Search & Navigation

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Contents 1 Rating of this issue is closed 2 Issue Overview 3 Considerations 4 Potential Next Steps or Solutions Rating of this issue is closed Thank you for providing your ratings on this issue as a potential focus for an EITLC Priority Action Team. Results of voting and top issues will be announced shortly. Issue Overview Data uses find environmental information on the internet through both search and navigation. Search: Process of finding information by entering a question or term into a Web search engine (such as Google). Search is often supported by metadata about the results: date published, collection method, keywords Navigation: Also referred to as browsing, and is often coupled with search. Navigation is used to sort through search results. Users follow a series of links to their desired information.

Considerations

In 2008, EPA's Office of Environmental Information began a “National Dialogue on Access to Environmental Information” in which it solicited feedback from environmental information users in the US, including state and local governments, to better understand their information needs. Findings and recommendations from this process were included in an Information Access Strategy, which noted that:

• People are often not aware of environmental problems that may affect them, and this lack of awareness can make it difficult for them to conduct an informed search of environmental information
• Some confusion exists around types of environmental information given by the various providers (Federal, tribal, state, etc)
• People are not aware that a relevant information resource exists because it is difficult to find
• Once people are aware of an information resource’s existence, they are unable to discover the information resource’s title, scope and relevance through the search engine
• Some people rely on help from information intermediaries—e.g., teachers, librarians and the news media—to find information about an environmental concern

As a result of the National Dialogue, the Implementation Plan for the Access Strategy recommended that EPA commission a search strategy that would assess ways to improve EPA’s own search abilities as well as ways to leverage third party search engines (e.g., Google) to make information on EPA’s Web site more accessible to those trying to find it.

Potential Next Steps or Solutions

• Improve available tools for search, such as enhancing EPA’s own search and appropriately tagging Web pages so that they can be properly indexed by third-party search providers
• Explore partnership among agencies to encourage federated search