Sonia H. Stephens

Evaluating the Utility and Communicative Effectiveness of an Interactive Sea-Level Rise Viewer Through Stakeholder Engagement

The design of interactive applications for online communication is an ongoing area of research within technical communication. This study reports on the development of an interactive sea-level rise (SLR) viewer, a data visualization tool that communicates about the potential effects of SLR along coastlines. It describes the formative evaluation of a location-specific SLR viewer created via integral stakeholder engagement. Participants performed a series of tasks, answered questions about the tools usability and communicative effectiveness, and made suggestions for ways to improve its application to desired tasks. The authors discuss the implications of this study for visual risk communication and make recommendations for others developing similar interactive data visualization tools with audience input.

Developing and managing transdisciplinary and transformative research on the coastal dynamics of sea level rise: Experiences and lessons learned

There is increasing emphasis from funding agencies on transdisciplinary approaches to integrate science and end-users. However, transdisciplinary research can be laborious and costly and knowledge of effective collaborative processes in these endeavors is incomplete. More guidance grounded in actual project experiences is needed. Thus, this article describes and examines the collaborative process of the Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise in the Northern Gulf of Mexico transdisciplinary research project, including its development, implementation, and evaluation. Reflections, considerations, and lessons learned from firsthand experience are shared, supported with examples, and connected to relevant scholarly literature.

An Analysis of the Narrative-Building Features of Interactive Sea Level Rise Viewers

Interactive sea level rise viewers (ISLRVs) are map-based visualization tools that display projections of sea level rise scenarios to communicate their impacts on coastal areas. Information visualization research suggests that as users interact with such tools they construct personalized narratives of their experience. We argue that attention to narrative-building features in ISLRVs can improve communication effectiveness by promoting user engagement and discovery. A content analysis that focuses on the presence and characteristics of narrative-building features in a purposive sample of 20 ISLRVs is conducted. We also identify particular areas where these ISLRVs could be improved as narrative-building tools.

Response of an algal assemblage to nutrient enrichment and shading in a Hawaiian stream

To investigate the effects of nitrate enrichment, phosphate enrichment, and light availability on benthic algae, nutrient-diffusing clay flowerpots were colonized with algae at two sites in a Hawaiian stream during spring and autumn 2002 using a randomized factorial design. The algal assemblage that developed under the experimental conditions was investigated by determining biomass (ash-free dry mass and chlorophyll a concentrations) and composition of the diatom assemblage. In situ pulse amplitude-modulated fluorometry was also used to model photosynthetic rate of the algal assemblage. Algal biomass and maximum photosynthetic rate were significantly higher at the unshaded site than at the shaded site. These parameters were higher at the unshaded site with either nitrate, or to a lesser degree, nitrate plus phosphate enrichment. Analysis of similarity of diatom assemblages showed significant differences between shaded and unshaded sites, as well as between spring and autumn experiments, but not between nutrient treatments. However, several individual species of diatoms responded significantly to nitrate enrichment. These results demonstrate that light availability (shaded vs. unshaded) is the primary limiting factor to algal growth in this stream, with nitrogen as a secondary limiting factor.

From Tree to Map: Using Cognitive Learning Theory to Suggest Alternative Ways to Visualize Macroevolution

Diagrams can be important tools for communicating about evolution. One of the most common visual metaphors that unites a variety of diagrams that describe macroevolution is a tree. Tree-based diagrams are designed to provide a phylogenetic framework for thinking about evolutionary pattern. As is the case with any other metaphor, however, misunderstandings about evolution may either arise from or be perpetuated by how we depict the tree of life. Researchers have tried various approaches to create tree-based diagrams that communicate evolution more accurately. This paper addresses the conceptual limitations of the tree as a visual metaphor for evolution and explores the ways we can use digital tools to extend our visual metaphors for evolution communication. The theory of distributed cognition provides a framework to aid in the analysis of the conceptual affordances and constraints of tree-based diagrams, and develop new ways to visualize evolution. By combining a new map-based visual metaphor for macroevolution with the interactive properties of digital technology, a new method of visualizing evolution called the dynamic evolutionary map is proposed. This paper concludes by comparing the metaphoric affordances and constraints of tree diagrams and the dynamic evolutionary map, and discussing the potential applications of the latter as an educational tool.

