EPA's Web Ambassador Program:
Enhancing Public Access Through Web-Based Partnerships
The Role of Environmental Information
? Right-to-know
? "Third Wave" of environmental policy
? Technological drivers, especially the internet
? Formation of EPA's Office of Environmental Information (OEI)
Characterizing the Environmental Information Market
? OEI focus groups, public meetings, media content analyses, & telephone surveys
? Characterizing environmental information needs and access preferences
A Key Finding: Information Flows & Intermediaries
? Stakeholders agree that EPA is usually a single strand in an environmental information web, for example... 
Making it Explicit: Converting Intermediaries Into Partners
? www.epa.gov is the "Rome" of Web sites: large, extended, deep, diverse, complicated... and rich in information value
? Stakeholders demand "high tech, high touch" relationships
? Partnerships can expand information dissemination beyond the Web, and increase the relevance and applicability of information
? The result...Web Ambassadors 
Web Ambassadors: Librarians as Pilots
? Focused education for specific needs
? "Training the trainers" and spreading the word...
? Other groups will follow (public health professionals, agricultural stakeholders, science teachers, financial community)
Web Ambassadors Tool Kit
? Booklet
? Poster
? Interactive Sessions
? Web site
Booklet/Poster/Interactive Session
? Teaching the EPA Web site
www.epa.gov: A General Orientation and Eight Key Elements
? Search
? Browse Topics
? Information Sources
? Where You Live
? Laws, Regulations, & Dockets
? Organizational Structure
? EPA Newsroom
Presented by:
Chuck Herrick
Stratus Consulting Inc.