Partner Network Requirements and Data Assessment

Abstract

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ (MDNR) Chesapeake & Coastal Service (CCS) unit ensures that the state is equipped to deal with the needs and demands of Chesapeake economic and coastal resource use. CCS supports MDNR goals by partnering with various stakeholders, including federal and state government agencies; regional, national, and international institutions; formal and informal educational programs; nongovernmental organizations; and the private sector. The iConsultancy Team was tasked with assisting CCS in their partnerships with stakeholders. Namely, CCS requested visualizations of data collected about partner organizations to help enable CCS staff to better understand the composition of their partner network (e.g., geography, service). To accomplish this, the team cleaned and assessed a large data set of interactions between CCS and its stakeholder communities so it could be better visualized, conducted user research with key CCS staff to better understand and define their goals for stakeholder interactions, and provided recommendations for information gaps and additional data collection. The team worked with the MDNR’s PALS team—Marlo Atkinson, Kate Vogel, and Dylan Tallie—throughout the project.