This was the message people in Hawaii read and then panic ensued. Not until 38 minutes after the warning went out did the state issue a correction. Various officials and news organizations beat the state to the “false alarm” message using Twitter and other social media.
Meanwhile, thousands of residents of Hawaii and tourists freaked out.
As the Washington Post reported, an errant employee actually was working with a drop-down menu on a computer program, from which the official chose the wrong item. On Monday, state officials released an image of that menu, provided to The Post by Hawaii News Now, and it shed some light on why it might be confusing.
The menu, which triggers alerts, contains a jumble of options, ranging from Amber alerts to Tsunami warnings to road closures. Some of them, such as “High Surf Warning North Shores,” are in plain English. Others, including the one for a missile attack, “PACOM (CDW)-STATE ONLY,” use shorthand initials. (PACOM refers to the United States Pacific Command based in Hawaii.)
And the menu contained no ballistic missile defense false alarm option — which has now been added at the top of the image, marked up by officials for explanatory purposes.
What's the moral of this story? Do any of you have any examples of poor interface design (hopefully less catastrophic) that created problems in knowing which button to push, or pushed the wrong one?
This morning I read an article about the employee who was dealing with the interface and drill alerts. It turns out that the state of Hawaii kept him in his position for about 10 years that should actually be renewed on an annual basis, coaching him along the way. Meanwhile, colleagues had problems with this employee due to his lack of understanding between drills and actual events.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency has allowed managers in similar positions to follow procedures differently according to their beliefs of what is important in drills and actual crises.
I find it interesting that initially, the state claimed it was solely human error. I wonder what steps will be taken under the FCC's supervision to establish a better system for Hawaii and other state governments for important notifications such as these.
Here's the article I read for more info!
https://www.apnews.com/31b0b286f51946588d57049e14acdee3/Hawaii-worker-sent-false-missile-alert-thinking-it-was-real