SAI-R: Culturally Appropriate Language and Messaging for Influencing End User Behavior During Impending Infrastructure Failures

加强美国基础设施（SAI）是NSF的一项计划，旨在促进以人为本的基础和潜在的变革性研究，以加强美国的基础设施。有效的基础设施为社会经济活力和广泛改善生活质量奠定了坚实的基础。强大、可靠和有效的基础设施刺激私营部门创新，促进经济增长，创造就业机会，提高公共部门服务提供的效率，加强社区建设，促进机会平等，保护自然环境，增强国家安全，并推动美国的领导地位。为了实现这些目标，需要来自科学和工程学科的专业知识。SAI专注于人类推理和决策，治理以及社会和文化过程的知识如何使建设和维护有效的基础设施，改善生活和社会，并建立在技术和工程的进步基础上。支持公共供水的基础设施在灾害发生时往往是最脆弱的。失去水源可能会危及生命。自来水公司必须向公众解释为什么节约、煮沸水和保护管道对于避免灾难性的基础设施故障至关重要。然而，公用事业公司通常缺乏所需的资源和专业知识，无法在这样的关键时期向最终用户有效地传达协作努力的重要性。一个挑战是通信渠道的数量不断增加，包括社交媒体、短信和无线紧急警报。另一个挑战是预见到文化差异，以及与不同人群，包括讲西班牙语的人和老年人进行有效沟通的必要性。SAI研究项目通过探索对西班牙语和老年人的文化干预，并利用这些研究来设计和测试可能影响人类行为的信息，从而加强美国的水基础设施。该项目设计和测试公用事业公司在灾难期间与公众使用的沟通策略。一个以用户为中心的设计方法是与供水公司合作开发的，供水公司主要为讲西班牙语的人口服务。目标是了解灾害期间系统脆弱性问题，并确定当前的通信做法。以社区为中心的研究是用来发现重要的文化因素，帮助定制水公用事业的消息，为他们的观众。这项研究借鉴了理论知情的消息策略，公用事业公司可以用来鼓励合作的最终用户与水有关的行为。通过多个通信渠道对消息进行测试，数据用于确定消息传递干预对技术系统性能以及用户态度和行为的影响。该奖项由社会、行为和经济科学理事会（SBE）支持，反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Strengthening American Infrastructure (SAI) is an NSF Program seeking to stimulate human-centered fundamental and potentially transformative research that strengthens America’s infrastructure. Effective infrastructure provides a strong foundation for socioeconomic vitality and broad quality of life improvement. Strong, reliable, and effective infrastructure spurs private-sector innovation, grows the economy, creates jobs, makes public-sector service provision more efficient, strengthens communities, promotes equal opportunity, protects the natural environment, enhances national security, and fuels American leadership. To achieve these goals requires expertise from across the science and engineering disciplines. SAI focuses on how knowledge of human reasoning and decision making, governance, and social and cultural processes enables the building and maintenance of effective infrastructure that improves lives and society and builds on advances in technology and engineering.The infrastructure supporting the public water supply is often the most vulnerable during times of disaster. Losing access to water can be life-threatening. Water utilities must explain to the public why conservation, boiling water, and protecting pipes are essential to avoid catastrophic infrastructure failure. Yet utilities typically lack the resources and expertise needed to effectively communicate the importance of collaborative efforts to their end-users during such critical times. One challenge is the growing number of communication channels, including social media, text messaging, and wireless emergency alerts. Another challenge is anticipating cultural differences and the need to communicate effectively with diverse populations, including Spanish-speaking and older adult populations. This SAI research project strengthens America’s water infrastructure by exploring cultural interventions with Spanish-speaking and older adult populations and using these studies to design and test messages that can impact human behavior.This project designs and tests communication strategies that utilities can use with the public during disasters. A user-centered design approach is developed in partnership with water utilities that serve predominantly Spanish-speaking populations. The goal is to understand system vulnerability concerns during disasters and to identify current communication practices. Community-centered research is used to uncover important cultural considerations that help tailor water utility messages for their audiences. The research draws from theory-informed message strategies that utilities can use to encourage cooperative end-user water-related behavior. Messages are tested through multiple communication channels, and the data are used to determine the impact of the messaging interventions on technical system performance and user attitudes and behaviors. By focusing on effective communication with diverse populations, water utilities will be in a stronger position to protect this vital infrastructure.This award is supported by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.