As a loyal Indiana fan, I’m not one to toot the horn of our in-state academic neighbors to the north often, but news of an important test of text messaging techology merits a little noise. Purdue University will conduct what is believed to be the first large-scale, real-world test of using text messaging to issue emergency alerts. The test, which will begin on Monday, Sept. 24, will involve more than 7,200 volunteers who will accept the test messages and respond so that researchers can track the actual time it takes to deliver messages to a mass audience.