Theme: 12. Technology Transfer and Stakeholder Communications

Topic Area: 12b. Practice of Risk Communication and Stakeholder Engagement

Formatted Title:

ENVIRO.wiki: Tech Transfer in the 21st Century

Background/Objectives:

SERDP and ESTCP have funded numerous projects over the years to generate information on Environmental Restoration, Energy and Water, Munitions Response, Resource Conservation, and Weapons Systems. While the results of this work are readily accessible to industry experts and academics, much of this information has not percolated down to the people that actually manage, regulate and implement projects (e.g., remedial project managers, natural resource managers, state and federal regulators, junior and mid-level consultants). This significantly limits the benefits of SERDP/ESTCP supported research and increases DoD’s costs. New approaches are needed to communicate this information to users in a timely and easily-accessible manner.

Approach/Activities:

The Environmental Restoration (ER) Wiki, developed by ESTCP, is being expanded and renamed as Environmental (Enviro) Wiki (www.ENVIRO.wiki) to provide more readily accessible, current information on important environmental topics including environmental restoration (soil and groundwater contaminants, attenuation and transport processes, characterization, assessment and monitoring, remediation technologies etc.), contaminated sediments, natural resources, emerging contaminants and climate change impacts. The current Enviro Wiki design is similar to Wikipedia with short ‘encyclopedia’ type summaries of current information. However, the content is written and peer-reviewed by experts to assure its validity and copy-edited to improve content presentation and accessibility to non-experts. Article references, SERDP and ESTCP project reports, and other credible documents are linked to each article for easy reference. Articles are solicited from recognized experts in the field from academia and industry. Article drafts are reviewed and edited by both internal and external reviewers. The article is then revised by the author(s) based on the review-based feedback and returned to the wiki team to be re-evaluated and eventually formatted and posted.

Results/Lessons Learned:

The current Enviro Wiki includes 115 new articles with more than 1,600 external links, and 874 reference documents saved within it. The quality of the existing articles is also being enhanced by adding more visuals (i.e., short [2-3 min]) videos, illustrative graphics, updating the technical content to ensure the articles remain current, providing greater depth, and/or providing contrasting/ alternative perspective(s) for emerging issue(s). The Enviro Wiki is advertised extensively through emails, tweets, LinkedIn posts and conference presentations and posters to encourage contributions, accelerate awareness and adoption of the Enviro Wiki as the ‘go-to’ site for environmental practitioners. The wiki is online at www.ENVIRO.wiki. Please check it out and provide us with your input. Suggestions for new topics, website improvements and general impressions are all welcome. You can send your suggestions to http://www.feedback.enviro.wiki.

Forrest Hurley

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ENVIRO.wiki - Tech Transfer in the 21st Century