Charting Issues Lay Public Usability in Online Meteorology Data-Flows with Technical Writing and Communication

Public meteorological observation and data flows are ever-increasing in terms of breadth, depth, and potential conflict. A generation ago, the vast majority of meteorological data was distributed to its publics through expert mediation. Whether it be from broadcast meteorologists, NWS bulletin and radio, or Farmer’s Almanac, weather observation and forecast data primarily reached its audiences interpreted through the voice of a credentialed expert. As that same data is increasingly distributed online, expert mediation and interpretation is becoming increasingly absent. As meteorological data are distributed through apps, websites, blogs from every conceivable level of expertise, and even social media posts, the role of a centralized meteorological authority vetting and translating data is diminished, if not abandoned. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and National Weather Service (NWS) web-portals even provide access to raw data and the corresponding modeling tools directly to publics; no meteorologist required.

While the meteorological community is working to embrace and navigate the challenges inherent in online data distribution and management, this presentation argues that the diminishing role of expert mediation represents a problematic that traditional meteorological scholarship may not be well equipped to address. Even as studies like Argyle et al. (2017); Mulder et al. (2017); Oakley and Daudert (2015); and Timofeyeva-Livezey and Horsfall (2015) have demonstrated valuable work to address issues of usability in data use and design, their work is primarily centered on intra-expert data use. New challenges rise as lay or non-credentialed publics increasingly gain access to and make us of the same data. Now, directly from NOAA and the NWS, amateur meteorologists, professional meteorologists, weather nerds, farmers, surfers, and your Grandmother’s Mahjong group access to the same GEOS East, Puerto Rico water vapor imagery loop that the federal government does. Moreover, many of these communities not only feed from this data-stream, but also is frequently repurpose, modify, and redistribute the data out to even more publics. For example, during the Eastern Atlantic hurricane season amateur meteorology web-services like www.dabuh.com, www.spaghettimodels.com, or www.weathernerds.com consume forecasting and modeling data directly from NOAA and redistribute them to followers with their own custom color-enhanced imagery or model renderings. There are far less works like Mass et al. (2009); Joslyn, Nemec, and Savelli (2012); and Tak, Toet, and Van Erp (2015) take the user experience of these non-expert publics as their focus.

Even if these audiences are not the intended audience of this data, the sheer proliferation of secondary and tertiary users makes their access to and experience with this data a research imperative. Speaker One addresses this imperative by charting out the depths of these meteorological data-flows, drawing attention to some of the more notable feeder communities and their data-use as a valuable but under studied flows of technical communication. Speaker one then discusses some of the primary data design and use challenges, and suggests the field of Technical Writing and Communication as a well-suited resource to address those challenges. Finally, speaker one makes some preliminary suggestions on how Technical Communication studies might improve the efficaciousness of this data-flow to the many publics it serves.

Argyle, E. M., Gourley, J. J., Flamig, Z. L., Hansen, T., & Manross, K. (2017). Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98(2), 373-382.

Joslyn, S., Nemec, L., & Savelli, S. (2013). The benefits and challenges of predictive interval forecasts and verification graphics for end users. Weather, Climate, and Society, 5(2), 133-147.

Oakley, N. S., & Daudert, B. (2016). Establishing best practices to improve usefulness and usability of web interfaces providing atmospheric data. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 97(2), 263-274.

Mass, C., Joslyn, S., Pyle, J., Tewson, P., Gneiting, T., Raftery, A., ... & Fraley, C. (2009). PROBCAST: A web-based portal to mesoscale probabilistic forecasts. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 90(7), 1009-1014.

Mulder, K. J., Lickiss, M., Harvey, N., Black, A., Charlton-Perez, A., Dacre, H., & McCloy, R. (2017). Visualizing volcanic ash forecasts: scientist and stakeholder decisions using different graphical representations and conflicting forecasts. Weather, Climate, and Society, 9(3), 333-348.

Tak, S., Toet, A., & Van Erp, J. (2015). Public understanding of visual representations of uncertainty in temperature forecasts. Journal of cognitive engineering and decision making, 9(3), 241-262.

Timofeyeva-Livezey, M., Horsfall, F., Hollingshead, A., Meyers, J., & Dupigny-Giroux, L. A. (2015). NOAA Local Climate Analysis Tool (LCAT): data, methods, and usability. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 96(4), 537-545.