The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

Landscape water accounts for over 50% of summer domestic water use in the southwest US.  Over half that use can be cut via behavior change, specifically, adoption of xeriscape landscapes and education.  At project conception (2008), web-based information for New Mexico and west Texas was scattered and industry professionals were not linked. The Center for Landscape Water Conservation, www.xericenter.com, was established in 2010 as a central resource for homeowners and industry professionals.  For homeowners, the Center collects the best, most user-friendly web resources.  For industry professionals, the site provides an interactive platform to network with peers and post/share resources. Though the Center was envisioned as a single web portal, the way information is distributed and sought has changed since 2008.  Other information sources are now in play.  Therefore, the Center produced regional garden tour videos, www.youtube.com/xericenter (13,000+ views) and iTunesU (highest ratings), garden tour photos, www.picasaweb.com/xericenter, Facebook, www.facebook.com/xericenter, and a plant selector app, SW Plants, at iTunes.  All sites are shared. The primary web portal, www.xericenter.com, took two years to complete using part-time student programmers.  For testing, we employed a combination of hands-on user testing and a modified Likert survey, the “User-Perceived Web Quality Instrument”.  Questions assessed design issues essential to the development of a strong user base, namely appropriate site structure, content, usability, and interactive functions. Testing involved a very small Likert survey for initial design check, with overall positive results.  At 75% completion, a series of hands-on user surveys was conducted utilizing yes/no and open-ended questions to assess content, usability, navigation, menu hierarchies, and interactive features.  Many issues were identified and fixed.  A small Likert survey for a follow-up, post-fix check found our search functions still lacking.  Search was upgraded and a tag system was installed.  A one-shot hands-on survey at 100% completion to assess the final 25% of development and fixes was conducted with positive results.  The final survey, a wrap-up Likert survey, involved 60 selected participants, also with positive results. Analytics programs provide insights to the primary website and Youtube channel particularly.  For example, our most-watched Youtube video, “How to set up your drip irrigation system” (5500 views), indicates a need for more irrigation content.  New users on the primary website are rising steadily.  A post-app launch marketing jolt boosted all the metrics. The research and data, plus detailed resource requirements, will provide other outreach organizations a blueprint for designing (and paying for) their own programs.