Developing an Internet corporate image for the National Weather Service

Michael Hudson
DOC/NOAA/National Weather Service Central Region MSD

Effective use of Internet capabilities is fundamental to the survival of many private sector organizations, with billions of dollars in financial transactions across the Internet every day. Effective delivery of government services via Internet is rapidly following the commercial lead, especially for information agencies such as the National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS has a major presence on the Web, with the agency operating over 150 organizational home pages. Even though the NWS use of Internet is effective, questions were raised during a development project for the NWS's Senior Leadership Potential Program on whether the NWS presence and overall delivery of information could be improved and whether NWS customers can obtain weather information easily on the Internet. Other issues were raised concerning NWS web presentations offering consistency in content with other NWS line offices and whether the contents of our web pages were consistent with policies that govern the public/private partnership.

Issues such as these that have developed regarding NWS web site content have led to policy level reviews and directives to implement certain minimal common features on NWS sites, but they had not led to an integrated focus on effective, consistent information delivery or to an all-encompassing "corporate" web presence for the NWS as a whole. There are many complex issues presented by the Internet and related information technologies.

A team-oriented project was initiated in the fall of 2000 to focus on a single, pivotal issue for the NWS -- developing a corporate image of the NWS on the Internet that features a common entry point to the NWS on the web. A corporate web page would feature a consistent "look and feel" of elements and content that will be ported to all NWS web sites. The project went well beyond the minimal requirements of policy to improve the usefulness of NWS information for NWS customers and harness the diverse skills of our employees. Developing a corporate web page offered the opportunity to present a consistent thematic approach to NWS customers, and the basic contents of this approach will serve as the foundation for links that will support all other NWS web pages in a manner that is consistent with NWS policy.

This proposed demonstration/poster session focuses on a demonstration of the team's output from this project, encapsulated in the form of an experimental "corporate" web page for the NWS. This page features the common "look and feel" that has been proposed to be placed on all NWS web pages over the next several months.

BIO - Michael Hudson Mike began his career with the National Weather Service in 1994, as an intern at the Weather Service office in Dubuque, Iowa. After stints at Dubuque and Fargo, Mike worked for a little under four years as an intern and forecaster at the Kansas City/Pleasant Hill office. Mike moved to Springfield, Missouri, in early 2000 as a Senior Forecaster, where he applied for and was accepted into the NWS Senior Leadership Potential Program. Part of Mike's training as a potential Senior Leader in the NWS involved leading a team effort to develop a corporate image for the NWS on the Internet, which is the basis for his presentation at this conference. Mike recently accepted a position in the Meteorological Services Division of the NWS's Central Region Headquarters. Mike has been married to his wife Maureen for six years, and they have three children.

Auditorium - Paper Thursday, 9:20 - 9:40 A.M