EPSCoR Public Affairs Workshop – 2006

Mary HansonSenior Project Facilitator

Office of Legislative and Public Affairs

• New Public-Friendly NSF Web Site

New Public Affairs Resource Center

Tactical Strategic

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Context

(quick glance)

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92%

72%

30%

14%

0%

14%

29%

43%

58%

72%

86%

101%

Interested

Beneficial

Understands process

Feels well-informed

What Americans Say About Science

Source: S&E Indicators 2004

Public ContextEPSCoR Public Affairs Workshop – 2006

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Grants General Conditions (GC-1)

Article 19, “Publications.”

a. Acknowledgment of Support.

2. NSF support must also be orally acknowledged during all news media interviews, including popular media such as radio, television and news magazines."

Policy Context

Need to add web

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  Criteria for Receiving NSF Funds

1. Intellectual Merit

2. Broader Impacts

Policy Context

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 Criterion 2 - Broader Impacts

• Advance discovery & understanding*

• Broaden participation

• Enhance infrastructure

• Disseminated broadly *

• Benefits to society

* Public affairs applications

Policy Context

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Media Context

• Time Magazine cover (13Feb) Is American Failing in Science?

• Washington Post Op-Ed (6Feb) The Fake Science Threat

• Washington Post Op-Ed (15Feb) The Silencing of Science

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Inform the taxpayers

Sub-text:Public enthusiasm

Public understandingScience literacy

*** Accountability ***

Mission Context

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Case Study – Example #1

Public-Friendly Web Site

www.nsf.gov

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 Why Site Redesign?

 

Direct-to-public communicationIncreasing Internet usage

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13Source: Science & Engineering Indicators 2006/University of Michigan

Sources of Information in U.S.

Books5%

Family/friend/

colleague4%

Radio2%

Don't know1%

New spaper14%

Magazine14%

Television41%

Other2%

Internet18%

Magazine3%

Internet12%

Family/friend/

colleague3%

New spaper22%

Books1%

Television51%

Radio8%

Science & Technology

Current News Events

Books12%

Newspaper6%

Don't know1%Family/

friend/colleague

2%

Television13%

Other5%

Magazine9%

Internet52%

Specific Scientific Issue

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It’s Just Another (Powerful) Tool … the Basics Still Apply

We still need:

Internal supportCredibility

Quality A nose for news

Writing & editing skillsPersonal relationships

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Old Site New Site

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Serving S&E Folks As Usual(same internal audience)

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But Now the Public Too(new external audience)

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New Types of Public Content

• Research Overviews• Special Reports• Discoveries• Now Showing• Classroom Resources• Multimedia Gallery

Redesigned pages: NSF & Congress Speeches & Lectures Priority Areas

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 Redesigned NSF Web Site

1-minute tour

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NSF’s Lesson-Learned #1

Get Buy-In 

• Share the process• Assign rep from all segments• Record decisions (make them up if necessary ;)• Disseminate decisions

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NSF’s Lesson-Learned #2

Maintain Focus 

• Everyone has an opinion!• Keep your eye on the ball (goals & audience)• Do solicit input--but one decision-maker

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More Lessons Learned 

• Get buy-in• Maintain focus (audience & goals)• Put a process in place• Hire the right people• Use visuals well• Maintain variety & quality• Measure (assess & evaluate)• Get the word out!! (market)

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Kinds of Measurements 

• American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)• General Survey

- Measures preference• Usability Tests

- Measures performance• User Statistics

- Measures actual hits

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Web Stats: 1-Year Comparison

January-05 January-06

Total Sessions (Visits): 550,001 709,081

Total Hits: 3,278,297 4, 543,864

Average sessions per day: 17,742 22,874

Average length of session (in min): 7:44 8:17

Total page views of "News" page (2005-List of Press Releases page) 4,130 54,561

Necessary but not sufficient. What about target audience?

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Marketing Strategy

• Internal audiences form the base … Build awareness there first

• Expand to new audiences

• Seek out blogs, partnerships, allies

 

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Policy Makers Media/Press

Industry

The new nsf.gov outreach plan

Interested Public

Target audiences… …..by group

2/06

NSF staff University PIOs

S&E Researchers S&E Educators

Professional Orgs

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Web Redesign 1-Year Status Report  

• Internal support • Measurable increase in hits • Maintaining quality • Webby Award

Outstanding Questions:- Have we found our niche?- Can we maintain variety?- How to increase public audience?

 

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Case Study – Example #2

Public Affairs Resource Center

www.nsf.gov/pio

Using technology to facilitate collaboration

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NSF PIO Collaboration

A long road to success

e-mails

meetings

workshops

resource center

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NSF PIO Collaboration

A long road to success

• Ongoing since 1996

• 3 meetings, 3 workshops

• 6-person PIO Advisor group

• Goal: mutual benefit

- broader distribution

- better serve the public

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Public Affairs Resource Center

2 Modes

• Share mode - useful urls, reports & surveys, PIO list

• Receive mode – PIOs send us info (releases, images, illustrations, etc)

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 Public Affairs Resource Center

(1-minute tour)

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Public Affairs Resource Center

1-Month Status Report  

• Enthusiastic response• 100+ registrations • Interest from other agencies

Outstanding Questions:- How to reach all our 1,700 grantees?- Can we maintain it with current staff?

 

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Thank you!

Please visit www.nsf.gov

www.nsf.gov/pio

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Discussion

Is “direct-to-public” replacing traditional “internal relations” and “media relations?”

Are new communications technologies making our job easier or harder? ;)

EPSCoR Public Affairs Workshop – 2006