Data and Information Stakeholder Perspectives, Black Carbon

Critiques of assessment and other forms of usable science (e.g. forecasts) have demonstrated that many climate assessment products are not put to use by the intended audience, often because the needs of that audience have not been sufficiently considered in the assessment framework (Cash, Borck and Patt 2006, Dilling and Lemos 2011).  Cash et al. (2006) notably recognized the “loading dock” approach as one where scientists generate assessments under the flawed assumption that stakeholders will come along and pick them up off the “loading dock”.  In an extensive review of seasonal weather forecast users, Dilling and Lemos (2011) found that intrinsic and contextual factors will influence the usability of science information and recommended that these factors are iteratively addressed with stakeholders.  Intrinsic factors consider the inherent limitations (spatial, temporal, length of record, uncertainty in measures, etc.) of the data, related to its production.  Contextual factors consider the context in which the information will be used.  There are multiple use contexts for information products derived from Arctic atmospheric observations including: basic research (e.g. modeling), operations (e.g. forecasting and management), and decision making (e.g. policy making and regulation).  Each context presents unique requirements for usable information.  Establishing a framework, and in some cases a process, for addressing the intersection of these intrinsic and contextual factors is an important preliminary step to developing useable information.

Read more about IASOA investigations into stakeholder preferences in the attached white paper:  Structuring Usable Black Carbon Information.pdf