Audience participation is needed to get current, relevant survey data
WHEELER ARMY AIRFIELD, Hawaii - If you are reading this article, then you are already familiar with the U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii's newspaper, the "Hawaii Army Weekly."
Through the efforts of the garrison's Public Affairs Office, the HAW is published every Friday, delivering news and information in the interest of the U.S. Army community in Hawaii.
But how well is PAO meeting its mission to keep you informed'
Every two years, PAO is charged with reaching out to its audience to determine if the information needs of the community are being met. In 2008, a baseline survey was conducted that asked about the type of information the community seeks and the ways in which news is accessed.
Nov. 8, a follow-up survey was released, asking many of the same questions, to see if PAO has addressed the concerns of the community. This survey is available until Nov. 26.
In 2008, almost 600 respondents answered the survey, more than half of who were active duty service members, with almost 30 percent of the remaining surveys from family members.
What was learned was that an online-only version of the HAW could not take the place of the hard-copy version. A large population of the readership still enjoys having a physical newspaper.
However, the online version of the HAW is accessed by many populations, here in Hawaii, on the mainland and worldwide. The HAW needed to be revised and updated to meet the needs of a modern-day community.
In August of this year, the HAW launched its commercial website, www.hawaiiarmyweekly.com, which allows readers to leave comments, share articles, download content and subscribe to the newspaper electronically.
The new site provides a number of RSS feeds so readers can have the content they choose delivered to them.
Additionally, survey respondents asked for more HAW news about the Army, Soldiers and deployment, and for more current or timely information on community events and local news.
While the HAW newspaper and news website are the primary internal news sources for the garrison, PAO also delivers information via the garrison's website. The 2008 survey identified areas for improvement within this medium, as well, with respondents asking for more updated, reader-friendly information, help for incoming Soldiers and families, and more news on garrison events and activities.
The garrison website is continually being updated. Now it includes post policies, links to garrison directorates and staff offices, photos, event news and links to other useful sites.
Another way the garrison provides internal community information is through the installation access channel TV2. Operated by the garrison's Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security, the programming content of TV2 falls under PAO.
Again, the 2008 survey revealed what the community wanted to see on this channel; local community and event information led the list.
With the release of this year's follow-up survey, PAO hopes to see that it made the appropriate changes and improvements based on what the community said two years ago.
New this year, a section of the survey will also cover social networking sites. Recognizing that the garrison was missing part of the Internet-savvy generation, PAO has added several other ways to reach out, including <a href="http://www.facebook.com/usaghawaii">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://flickr.com/usag-hi">Flickr</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/usaghi">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://vimeo.com/usaghi">Vimeo</a> and <a href="http://youtube.com/usaghawaii">YouTube</a>. Your opinions about how PAO is engaging these media are wanted.
Again, this PAO information survey is available until Nov. 26. All community members are encouraged to participate so that the results best represent the entire community.
To access the survey, visit <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HAWSurvey2010">www.surveymonkey.com/s/HAWSurvey2010</a> or the garrison's website at <a href="http://www.garrison.hawaii.army.mil">www.garrison.hawaii.army.mil</a> and click the survey link. For more information, call PAO at 808-656-3153 or Customer Management Services at 808-655-9033.
Related Links:
Hawaii Army Weekly (USAG-HI's official post newspaper)
Social Sharing