User evaluation of a national web portal for climate change adaptation – A qualitative case study of the Knowledge Bank

Abstract

This paper describes the development and first user evaluation of a web portal (The Knowledge Bank) for collecting and presenting national data relevant to climate change adaptation in Norway, including insurance loss data for damages arising from natural hazards and weather events. The paper examines the major drivers for municipal decision-makers to use the Knowledge Bank, presenting the results of a qualitative case study with group interviews with 11 users representing both smaller and larger Norwegian municipalities, and an individual interview with one of the developers. The findings show that the drivers for using the Knowledge Bank depend on the level of user expectations, user trust in the tool and the data, expectations for a contribution to efficiency, expectations for increased cooperation between municipal departments and municipalities, and the ability to interact with the portal, especially the ability to transfer data to and from their own data systems. Increased uptake and use of the Knowledge Bank could be reinforced with networks of users sharing awareness of the portal, teaching other users, and promoting improvement. The study provides insights into the challenges and opportunities encountered in the development of the Knowledge Bank and gives examples of how the size of the municipality may shape the drivers for uptake. These insights may also apply to the development of other national web portals for climate change adaptation data, especially when trying to incorporate sharing of insurance loss data.