ABSTRACT
This chapter draws from a two-year design research project to support the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC). The designers, alongside NHC staff, sought to identify opportunities to convey tropical cyclone risk information to the public more effectively through internet and mobile technologies. The field of weather risk communication has long used research techniques familiar to designers, including interviews, surveys, and focus groups, to help ensure effective messaging to the public. To the authors’ knowledge, designers and design researchers have not been engaged deeply in this problem space until recently. This chapter offers a case study of an attempt to do so. The structure of the project itself is discussed and the approach to navigating some of the particular constraints faced by the NHC. This case study discusses NHC’s place as one source amongst many for risk information, its role as a government provider of authoritative storm forecasts, and its past focus on serving the needs of meteorologists and emergency managers, rather than the public. The chapter highlights some of the design recommendations developed, and opportunities for further research. Finally, implications for developing a culture of design within government agencies working in emergency management is discussed.
