Feedback on the dissemination products

Here are the main points that emerged from the group discussion on the St. Lawrence Monitoring Program dissemination products (the monitoring sheets and the overview):

Type of data    
Data presented and analyzed in maps and other graphics, at the site scale, is the type of information that client groups find most useful.

Participation   
56 people participated in the workshop on the dissemination products, held on the second day of the Rendez-vous St. Lawrence, and 53% of them represented NGOs.

Complexity   
Opinions were mixed concerning the level of complexity in the overview: about half the participants thought the information was clear enough, but almost 60% of the NGO representatives found it difficult to understand or only somewhat clear.

Publication    
72% of the participants thought the monitoring sheets should be distributed no later than two years after the data are gathered.

Integration    
The majority preferred integration by theme and by sections of the river; 70% of the NGO representatives would like to see integration by river section in the overview.

Visual elements    
64% of the participants thought the proportion of visual elements included in the overview was appropriate.

Pictograms    
69% of the participants thought the pictograms helped somewhat or a great deal in understanding the information about the indicators.

General    
Many general comments were made during the workshop and in the survey. Similar percentages of comments were made about improvement of the indicators, the dissemination products, the dissemination tools, and the program.