Baart, F.

Cortes Arevalo, Vivian Juliette

den Haan, Robert-Jan Jan

Hulscher, Suzanne J.M.H.

van der Voort, Mascha C.

Verbrugge, Laura Nicoline Halley

Cortes Arevalo, Juliette

Verbrugge, Laura N.H.

den Haan, Robert Jan

Baart, Fedor

University of Twente Research Information

Geophysical Research AbstractsVol. 19, EGU2017-5768, 2017EGU General Assembly 2017© Author(s) 2017. CC Attribution 3.0 License.Storylines as an alternative method to communicate river research via aknowledge platformJuliette Cortes Arevalo (1), Laura N.H. Verbrugge (2), Robert Jan den Haan (3), Fedor Baart (4), Suzanne J.M.H.Hulscher (1), and Mascha C. van der Voort (3)(1) Water Engineering and Management, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands (v.j.cortesarevalo@utwente.nl), (2)Institute for Science, Innovation and Society Faculty of Science, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, (3) Departmentof Design, Production and Management, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands, (4) Department of Software, Data andinnovation, Deltares, Delft, NetherlandsSustainable river management relies on diverse and multi-faceted knowledge from fundamental and appliedresearch. Communicating the context, added value and potential use of river research to actors working in multipledisciplines or organizations is challenging. RiverCare is a research programme studying the mid-term effectsof innovative river interventions in the Netherlands. Effective communication between researchers and potentialusers of scientific information, such as water professionals, requires an interactive, two-way communicationapproach. As part of the communication strategy, we are designing a knowledge platform to provide access to,explain and gather feedback about the potential use of results from water professionals. The knowledge platformis a combination of online services including: a content management system in which storylines are the maincomponent; a data repository to the underlying research data and; hyperlinks to existing online sites that presentour results via short news articles.Storylines engage water professionals via experiences or stories of river management actors to explain re-search outputs instead of or in addition to more technical means such as scientific papers and reports. The use ofstorylines enables us to explain research outcomes in a way that is captivating and easily understood by a multi-disciplinary audience. To explore its usefulness as communication approach, we developed a storyline example forresearch about stakeholder perceptions of a re-landscaping intervention in the Waal river in the Netherlands. Thestoryline’s layout consisted of a menu outline and three tabs: (1) storyline’s content; (2) contact details; and (3)links to available resources or related publications. The storyline’s content was divided in four sections includingsubsections to navigate. Each section had a heading statement or question to engage users: “Imagine this!”; “Whatmatters? Places matter to people”; “Surveying people’s perceptions”; and “How these insight help us?”. Alongthe story, users can explore related links and available results presented in the form of interactive quotes and charts.The storyline example was discussed in a workshop with potential users to identify needs for improve-ment. Participants acknowledged its potential usefulness for water professionals abroad; applicability to otherresearch topics; and options to provide contact details. Participants also appreciated the nice layout and interactiveelements, such as interactive quotes and charts. However, more emphasis should be given on explaining whythe research was done and how the results can be useful for the users. The added value of storylines and thenavigation along the example was not always clear to water professionals and researchers and should be clarified.As presented in this study, the storyline example was a stand-alone component in a browser. To improve the userinteraction, next storyline prototypes will be embedded into the knowledge platform to clarify its navigation andto link the specific example as part of the research outcomes of the RiverCare project. Future storyline prototypeswill also include a feedback form to collect comments from water professionals and a glossary of terms to furtherclarify terms that were simplified in the storyline example.

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Storylines as an alternative method to communicate river research via a knowledge platform

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https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/20606479/EGU2017_5768_Session_IE4.3NH9.12.pdf

Storylines as an alternative method to communicate river research via a knowledge platform

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