Emergency Web Alert System

The Emergency Web Alert System (EWAS) allows Public Affairs to post an emergency message on all participating campus Web sites. By campus policy, the system will be activated only under significant and imminent threat of death, great bodily injury, or significant property damage.

The ultimate goal is to have every campus Web page display this universally accessible alert. This requires the participation of every campus unit.

Pages required to include the EWAS coding include:

• College and department home pages
• all top-level campus sites (on the http://illinois.edu domain)
• University Library home page and catalog gateway
• Illinois Directory
• Express E-mail
• UI Now
• Public Affairs home page
• and the Division of Public Safety home page

Pages encouraged to include the EWAS coding:

All units on the Illinois campus are asked to identify web pages that are used by large numbers of their on-campus constituents as an entry point to illinois.edu online (bookmarked pages). These pages should include the EWAS coding.

Content, process and code

Content

The alert will include a brief summary of the immediate emergency and a link to an emergency status page with more detailed information.

Process

In an emergency, Public Affairs will post an alert through EWAS.  When the user clicks on a properly coded page the red message box will display stating the nature of the emergency and linking to more information. When the alert message is closed, the emergency status page will open in a new browser window. Each subsequent alert will be displayed when it is posted and the information on the emergency status page will be updated.

View an example (image only) of the emergency alert.

Code

Insert a <script> tag immediately before the closing </body> tag on Web pages or templates to display the alert when it is posted. If no alert is posted, nothing will display and the pages will function normally.

The tag to insert for http:// pages is:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://emergency.webservices.illinois.edu/illinois.js"></script>

The tag to insert for https:// pages is:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://emergency.webservices.illinois.edu/illinois.js"></script>

How will Webmasters know if the tag is inserted correctly?

You can test by inserting a temportary testing <script> tag. This test is functional and behaves exactly like the live <script>. If you see an alert, it is inserted correctly. If you minimize the alert you will need to clear your cookies to redisplay the message. If you use this testing script, be sure to change back to the live script when you are finished.

The test script to insert is:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://emergency.webservices.illinois.edu/test/alert.js"></script>

Is there anything else Webmasters need to do?

Webmasters are asked to fill out a short form to help track EWAS code implementation. The form is available at http://illinois.edu/goto/ewasform

Need Assistance?

See our EWAS Discussion Board here.

The Office of Web Services is available to answer questions. Please contact webservices@illinois.edu or call (217) 244-8639 (voicemail not available on this phone).