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\begin{document}

\title{Communicating drought: Innovating approaches through engagement with
decision makers}



\author[1]{Rebecca Ward}%
\author[2]{Kirsten Lackstrom}%
\author[1]{Corey Davis}%
\affil[1]{North Carolina State University Raleigh}%
\affil[2]{University of South Carolina}%


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  \date{May 17, 2024}


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\begin{abstract}
During recent droughts in North Carolina, decision makers have
articulated needs for drought information, including current or
anticipated impacts, geographic extent and timing, and how and who
monitors drought in the state. This is despite the abundance of online
information and data that can answer these questions. Feedback from
sectors heavily impacted by drought in the state - namely, agriculture,
forestry, and water resources - suggests that information users perceive
existing drought information as unavailable, inaccessible, or
insufficient to meet their needs. We are collaborating on a project to
increase the accessibility of existing information through the
development of resources that resonate with water resource managers,
extension agents, and other decision makers in North Carolina, are
discoverable through their preferred communication channels, and help
them and their constituents better understand and respond to drought
events. We identified and prioritized new information resource ideas
through an initial needs assessment conducted via surveys and webinars
with stakeholders in target sectors. We then developed and refined
prototypes (e.g., infographics, factsheets, story maps) through multiple
rounds of feedback, which included focus group discussions and eye
tracking studies. Key findings of the project include (1) scientific
information must be translated into less-technical terms to be useful,
but users must be able to connect to the original source of the
information; (2) decision makers want current conditions placed into a
longer temporal context that includes the recent past (trends over past
weeks to months) and anticipated changes to conditions in the future
(forecasts with lead times of days to months); and (3) despite the
increasing popularity of social media as a way to share information,
more traditional formats (e.g., local broadcast and news media,
websites) are still valuable to decision makers. In this presentation,
we will describe project outcomes, including our process for engaging
with decision makers to co-produce new drought information resources and
strategies for creating and disseminating these to ensure that they will
last beyond the project's end date.%
\end{abstract}%



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