication is critical as it is a more comprehensive way to reach people in the environment they may be in at the moment an issue arises. Communication is sent simultaneously to all available contact points for each person. Relying on any single way to reach constituents (whether it is through just voice calls or just SMS) introduces a single point of failure. Additionally, text messages to cell phones, while a great back-up communication medium, is not stable enough to rely upon solely for time-sensitive communication. Cellular carriers did not design SMS (Short Messaging Service) as a reliable medium for transmitting high volume, time-
