Users’ Perspectives About the Potential Usefulness of Online Storylines to Communicate River Research to a Multi-disciplinary Audience

Effective communication practices are needed to support adaptive, collaborative and integrative environmental management. We propose the use of online storylines to communicate scientific outcomes in a way that is captivating, easily understood and accessible. Based on 20 interviews, we identified important attributes for the storyline content, structure and user interaction. We designed a storyline example about stakeholders’ perceptions of a river management intervention with consequences on the landscape. The intended audience consists of multi-disciplinary researchers and practitioners that could consider or apply research solutions outside their field of expertise in river management. We introduced the example in a workshop with 14 participants from research and practice. Our findings highlight the importance of including narrative elements via images, interactive figures and timelines to illustrate the research context. Moreover, storylines should explicitly state benefits as well as the limitations of the river research and include a glossary to clarify specific terms.

为支撑适应性、协作式与整合型环境管理工作，亟需构建高效的沟通范式。我们提出采用在线叙事线（online storylines），以引人入胜、通俗易懂且便于获取的形式传播科研成果。本研究基于20次访谈，提炼出叙事线在内容、结构与用户交互层面的核心属性。我们设计了一则叙事线示例，聚焦利益相关方对某项河流管理干预措施的认知，该措施会对区域景观产生影响。本研究的目标受众为多学科研究人员与实务从业者，他们可在自身河流管理专业领域之外，考量并应用相关研究解决方案。我们在一场汇聚14名科研与实务领域参与者的专题研讨会上展示了该示例。研究结果凸显了通过图像、交互式图表与时间线融入叙事元素，以阐释研究背景的重要性。此外，叙事线需明确说明河流相关研究的优势与局限，并附术语表以厘清专业术语。