To assess the efficacy of warning communications, we need to understand the what, why, and how of variations in warning information reception and use. This presentation will offer insights from two ongoing studies that suggest dimensions of difference in ways that people use warning communications as inputs for individual and community decisions and actions.
A NOAA-North Carolina Sea Grant supported two-year study of hurricane risk perception and risk communication practices shows that residents (sample 1079)and businesses/organizations (sample 603) in 20 North Carolina coastal counties differ in how they pull' National Weather Service (NWS) warning messages and other information to decide on their response, as well as how they push' warning information out in social and cultural networks to inform other responses. Demographic characteristics and other factors are considered.
A National Weather Service-North Carolina Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI)at Chapel Hill supported 1 year project to enhance emergency management decision support suggests in preliminary findings related to winter weather events that county emergency managers and emergency support function managers (e.g., school system transportation directors) vary regionally and within regions of North Carolina in how they pull' as well as push' NWS information products (among other products) when making decisions. Geography, communication technology access, and other factors are considered.
To generalize from these regional studies, I will view weather warnings from social science and human science perspectives on communication to suggest objectives for usability testing of warnings. Testing can inform communicators' understanding of localization, or the interpretation and re-use of information in local contexts and situations.
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