The consequences of a warming climate frequently dominated the news this summer, from devastating wildfires and floods to deadly heat waves across the globe.
The consequences of a warming climate frequently dominated the news this summer, from devastating wildfires and floods to deadly heat waves across the globe. Reducing harm from climate change is a challenging endeavor, and it requires comprehensive public education. Thus, the question arises: How can climate change science be made most accessible to the general population, as well as decision-makers and educators?
In a new paper published in the journal Geosphere, Steph Courtney and Karen McNeal explore the effects of improved data visualizations on user perception of climate change evidence.
With a geoscience background and a specialization in science education and communication, Courtney is passionate about improving the public’s understanding of climate change. “We get excited and carried away as scientists but that’s not going to work for a lot of audiences,” says Courtney. “Your communication goal is more important than how cool you think your graph is.”
In this study, the team redesigned three graphs from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report. They assessed the impact of the redesign on graph usability (i.e. individuals’ ability to accurately and quickly extract information from it) and user perception of scientist trustworthiness and climate change risk, which correlate to both knowledge and intention to take action. The process was iterative, including two rounds of user testing and successive redesign and re-testing. Methods included a combination of surveys, eye-tracking, ranking activities, and interviews.
Read more at Geological Society of America
