Striking the balance between oversimplified and overdetailed: A tale of two report cards (#106)
Tory Grice
1
,
Nick Marsh
1
,
Nyssa Henry
2
,
Trish Grant
3
,
Sharyn Rossrakesh
3
- Truii, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Queensland Department of Environment and Science, Office of the Great Barrier Reef, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Melbourne Water, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
- Report cards have long been a popular way of communicating the condition of ecosystems and natural resource management activities. Because they are often pitched at a wide audience, they are regularly criticised by those who conduct the science behind them, as being ‘overly simplistic’, or 'dumbed down'. Yet the common alternative is the detailed technical report, which may be accessible to a very small audience and criticised for being ‘boring’. So, what is the alternative?
- We have developed an approach to producing report cards that provides the best of both worlds—simplicity for all and detail just for those who want it. Using a traditional interactive design pattern called progressive disclosure and conducting research with users prior to design, we are able to identify which information is most important to which users and serve it up accordingly.
- Using this approach to design the Reef Water Quality Report Card and the Healthy Waterways Strategy Report Card, we found that you can’t please all the users all the time. But with extensive user research and an appropriate amount of progressive disclosure, you can please most of the users, most of the time.
- By following this approach that provides the right information, to the right person, at the right time, designers of natural resource management report cards and other reporting applications can communicate to a wider range of audiences, with a single product, while still maintaining scientific rigour.
Download Full Paper