1. User Interface Design for Online Data Collections Robert R. Downs rdowns@ciesin.columbia.edu NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), The Earth Institute, Columbia University 2016 S UMMER M EETING OF THE F EDERATION OF E ARTH S CIENCE I NFORMATION P ARTNERS (ESIP) Durham, NC 19-22 July 2016 Session: Applying Usability Practices & Principles to Data Archives/Repositories Wednesday 20 July 2016, 4:00 p.m. Copyright 2016, Robert R. Downs.

2. About the SEDAC Website SEDAC –NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center –Part of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System –Hosted by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) Columbia University Major website redesign released in 2012-2013 –Positively rated by Blink UX in December 2012 –Ongoing enhancements periodically released since 2012 205 online datasets in 39 ‘collections’ as of July 2016 2 Source: SEDAC, http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/

3. Design Targets for Usability Ease of use Consistency Enabling diverse uses and users across disciplines and expertise Multiple ways to find resources Full-text search and hierarchical organization Intuitive navigation to foster data discovery Efficient Use Focus on data Clear and Simple Concise language Low Cognitive Demand Minimal requirements to understand structure 3

4. SEDAC Website Home Page Features Spotlight –Carousel with images and captions linked to source of story Featured Datasets –Recent datasets displayed with links to more News –Most recent stories displayed with links to more 4

5. Consistency Across Website NASA Earthdata tophat –Links to Earthdata website and menus with links for Data Discovery, DAACS, Community, and Science Disciplines NASA Logo and SEDAC banner –Link to http://www.nasa.gov/ –Full text faceted search and optional login Menus –Data, Maps, Themes, Resources, Social Media, About, and Help Footer –Home, Data, Data Uses, Data Citation, Maps, Map Services, News, Tools, Guides, Publications, Blog Posts, About, Help, Privacy, User Registration, Feedback and Support, and logos for CIESIN and the ICSU World Data System 5

6. Consistency Access to Data Across Collections –Overview, Methods, Datasets, Map Gallery, Map Services, FAQS, Multimedia, Acknowledgements, Documentation Across Datasets –Overview Data Download Maps Map Services Documentation Metadata Across Maps –Map generation with a common template, CC-By license Across DAACs –Earthdata Tophat –User Registration System login for data download –Data landing page elements –Guidance on data citations and acknowledgements –World Data System membership 6

7. SEDAC Website with NASA Earthdata Tophat 7

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10. SEDAC Collection Webpage: GPWv4 10

11. SEDAC Dataset Landing Page 11

12. Further Improvement Documentation guidelines –Template for data documentation containing guidelines 12

13. SEDAC Data Product Evaluation 13 Alpha & Beta reviews include website