ABSTRACT
Guidance on professional “best practices” for risk and emergency communication includes advice to “know the audience.” But many factors influence audiences’ reception of information about risks in complex contexts. These
CONTENTS
Introduction .........................................................................................................306 Communicating about Risks and Emergencies .............................................. 307
Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) ...........................308 Audiences for Risk and Emergency Information .................................. 310
Usability Evaluation of Documents ................................................................. 311 Feedback-Driven Audience Analysis ...................................................... 312
Testing with the Hurricane Survival Guide ........................................................ 313 Pilot Study Participants ............................................................................ 314 Document Usability Evaluation Protocol ............................................... 315 Document Analysis .................................................................................... 316
Comments about Use .................................................................... 318 Comments about Design and Writing ........................................ 320 Comments about Information ...................................................... 323
Conclusion: Document Usability Evaluation as Audience Analysis ........... 328 Reader Take-Aways ............................................................................................ 329 References .............................................................................................................330
include experience, level of concern, and social norms as well as the information they receive. Typical survey methods used to gauge the public’s understanding of risks and emergency communications may overlook crucial insights about how audiences interpret information and make judgments. We discuss using “plus-minus” document-based usability evaluation to examine attitudes and needs of residents in a storm-prone area with the goal of developing an empathetic approach to providing information.
