Alerts
Encyclopedia
Alert is a colloquial term used to define a machine-to-person communication that is important and/or time sensitive. An alert contains user-requested content such as a reminder (important), a notification (urgent), and ultimately an alert
(important and urgent). Alert messaging or alert notification is the delivery of alerts to recipients.
Alert messaging emerged from the study of Personal Information Management
(PIM), the science of discovering how people perform certain tasks to acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve and use information relevant to them. Alert notification is a natural evolution of the concept of RSS
which makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner. Alerting makes it possible for people to keep up with the information that matters most to them.
Alerts are typically delivered through a notification system
and the most common application of the service is machine-to-person communication. Very basic services provide notification services via email or SMS
. More advanced systems (for example AOL
) provides users with the choice of selecting a preferred delivery channel such as e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS), instant messaging (IM), via voice through voice portals and more. Novel approaches provide users with the ability to schedule their own alerts (for example Google Calendar
). The most sophisticated service providers embrace all capabilities, aggregating a multitude of reminder, notifications and alert, catering the delivery system to the specific context of the content being delivered thus enabling users to create sophisticated scenarios.
, particularly for information that hasn't been requested by the user. The advent of technologies such as RSS
and now alert notification are an effort directed to creating an antithesis to spam: the information being received by users is exclusively from opt-in requests.
is continually working to improve their ability to put in place a notification system in case of emergency, in an attempt to help protect citizens. The first system was the Emergency Broadcast System
, an emergency warning system in the United States, used from 1963 to 1997, when it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System
. On April 9, 2008, the FCC approved an emergency alert text-messaging system so that cellular telephone users can get text message alerts in case of emergencies.
Alert
To be alert is to be in a state of alertness.Alert or ALERT may also refer to:-Places:* Alert, Indiana, a community in the United States* Alert, Nunavut, Canada, the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world...
(important and urgent). Alert messaging or alert notification is the delivery of alerts to recipients.
Alert messaging emerged from the study of Personal Information Management
Personal information management
Personal information management refers to the practice and the study of the activities people perform in order to acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve and use information items such as documents , web pages and email messages for everyday use to complete tasks and fulfill a person’s various...
(PIM), the science of discovering how people perform certain tasks to acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve and use information relevant to them. Alert notification is a natural evolution of the concept of RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
which makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner. Alerting makes it possible for people to keep up with the information that matters most to them.
Alerts are typically delivered through a notification system
Notification system
A modern notification system is a combination of software and hardware that provides a means of delivering a message to a set of recipients. For example, notification systems can send an e-mail when a new topic has been added to Wikipedia. The complexity of the notification system is often...
and the most common application of the service is machine-to-person communication. Very basic services provide notification services via email or SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
. More advanced systems (for example AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
) provides users with the choice of selecting a preferred delivery channel such as e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS), instant messaging (IM), via voice through voice portals and more. Novel approaches provide users with the ability to schedule their own alerts (for example Google Calendar
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a free time-management web application offered by Google. It became available on April 13, 2006, and exited the beta stage in July 2009...
). The most sophisticated service providers embrace all capabilities, aggregating a multitude of reminder, notifications and alert, catering the delivery system to the specific context of the content being delivered thus enabling users to create sophisticated scenarios.
Alerts and spam
The notion of content being delivered to users has received negative connotation over the years and is sometimes labeled as spammingSpam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
, particularly for information that hasn't been requested by the user. The advent of technologies such as RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...
and now alert notification are an effort directed to creating an antithesis to spam: the information being received by users is exclusively from opt-in requests.
FCC
The Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
is continually working to improve their ability to put in place a notification system in case of emergency, in an attempt to help protect citizens. The first system was the Emergency Broadcast System
Emergency Broadcast System
The Emergency Broadcast System was an emergency warning system in the United States, used from 1963 to 1997, when it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System.-Purpose:...
, an emergency warning system in the United States, used from 1963 to 1997, when it was replaced by the Emergency Alert System
Emergency Alert System
The Emergency Alert System is a national warning system in the United States put into place on January 1, 1997, when it superseded the Emergency Broadcast System , which itself had superseded the CONELRAD System...
. On April 9, 2008, the FCC approved an emergency alert text-messaging system so that cellular telephone users can get text message alerts in case of emergencies.