Evaluation of the design features of interactive sea-level rise viewers for risk communication

ABSTRACT Interactive sea-level rise viewers (ISLRVs) are digital tools used to communicate about impacts of sea-level rise (SLR) and support decision-making. This study characterizes how ISLRVs communicate about SLR-related risks and provide decision-making support. It identifies key themes about fostering accurate mental models of SLR processes, informing about inundation likelihood, communicating about related social and ecological risks, and providing features users can apply to specific tasks. We present a framework for understanding this type of communication tool that designers can use to develop robust ISLRVs that can support audiences’ understanding and decision-making needs, and contribute to enhancement of coastal resiliency.

Interactive data visualization for risk assessment: can there be too much user agency?

Audiences using interactive data visualizations can experience varying levels of agency as they employ these tools to select scenarios and explore data. While a high level of user agency is often framed in positive terms, this poster presentation argues that too much user agency may be detrimental in certain situations. It focuses on interactive visualizations that display risks associated with sea-level rise (SLR). In these tools, designer constraints on the range of SLR and strong authorial messaging can reduce user agency, but may better inform understanding and decision-making by users.

Rhetorical dimensions of social network analysis visualization for public health

This presentation describes how social network analysis (SNA) can be applied and used in technical communication. We focus on using SNA diagrams for public health communication. SNA diagrams convey the dynamics of the transmission of disease and other complex networked relationships. We discuss three key connection patterns of relevance to public health applications: degree centrality, Eigenvector centrality, and betweenness centrality. This is followed by an overview of existing literature on disease transmission patterns and SNA. Using Gephi, an open-source software package, simple and clear renderings of the three centrality patterns are illustrated. We then describe how technical communicators can appropriately emphasize key features using visual rhetoric, and discuss the need to be mindful of how any graphics producing technology has its own built-in biases that may have rhetorical effects.

Communicating with Coastal Decision-Makers and Environmental Educators via Sea Level Rise Decision-Support Tools

Communicating about environmental risks requires understanding and addressing stakeholder needs, perspectives, and anticipated uses for communication products and decision-support tools. This paper demonstrates how long-term dialogue between scientists and stakeholders can be facilitated by repeated stakeholder focus groups. We describe a dialogic process for developing science-based decision-support tools as part of a larger sea level rise research project in the Gulf of Mexico. We demonstrate how focus groups can be used effectively in tool development, discuss how stakeholders plan to use tools for decision-making and broader public outreach, and describe features that stakeholders perceive would make products more usable. Abstract

Transdisciplinary sea level rise risk communication and outreach strategies from stakeholder focus groups

As part of a larger transdisciplinary sea level rise (SLR) research project, six face-to-face, repeated focus groups with stakeholders (coastal resource managers and environmental communications professionals) were conducted in three states (Alabama, Florida, Mississippi) in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The purpose was to collect input on development of the project’s scientific research and models and gather future project outreach recommendations. This paper reports on the outreach-related results, which synergistically grew to encompass not only project-specific outreach but also broader concerns of stakeholders pertaining to risk communication. Participants believed outreach on SLR preparation was urgently needed and could be facilitated with a multifaceted targeted approach despite various challenges. Analysis revealed five target audience recommendations, six message content and format recommendations, and eight message delivery recommendations. Overall, the study provides empirical support for the perceived value and added benefits of social science, particularly qualitative methods, to foment transdisciplinary projects and for effective SLR communication. The paper concludes with a discussion of connections to the transdisciplinary research and risk communication literature followed by practical and future research implications.