University of Wisconsin-Madison, SSEC Co-Investigators, Margaret Mooney and Jean Phillips, in consultation with David Herring, the NOAA CPO Director of Communications and Education (CPO CommEd), collaborated to measure audience perceptions of the NOAA Climate Services (NCS) prototype web page, climate.gov. The year-long effort gauged audience perceptions of the accessibility, usability, scope, and functionality of the site and developed a Quality of Relationship(QoR)measure.
NOAA defines its four target audiences as: (1) the climate-interested public; (2) climate science data users (scientists and applications-oriented professionals); (3) science educators (formal and informal), and (4) climate science policy decision-makers.
The study consisted of a literature review, usability study, focus groups and a web-based survey.