The usability gap in water resources open data and actionable science initiatives

IF 2.6 4区 环境科学与生态学 Q3 ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL Journal of The American Water Resources Association Pub Date : 2023-08-03 DOI:10.1111/1752-1688.13153
Melissa A. Kenney, Michael D. Gerst, Emily Read
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Abstract

The open data movement represents a major advancement for informed water management. Data that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable—or FAIR—are now prerequisite to responsible data stewardship. In contrast to FAIR, accessibility and usability case studies and guidelines designed around human access and understanding are lacking in the literature, especially for water resources. Such decision support guidelines are critical because (i) inherent visual design trade-offs are not best made using intuition or feedback (perceived preference), and (ii) choosing designs requires a nuanced understanding of why and how the design works (revealed effectiveness). Thus, the goal of this commentary is to highlight knowledge gaps and discuss a general usability testing method which can be applied to any water resources decision support product. The user-testing approach includes (i) interviews about visualization goals, audiences, and the uses and decisions made with the data products, (ii) diagnosis of usability challenges, and (iii) redesign of decision support products given best practices and control versus treatment with intended end-user audiences. We illustrate the method using high-profile U.S. Geological Survey water science products. In sum, optimizing and testing for usability and understandability are as central to stakeholder use as FAIR standards are, and warrant being part of the development of data products and geovisualizations.

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水资源开放数据和可操作科学计划的可用性差距
开放数据运动代表着知情水资源管理的一大进步。可查找、可访问、可互操作、可重用的数据(或称 FAIR)现在已成为负责任的数据管理的先决条件。与 FAIR 相比,文献中缺乏围绕人类访问和理解而设计的可访问性和可用性案例研究和指南,尤其是在水资源方面。此类决策支持指南至关重要,因为:(i) 固有的可视化设计权衡并不是凭直觉或反馈(感知偏好)就能做出的最佳选择;(ii) 选择设计需要对设计为何有效以及如何有效(揭示的有效性)有细致入微的了解。因此,本评论旨在强调知识差距,并讨论一种可应用于任何水资源决策支持产品的通用可用性测试方法。用户测试方法包括:(i) 关于可视化目标、受众、数据产品的使用和决策的访谈,(ii) 对可用性挑战的诊断,(iii) 根据最佳实践和与预期最终用户受众的对照与处理重新设计决策支持产品。我们将使用美国地质调查局备受瞩目的水科学产品来说明该方法。总之,对可用性和可理解性进行优化和测试与 FAIR 标准一样,对利益相关者的使用至关重要,值得作为数据产品和地理可视化开发的一部分。
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来源期刊
Journal of The American Water Resources Association
Journal of The American Water Resources Association 环境科学-地球科学综合
CiteScore
4.10
自引率
12.50%
发文量
100
审稿时长
3 months
期刊介绍: JAWRA seeks to be the preeminent scholarly publication on multidisciplinary water resources issues. JAWRA papers present ideas derived from multiple disciplines woven together to give insight into a critical water issue, or are based primarily upon a single discipline with important applications to other disciplines. Papers often cover the topics of recent AWRA conferences such as riparian ecology, geographic information systems, adaptive management, and water policy. JAWRA authors present work within their disciplinary fields to a broader audience. Our Associate Editors and reviewers reflect this diversity to ensure a knowledgeable and fair review of a broad range of topics. We particularly encourage submissions of papers which impart a ''take home message'' our readers can use.
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