Data Presentation on Transportation Agency Websites: Trends and Best Practices

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Data Presentation on Transportation Agency Websites: Trends and Best Practices

Abstract: 

The Division of Research, Innovation and System Information (DRISI) within California’s Department of Transportation (Caltrans) provides solutions and knowledge that improves California’s transportation system. The Division recently sought to determine whether the data it provides on the agency’s website, the way it’s organized, and how it’s delivered, serve the division’s goals and the agency’s priorities of sustainability, active transportation, livability, and economic vibrancy. If not, they wanted to know what improvements were needed. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to: (a) discover the variety of practices for structuring, organizing, and presenting such data currently in use by other transportation-related websites; (b) determine “best practices” that offer the greatest potential to engage, illuminate, and provide practical application for the transportation community; and (c) determine which of these reasonably could be implemented on the Caltrans DRISI (research) library website and identify areas for further exploration and discussion.

Authors: 

FRANCES CHERMAN

Frances Cherman has been responsible for the operation and management of the MTI website since 2010. She also applies her InDesign and editing skills to assist in production of MTI publications. A longtime business consultant, specializing in copywriting for the Web, direct marketing, sales collateral and packaging, she has served some of Silicon Valley’s most successful companies, including Apple, HP, Intuit, LegalZoom, Netflix, Wells Fargo, and many others. Before starting her copywriting business in 1987, she was copy director at Inmac. She holds a BA in English from California State University, Northridge.

Published: 
May 2017
Keywords: 
Data sharing
Information dissemination
Web sites (information retrieval)
Transportation agencies
Information management

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CSUTC
MCEEST
MCTM
NTFC
NTSC

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