Reinventing and Evaluating a Redesigned Occupational Outlook Handbook

• Activity Number: 442
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Government Statistics Section
• Author(s): William Mockovak*+ and Kristina Bartsch
• Companies: Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Keywords: Career information ; occupational data ; website evaluation ; Occupational Outlook Handbook

Abstract

The Occupational Outlook OOH (OOH) is the U.S. government's premier source of career guidance and features hundreds of occupations. For years, both print and online versions existed, but the online version of the OOH was not designed specifically for the Web and retained many of the same features as the printed document. As use of the OOH has increasingly shifted to the Web version in recent years, an effort was undertaken to improve the online OOH and to optimize its presentation on the Web. In March 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statistics implemented a new online OOH specifically redesigned for the Web. This paper will describe the process used to 'reinvent' the OOH. It will review the steps taken to assess stakeholder requirements and describe evaluation strategies. Findings show that the redesign has been highly effective and was well received by both career experts as well as the general audience that uses the OOH.