weadapt-2014-learning-across-locales-organizations-330188f4233bc60c.pdf

This briefing note by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) details the evolution of the weADAPT platform (originally wikiADAPT) from 2007 to 2014. It synthesizes lessons learned regarding online knowledge-sharing for climate change adaptation, emphasizing the necessity of trust, face-to-face engagement, and a distributed management model to ensure sustainability and user participation.

• Early efforts to encourage knowledge-sharing revealed significant barriers to user contribution, including time constraints, lack of technical skills, and a desire for users to maintain ownership of their knowledge.
• The 2009 Frontline Knowledge Explorer (FKx) experiment demonstrated that contributions were primarily driven by existing high-trust relationships and shared visions rather than publicity or the perceived quality of the idea.
• To increase participation and visibility, weADAPT implemented a 2010 redesign that prioritized intuitive editing interfaces, organizational logo accreditation, and semantic tagging to improve search engine rankings.
• The platform utilizes a distributed model of collaboration where recognized expert organizations manage specific themes, networks, and projects to ensure content quality and long-term sustainability.
• The Google Earth Adaptation Layer and subsequent Google Maps integration were developed to allow users to communicate place-based case studies and adaptation stories in a visually compelling and accessible manner.
• Face-to-face user engagement, such as the 'user labs' conducted in 2011-2012, is considered irreplaceable for identifying non-intuitive functionality and creating 'adaptation champions' who promote the platform within their own networks.
• The platform aims to move beyond simple information provision by offering decision support tools—such as the Climate Adaptation Options Explorer (ADx) and knowledge elicitation tools (KnETs)—to build capacity for actual decision-making.
• Financial sustainability remains a critical challenge, as many similar initiatives fail after limited project funding ends; weADAPT addresses this through institutional support and a shared ownership model.

APA

Smith, B., Bharwani, S., Taylor, A., Rastall, M., Besa, M. C., & Devisscher, T. (2014). weadapt-2014-learning-across-locales-organizations-330188f4233bc60c.pdf. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/weADAPT-2014-Learning-across-locales-organizations.pdf

Chicago

Smith, Ben, Sukaina Bharwani, Anna Taylor, Michael Rastall, Mnica Coll Besa, and Tahia Devisscher. weadapt-2014-learning-across-locales-organizations-330188f4233bc60c.pdf. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2014. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/weADAPT-2014-Learning-across-locales-organizations.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{smith2014weadapt2014learningacrosslocalesorganizations330188f4233bc60cpdf, author = {Smith, Ben and Bharwani, Sukaina and Taylor, Anna and Rastall, Michael and Besa, Mnica Coll and Devisscher, Tahia}, title = {{weadapt-2014-learning-across-locales-organizations-330188f4233bc60c.pdf}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2014}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/weADAPT-2014-Learning-across-locales-organizations.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }