Browsing by Author "Peck, Melissa"

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    Effective Social Media Engagement Options for Minnesota’s Diversifying Population
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2018-02) Schneider, Ingrid E.; Quick, Kathryn; Peck, Melissa; Pflughoeft, Ben
    Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and Minnesota Local Road Research Board (LRRB) supported the University of Minnesota to investigate social media options for effective public engagement. A three-part approach assessed 1) the state of social media use through a literature review, 2) the status of social media use and interest in its use for transportation in Minnesota compared to national data, and 3) actual and perceived effectiveness of social media in two pairs of case studies in Minnesota. In sum, results reveal social media is effective as a strategic and select part of engagement plans and can likely effectively engage select groups. Survey results revealed 11-21% of respondents participated in planning for transportation programs, policies or projects in the last 12 months, 72% use social media of some sort, and 36% expressed interest in using social media to get information, provide feedback or make suggestions related to transportation. Finally, social media analytics and interviews related to four case studies revealed social media does indeed lead transportation projects to make more connections with stakeholders, but the quality and effectiveness of those connections vary. Four main opportunities include: 1) integrating social media into multi-pronged, dynamic engagement approaches, 2) considering the demographic qualities of the key stakeholders to determine how social media can be most useful, 3) employing best practices for social media engagement, and 4) expanding and/ or developing research and evaluation plans to understand and assess future social media engagement efforts.
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    Reply to Request for Proposals: City of Victoria Bike Tour
    (Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2015) Boland, Molly; Peck, Melissa; Peterson, Blaze
    This project was completed as part of a year-long partnership between Carver County and the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project (http://www.rcp.umn.edu). The City of Victoria was interested in leveraging the natural resources in Eastern Carver County to attract tourism to the city and region. The goal of this project was to develop a mock grant proposal to enhance ecotourism in the region. Project lead Ben Landhauser from the City of Victoria collaborated with a team of students in FNRM 5101: Park and Protected Area Tourism, to develop a proposal for a bike tour to promote ecotourism attractions. A final report and presentation from the project are available.
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    Status of Social Media Use by Select Federal Agencies: Opportunities and Challenges
    (2018) Schneider, Ingrid; Peck, Melissa; Spitzer, Alex