Michele K Olson
Biographic Data
| ID | 6695926 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michele K Olson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michele K |
| FAMILY NAME | Olson |
| SIGNATURE | OLSON M K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Albany State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0546-0570 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Post-Alert Lexicon
Using a multiphased, mixed methods approach, grounded in theory on alerts and warnings, the Post-Alert Lexicon serves as a companion to the Warning Lexicon to provide evidence-based guidance on how to construct a postalert message for 45 hazards and missing person events. We draw from the results of quantitative content analyses of a census of postalert messages issued as Wireless Emergency Alerts from 2012 to 2022, and public message testing exp…
Improving Amber alerts
In the United States, Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are used to notify the public of abducted children. However, there is no established guidance for writing AMBER Alert WEAs, and the vast majority have been incomplete. Using three randomly assigned groups recruited via a Qualtrics survey panel, we test an incomplete message containing a link to additional information, which reflects baseline messaging practices, against complete ‘plain langua…
The Complete Message Is the Best Message
Standardized messaging for alerts and warnings has been made possible through the use of the Warning Lexicon and workflow. The effectiveness of this approach to motivate protective action behaviors, in comparison with the current standard of practice, has not yet been tested. Using an experimental design to test the effectiveness of the Warning Lexicon, we tested three message types for five hazards: blackouts, law enforcement incidents, infectio…
Measuring the Effectiveness of Disaster Warning Messages
Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal
The impact of hazard naming in Wireless Emergency Alerts
Wireless Emergency Alerts are an important way people learn about impending threats. Yet, these messages typically lack information about the hazard that will endanger people. In this study, we examine how naming the hazard and its associated cues in a Wireless Emergency Alert influences people’s perceptions that help them make protective action decisions, including understanding, belief, personalization, deciding, response efficacy, and self-eff…
Message canceled, orders lifted
The Warning Lexicon
Emergency managers and alert and warning originators require tools to build effective warning messages. The purpose of this research is to develop one such tool—a Warning Lexicon—that can be used to construct consistent warning messages for Wireless Emergency Alerts. Specifically, the Warning Lexicon systematically establishes a common set of statements about hazard impacts and their associated recommended protective actions that can be used to q…
Tweeting the Heat
Heat communication interventions are an essential way that public safety organizations can reduce extreme heat consequences for at-risk groups. Although the aim of these interventions is typically behavior change, these organizations commonly assume that providing information about heat risks, impacts, vulnerable populations, and protective actions will lead individuals to protect themselves. However, behavior change is a complex process whereby …
Getting the Word Out, Rain or Shine
Networked social media provide governmental organizations, such as the National Weather Service (NWS), the opportunity to communicate directly with stakeholders over long periods of time as a form of online engagement. Typologies of engagement include aspects of message content that provide information, contribute to community building, and inspire action and aspects of message microstructural features that facilitate interaction and dialogue, su…
Correcting Biased Cohen’s Kappa in NVivo
This study demonstrates that NVivo, a popular research tool for content analysis, produces biased Cohen’s kappa as it calculates the reliability statistic at the character level, which is unsuitable for most content-analytic studies adopting a higher unit of analysis (e.g., sentence, paragraph). Based on empirical data and a statistical simulation, this study proposes a method of bias correction applicable to situations where two independent rate…
Correcting Biased Cohen’s Kappa in NVivo
This study demonstrates that NVivo, a popular research tool for content analysis, produces biased Cohen’s kappa as it calculates the reliability statistic at the character level, which is unsuitable for most content-analytic studies adopting a higher unit of analysis (e.g., sentence, paragraph). Based on empirical data and a statistical simulation, this study proposes a method of bias correction applicable to situations where two independent rate…
Correcting Biased Cohen’s Kappa in NVivo
This study demonstrates that NVivo, a popular research tool for content analysis, produces biased Cohen’s kappa as it calculates the reliability statistic at the character level, which is unsuitable for most content-analytic studies adopting a higher unit of analysis (e.g., sentence, paragraph). Based on empirical data and a statistical simulation, this study proposes a method of bias correction applicable to situations where two independent rate…
Getting the Word Out, Rain or Shine
Networked social media provide governmental organizations, such as the National Weather Service (NWS), the opportunity to communicate directly with stakeholders over long periods of time as a form of online engagement. Typologies of engagement include aspects of message content that provide information, contribute to community building, and inspire action and aspects of message microstructural features that facilitate interaction and dialogue, su…
Tweeting the Heat
Heat communication interventions are an essential way that public safety organizations can reduce extreme heat consequences for at-risk groups. Although the aim of these interventions is typically behavior change, these organizations commonly assume that providing information about heat risks, impacts, vulnerable populations, and protective actions will lead individuals to protect themselves. However, behavior change is a complex process whereby …
Message canceled, orders lifted
The Warning Lexicon
Emergency managers and alert and warning originators require tools to build effective warning messages. The purpose of this research is to develop one such tool—a Warning Lexicon—that can be used to construct consistent warning messages for Wireless Emergency Alerts. Specifically, the Warning Lexicon systematically establishes a common set of statements about hazard impacts and their associated recommended protective actions that can be used to q…
The Complete Message Is the Best Message
Standardized messaging for alerts and warnings has been made possible through the use of the Warning Lexicon and workflow. The effectiveness of this approach to motivate protective action behaviors, in comparison with the current standard of practice, has not yet been tested. Using an experimental design to test the effectiveness of the Warning Lexicon, we tested three message types for five hazards: blackouts, law enforcement incidents, infectio…
Measuring the Effectiveness of Disaster Warning Messages
Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal
The impact of hazard naming in Wireless Emergency Alerts
Wireless Emergency Alerts are an important way people learn about impending threats. Yet, these messages typically lack information about the hazard that will endanger people. In this study, we examine how naming the hazard and its associated cues in a Wireless Emergency Alert influences people’s perceptions that help them make protective action decisions, including understanding, belief, personalization, deciding, response efficacy, and self-eff…
The Post-Alert Lexicon
Using a multiphased, mixed methods approach, grounded in theory on alerts and warnings, the Post-Alert Lexicon serves as a companion to the Warning Lexicon to provide evidence-based guidance on how to construct a postalert message for 45 hazards and missing person events. We draw from the results of quantitative content analyses of a census of postalert messages issued as Wireless Emergency Alerts from 2012 to 2022, and public message testing exp…
Improving Amber alerts
In the United States, Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are used to notify the public of abducted children. However, there is no established guidance for writing AMBER Alert WEAs, and the vast majority have been incomplete. Using three randomly assigned groups recruited via a Qualtrics survey panel, we test an incomplete message containing a link to additional information, which reflects baseline messaging practices, against complete ‘plain langua…
Computer Science (8 works) · Disaster Management and Resilience (8 works) · Computer security (6 works) · Public Relations and Crisis Communication (4 works) · Business (3 works) · Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics (3 works) · Hazard (3 works) · Medical emergency (3 works) · Medicine (3 works) · Risk Perception and Management (3 works)