Year: 2021
Project(s):
Relevance
NOAA's Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSCRTP), in partnership with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), planned an overhaul of the DSCRTP website and interactive map viewer (https://deepseacoraldata.noaa.gov/) to improve access to data, enhance end-user experience and modernize the interface. To help ensure that the planned updates were aligned with end-user needs, NCEI and DSCRTP required stakeholder input.
Response
NCEI and DSCRTP collaborated with the science outreach team to create and implement an end-user engagement plan, including a digital survey and a series of virtual stakeholder focus groups, to gain feedback from target audiences that could be used to improve the end product. The team gathered, organized and shared notes from the survey and focus groups with the DSCRTP team to help inform them for the future overhaul.
Results
The science outreach team gave DSCRTP a list of stakeholder suggestions, which informed the planned overhaul and led to a more successful end-product. The results of this collaboration, and the ensuing interface updates, were highlighted in a poster at the international Ocean Sciences Meeting, which ocean specialists from over 75 countries attended.
Recap
The Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant Science Outreach Team assisted developers at NOAA's Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program during a planned upgrade to their website and interactive mapping tool. The upgrade called for developing and implementing an end-user engagement plan to inform NOAA of information requests from key audiences and help determine relevant data to include in the update. The update aimed to enhance user experience, modernize design and improve access to content. (2021)