Communicating Science and Engineering Data in the Information Age (2012) / Chapter Skim
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4 Engaging Data Users
4 Engaging Data Users
Pages 63-78
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From page 63... ...
For the most part, outreach efforts have been addressed to those whom NCSES perceives to be in its main user community. The user community consists mostly of researchers and analysts of research and development (R&D)
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From page 64... ...
In the presentations and interviews, these users were asked to address, from their perspective, the current practices of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for communicating and disseminating information in hard-copy publication format as well as on the Internet through the NCSES website, and the Integrated Science and Engineering Resources Data System (WebCASPAR)
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From page 65... ...
In meeting the requirements of Congress for objective and impartial analysis, CRS publishes periodic reports on trends in federal support for R&D, as well as reports on special topics in R&D funding. Both types of studies rely heavily on data from NSF, both as originally published and as summarized in such publications as Science and Engineering Indicators and as extracted from the NSF website.
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From page 66... ...
, Kei Koizumi summarized the extensive use of NSF S&E information by this agency of the Executive Office of the President. He typically accesses the NCSES data primarily through the NCSES website, through the detailed statistical tables for individual surveys.
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From page 67... ...
Their overall view was that access to NSF-NCSES data tables and briefs is extremely helpful in STPI's support of OSTP and executive agencies. However, access to the data in a raw format would better enable assessment of emerging fields.
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From page 68... ...
He stated a major caution about the comparability of data sources and noted that good metadata (data about the data) are not generally available for NCSES data.
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From page 69... ...
NCSES could consider novel means of harvesting information about data use to analyze usage patterns, such as reviewing citations to NCSES data in publications, periodicals, and news items. For example, to get a sense of users who are citing S&E Indicators, a panel member did a Web of Science "cited reference search" on *
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From page 70... ...
Among the tools that NCSES has used to assess user needs, according to John Gawalt, NCSES program director for information and technology services at the time of the workshop, are URCHIN, a web statistics analysis program that analyzes web server log file content and displays the traffic information on the basis of the log data, and WebTrends, software that collects and presents information about user behavior on its website. With proper permissions and protections, NCSES is also contemplating using cookies to identify return users and increase the efficiency of filling data requests.
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From page 71... ...
Those workshops brought together users and potential users of licensed data. This same approach could be useful for acclimating users to web-based data and to introduce frequent users to changes in data dissemination practices and procedures.
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From page 72... ...
The personas could be formalized in short descriptions to aid data dissemination designers, in that they provide a common description of the needs, skills, and the environment faced by the various user persona. A related approach would be to develop a typology of user interaction scenarios that describe what users do with the online resources.
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From page 73... ...
Wiki pages on technical issues related to the database could generate a valuable two-way flow of information about technical issues between outside researchers and staff experts at NCSES. KEEPING USERS INFORMED The current NCSES websites and published reports appropriately point users to technical descriptions of the data collections and identify staff who are ready and able to assist users in their use of the data.
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From page 74... ...
ENHANCING USABILITY OF NCSES DATA Usability is generally understood to be the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use (ISO 9241-11)
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From page 75... ...
It is apparent that having the NCSES web pages as a subsite of the NSF website poses limitations for NCSES website designers. If not treated carefully, this fact of life could increase the difficulty of navigating the site for NCSES data users.
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From page 76... ...
The U.S. Access Board has responsibility for the Section 508 standards and has announced its intention to harmonize the web portions of its Section 508 regulations with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
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From page 77... ...
For example, a chart that is color-coded may not be readily interpreted by someone with color blindness, multimedia files may not be accessible to someone with deafness unless they are accompanied by transcripts, and someone with a cognitive disability, such as attention deficit disorder, may find websites that lack a clear and consistent organization difficult to navigate.5 Data Accessibility Issues The accessibility of tabular data and data visualization is an open research question. Although W3C has pioneered standards for accessibility of dynamic user interfaces, many other issues, including table navigation, navigation of large numeric data sets, and dynamic data visualization, raise computer-human interaction challenges that have been explored only 4 U.S.
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From page 78... ...
Brewer stated that Web 2.0 adds new opportunities for persons with disabilities, and that data visualization is a key to effective communication. However, people with disabilities face a number of barriers to web accessibility, including missing alternative text for images, missing captions for audio, forms that "time out" before they can submit them, images that flash and may cause seizures, text that moves or refreshes before they can interact with it, and websites that do not work with assistive technologies that many people with disabilities rely on.
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