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Background: A scientific breakthrough can change the field of cancer research, but many people won't realize its promise unless organizations like the National Cancer Institute (NCI) communicate in a way that connects the science to what matters most to people. NCI uses engaging narrative, or storytelling, among other approaches, to make these connections. Cancer.gov, NCI's new enterprise website, serves as the hub of NCI program websites, social media channels, and syndication services.
Program background: The challenge in creating a robust, mobile-ready digital publishing platform was developing authoritative information about cancer for multiple audiences, from researchers and oncologists, to caregivers and patients with low literacy levels—in both English and Spanish. The goal was to make the often daunting information about cancer more approachable and easier to understand and to help people get the information they need at a terrifying time in their lives. And to make it mobile-friendly, so people have access to it when they need it—like when they’re talking to their health care provider. Approximately 50% of Cancer.gov’s patient-focused audiences view content on mobile devices.
Evaluation Methods and Results: In a collaborative partnership, NCI and Sapient Government Services designed an intuitive digital experience delivered through a modern, responsive, digital publishing platform—creating an ecosystem of information with a new, enhanced Cancer.gov website at its core. What was once 24,000 pages of information was streamlined to a final product of approximately 6,800 pages. All the content was restructured to be digital-first, recognizing the changing ways that users are consuming information, and by using the latest concepts in design and customer engagement to make the dense information about cancer more findable and comprehensible. The platform includes social channels, such as blogs and social media as well as one-on-one conversations using online chats to foster a two-way dialogue with the citizens they serve.
Conclusions: The digital-first content is engaging and sharable, with more images and videos. New teams were formed to meet growing demand for infographics to create easy-to-understand depictions of complex concepts. NCI maintains enormous reach with over 3.7 million visits per month but they have increased opportunities to engage with people. By leveraging the power of storytelling and the digital publishing platform, Cancer.gov received over 346,000 visits via social media and nearly 33,000 visitors shared pages from July to December 2015.
Implications for research and/or practice: The Cancer.gov website and digital publishing platform are clear examples ofinnovation in the public sector. As expectations increase in an ever-changing digital world, the development and execution of NCI’s Cancer.gov redesign serves as a model of how government health organizations can increase communication with the public and build transformative solutions in the digital age.