Refreshing an annual report

Previously, Maryland Sea Grant’s annual report was produced as a print piece and mailed out to a list as a package along with a letter and other pieces. The last one to go out in this format was the 2018 report, at the close of 2019. Then came the pandemic.

It was time to rethink the report—early in pandemic, there was a lot of uncertainty about its spread and distrust in mail. Additionally, with the office all working remotely, the mailing “packing” parties to prep the envelopes weren’t an option, and print costs were skyrocketing due to supply chain issues. So we regrouped and reevaluated.

One limitation of the printed piece was that it provided little space for text and imagery and we wanted to better highlight the work the program was doing. We had originally shifted some of our magazine stories to the ArcGIS StoryMap format in order to test more engaging ways to present them, and those efforts had been successful —we’d received great feedback on them and the story analytics showed that readers were staying on the pages for longer. So we turned to that platform.

We also decided to shift to a biennial format, in order to be able to delve a bit deeper into some of the content. I’m really proud of the result: our 2019-20 biennial report.

Telling the Story of Plastics Visually

In working on an issue of Chesapeake Quarterly focused on the science of microplastics in the Chesapeake Bay, there were several elements that needed a great deal of research. We wanted to create a comprehensive timeline on the history of plastics — a resource that we could not find online — as well as a clear infographic to show how plastics can break down in aquatic/marine environments. The resulting pieces are below.

We were short on space for the timeline in the print version of the magazine, as it had to fit in a two-page spread. However, we had more options online, so we expanded the piece into an image-rich ArcGIS Story Map, which made it engaging to explore as well as easy to share!

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Breakdown of a plastic bag by photodegradation, physical degradation, and fragmentation. From this feature story.

Chesapeake Quarterly ArcGIS StoryMap - Chemical cues in groundwater

It’s been a while since I’ve had an opportunity to research and write a full length piece. It felt great. Even if it was centered on septic science - there is some really interesting chemistry involved!

Even better: I did it in a StoryMap, including my own images and 360 video. Three cheers for the “septic detectives”!

Across Delmarva via an ARCGis Story Map

I assisted Chris Petrone, the education specialist for Delaware Sea Grant, with a series of teacher workshops this summer that had us transecting the Delmarva Peninsula from the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware Bay, exploring various watersheds along the way. It made for quite a fun and educational road trip for participating teachers! 

I decided to test out Esri's new story map template called Cascade, which is still in beta release, to document the workshops. It's been a bit glitchy at times, and although it promises to optimize images, it can take some time to load. However, I love how it allows you tell an immersive 'story' beautifully by combining images, video, and data! 

 View it fullscreen in your browser here >