Tailoring information about climate change and its impacts

Results from research on climate change and possible impacts are often not
available in a format that can be used directly. Besides this, users of climate
and climate impact information often do not have a cross-sectoral overview of
available data and information and results are sometimes inconsistent between
sectors.
In this project a pilot web portal was developed to overcome these problems.
The pilot is a first attempt to:
• provide overview of available data and information;
• synchronize means of presentation of available data and information
for the various sectors;
• tailor data and information.
To provide overview, in the pilot web portal (Climate Impact Guide) available
data and information are presented in a similar way for each sector (climate,
water, nature, agriculture and land use). Similar information is given per sector
to make it easier for users to find information from other sectors. Besides, on
the common web pages information is presented on the (lack of) exchange of
data between sectors and discrepancies and the possible consequences.
The pilot web portal was reviewed by 30 users of climate information in the
beginning of 2011. The results confirmed the need for more overview. The
most important points of improvement are the better synchronization of the
web pages of the different sectors and adding more information and overview.