Climate Exchange

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ommunities

tors (for example, bushfire, flood, sheep chill risk). The frequency of

seasonal updates will not change, only their appearance.

Expansion and knowledge transfer

The results of this project had value to other areas of the Bureau

that also face the challenge of communicating complex, multilay-

ered probabilistic information to a wide user group, such as those

working in disaster mitigation, extreme weather and flood forecast-

ing. More broadly, the results provided insights about users’ general

preferences for web-based products. This information was shared

through presentation of two internal seminars, which were filmed,

the development of a project website,

and a project brochure.

Aside from improving understanding on how best to depict proba-

bilistic information, the project was also regarded as being a highly

successful pilot of a new user-centred design process for product rede-

sign. Accordingly, the lessons from this project’s success also relate

to the use of an interdisciplinary project team. The employment of

a generalist (rather than technical specialist) project manager, with

expertise in managing multidisciplinary teams, was important. This

allowed seamless integration of advice from scientists, designers and

communications experts, and the creation of a synergistic and posi-

tive team environment. Particularly valuable was the use of a neutral

external market research agency with genuine expertise in properly

understanding and synthesizing disparate user responses, while the

Communication and Adoption Team Manager provided valuable ‘on

call’ advice. Finally, the active involvement of the science product

manager was crucial. He had an extensive network of contacts with

key stakeholder groups and the project was able to leverage this to gain

extensive, deeply considered and detailed user feedback. His involve-

ment and that of other scientists from the climate prediction section

ensured the design concepts remained grounded in scientific realism.

Challenges to moving forward

The design concepts produced in this project remain only ‘abstract’

design notions created by a graphic designer; they are yet to be tested

with real data. The production of working prototypes that also achieve

aesthetic and communication objectives will be a challenge. There are

also several practical issues to consider. Significant staff and informa-

tion technology resources will be required to develop and

test the new prototypes, and effort must be maintained

in the area of ongoing user consultation. A coordination

challenge will be the need to strive for a similar ‘look and

feel’ across the Bureau’s entire web product range.

Finally, in this consultation project, users told the

Bureau that they wanted more visual representation of

the data. This raises some scientific and technical issues

about how data is accurately ‘cartoonised’ so as to appear

neat and clear yet also scientifically accurate. For example,

should all areas of high probability of above median rain-

fall be depicted, even if they are ‘pin prick’ size, or should

climatologists be able to manipulate the cartoon graphics

to simply indicate the main general trends?

Honouring the principles of the Global

Framework for Climate Services

Principle 8 of the Global Framework for Climate Services

emphasizes the importance of user-provider partnerships.

This project has demonstrated the strength of ongoing

user consultation at a wide range of levels. Achieving

broad consultation between those with a sophisticated

level of scientific knowledge and those from a non-scien-

tific background, or between inhabitants of tropical zones

and of alpine areas, requires a multilayered, deep and wide

consultation process. Using several consultation methods

(interviews, focus groups and online surveys) helps to

capture and amalgamate the variety of viewpoints. The use

of market research specialists to manage the information

gathering process and also analyse the disparate results is

a highly defensible and robust way to ensure user needs

are carefully identified and expertly addressed.

Acknowledgement must be given to the expertise provided by

other project team members (not already listed as authors):

Grant Beard, Agata Imielska, Michael Shaw, Jenny Hunter

and Robyn Duell. Critical input was also received from Neil

Plummer, David Jones and Rob Morton.

Workshop participants sketched new designs to enhance climate resources for users

Source: National Climate Centre