The USGS Cooperative Research Units Program is offering this grant to enhance web credibility and usability for ecological research information within the North Atlantic Coast CESU.

The goals and objectives of this project are to identify the design and content elements of a web site that make the site most credible and usable when delivering complex research results on contemporary natural resource issues. CRU is currently in a critical position in terms of meeting web related objectives in their Five-Year Strategic Plan and meeting commitments to their state and federal cooperators. A major initiative of the plan is to make project level research information readily available to internal and external users and supporters. Collectively, the CRU program has 600-1,000 active research projects annually and given the complex nature and diversity of the research projects and their resultant products (e.g., technical reports, scientific publications, presentations, etc.) there is uncertainty in how to most effectively deliver project information through the web. Previous research in this arena has focused primarily on ecommerce web sites and likely has limited utility for understanding how scientists and resource managers perceive and use web sites to access information that is useful for making management decisions. Therefore, a key outcome will be a clearer understanding of specific elements that will engender both confidence in and credibility of a web site delivering the results of ecological research. Identifying and incorporating these elements into web site design will help to clearly convey the results research and make the information available to other researchers and managers in the North Atlantic Coast (NAC) Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit as well as state and federal land managers across the entire CESU network. The NAC is an especially suitable host for this solicitation given the extensive partnerships and organizational structure that already exists in the region between the USGS, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), host Universities and other state and federal partners through initiatives such as the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative. Lastly, CRU scientists located at the host universities in the NAC are actively involved in research to meet the informational needs of state and federal natural resource agencies in the NAC. Thus, the results of this study will facilitate efficient and effective delivery of CRU research results to the end users (researchers and managers) and the funding agencies and cooperators in the NAC.