United Nations Launches Adaptive Path Redesign of Critical Humanitarian Resource

For Immediate Release

San Francisco, CA, February 22, 2005 –

New ReliefWeb Structure Speeds Disaster Relief and Response

When a disaster occurs anywhere in the world, the United Nations’s ReliefWeb is the primary information resource for the humanitarian aid community. After two years of work by Adaptive Path, Mule Design, and the United Nations’s ReliefWeb team, we’re honored to announce the launch of ReliefWeb’s new design and structure (http://www.reliefweb.int). This long-term project couldn’t have finished at a more crucial time; the new site launched in mid-January, shortly after the devastating tsunami in Southeast Asia.

The information published on ReliefWeb mobilizes real-time relief efforts, spurs non-governmental organizations (NGOs) into action, and affects how much funding governments provide to emergencies around the world. ReliefWeb users rely on the site to facilitate the life-or-death decisions they make daily.

“Working with the United Nations was one of Adaptive Path’s most arduous and rewarding projects,” said Adaptive Path CEO Janice Fraser. “Our team was tasked with breaking down what seemed an insurmountable mass of information. Our experiences affirmed that if you start with human beings sharing their stories, they will tell you how to put that information into context.”

Each day, the ReliefWeb team publishes more than 200 documents from over 900 sources — including news organizations, academia, governments, and non-governmental organizations (like the World Health Organization). The changes made to Reliefweb’s site drastically reduced the amount of time necessary for users to locate time- and mission-critical information. ReliefWeb’s old design forced users to gather and group information themselves, one document at a time. The dramatic redesign improved the site by:

• Speeding information retrieval, as measured in clicks, by reorganizing the content according to user tasks
• Providing context around each emergency by aggregating all types of information about a particular emergency into a single overview, or “hub” page
• Eliminating site-wide information overload by offering filters that reduce long lists of information to specific subsets relevant to each individual’s interest or job function.

Said ReliefWeb’s Project Manager, Craig Duncan, “Adaptive Path’s highly skilled team has helped us solve some very complex information architecture problems, and provided simple, creative solutions that we would never have imagined without their help.”

About ReliefWeb

ReliefWeb was originally launched in October 1996 and is administered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). An independent vehicle of information, ReliefWeb was specifically designed to assist the international humanitarian community in effective delivery of emergency assistance.

About Mule Design

Mule Design Studio is a full-service design firm based in San Francisco. Mule provides audience-centered communication strategy and design, specializing in work for non-profit and socially-conscious clients.

About Adaptive Path

Headquartered in San Francisco, Adaptive Path is a user experience consulting, research and training firm that has provided custom services to a range of clients, including Fortune 50 corporations, pure-Web startups, and established not-for-profit organizations.

Contact

Bryan R. Mason
bryan@adaptivepath.com
Adaptive Path
363 Brannan St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 1-415-495-8270