0648-0748 Supporting Statement Part A

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

Analysis of and Participation in Ocean Exploration Video Products

OMB Control No. 0648-0748

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

Cite all applicable authorities for this information collection.

NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) is the only federal organization dedicated to ocean exploration. By using unique capabilities in terms of personnel, technology, infrastructure, and exploration missions, OER is reducing unknowns in deep-ocean areas and providing high-value environmental intelligence needed by NOAA and the nation to address both current and emerging science and management needs. Our expertise, work products, and services generally fall into the areas of expedition planning and operations; marine archaeology; coastal and ocean mapping; science; technology; data management; and education.

Since the inception of NOAA's exploration program in 2001, OER data management has been guided by the 2000 President's Panel Report recommendations which prioritized rapid and unrestricted data sharing as one of five critical exploration program components. More recently, Public law 111-11 [Section XII Ocean Exploration] reinforced and expanded OER data management objectives, continuing to stress the importance of sharing unique exploration data and information to improve public understanding of the oceans, and for research and management purposes.

OER uses the telepresence model to connect shore-based participants to expeditions at sea. Telepresence is the concept of providing an individual or group of individuals with the data and information necessary for participation in an event or effort live when those individuals are not physically present for the event.

In recent years, this technology has been adapted for oceanographic work to connect scientists, teachers, and students on shore to live images and real-time data from ships at sea. Telepresence is providing a portal into the excitement of oceanographic discovery and demonstrating to a broad audience the importance of exploring and protecting our largely unknown ocean.

This connection to shore based participants is always evolving with exciting new advances in technology. OMB approval will allow the office to request voluntary analysis and participation of Ocean Exploration Video Products.

2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be used.

If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.

The information requested will have a practical utility with the analysis and participation of Ocean Exploration video products. Voluntary participants will include the general public and members of the scientific community. During expeditions, scientists participate in real time from shore using various tools to maximize their remote participation. The general public will also be able to use the Citizen Science website to provide baseline video annotation of ocean video products collected by the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

Scientists participating from shore will be asked to complete a brief voluntary survey after participating in an expedition. Scientists participating aboard a cruise will be asked for contact and pertinent information such as food allergies for their safety.

Citizen Scientist participants will be able to contribute through the website watching short video clips ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes.

On a given expedition there may be over 100 hours of ocean video, often capturing areas of the ocean never seen before. The analysis of video to extract scientific observations remains a daunting task with most of the analysis done post dive. Although citizen science has been evolving rapidly, the tools to engage public for the video data analysis are lacking. The purpose of the Citizen Science Initiative is to assess protocols to engage public to provide Baseline Video Annotation that can then in turn help NOAA scientists in identifying useful video for further analysis. Using Citizen Science, we can tackle large video data sets that professional scientists alone cannot easily accomplish. With simple keys, participants can annotate video with digital bookmarks that scientist can use to view video that they are interested in. For example, a Citizen Scientist could identify a section of video with a coral digital bookmark that later a coral specialist could use to focus on coral sections of video collected.

All video data annotation efforts will be fully documented and prepared for technology transfer for broader NOAA and non-NOAA use.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of information technology.

The collections for each of the forms uses an on-line process. The participation as well as the contact information use Google Forms to ask simple questions that can be answered quickly such as by clicking a radial button or filling a short text box. No paper versions of these forms exist and all records are linked to their corresponding Google Sheets automatically without input from a record keeper or similar position.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

Survey requests will pertain to specific NOAA OER video products. These surveys will not be duplicated by other information collections.

5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the methods used to minimize burden.

This information collection will not affect small businesses or other small entities.

6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.

Not Conducting Collection

OMB approval will allow the office to request feedback from shore based participants. These participants will be able to provide valuable information that will be used to improve on existing capabilities. By not conducting this collection valuable feedback and time will be lost.

By not conducting collection of the very few visiting scientists that will be embarking on a cruise, we risk their health and safety, as well as, general confusion concerning contact information.

The Citizen Science project will save NOAA scientists hundreds of hours of time, by allowing the public to watch and organize short video clips into digital bookmarks that scientists can then use to navigate areas of interest.

Less Frequent Collection

The interface and tools used for participation remotely during ocean exploration are always evolving with technological advances. It is important that the best interface is available for shore based participants. Limiting feedback will limit the pace of R & D developments.

7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

This collection will be conducted in a manner consistent with OMB guidelines.

8. Provide information on the PRA Federal Register Notice that solicited public comments on the information collection prior to this submission.

• Summarize the public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those comments.

• Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

A Federal Register Notice published on November 22, 2019 (Federal Register Vol. 84, No 64464) solicited public comments. No comments were received.

9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

No payments or gifts will be made to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

Respondent scientists will be asked to volunteer feedback via a Google form. The Google form will have restricted access within NOAA OER. For scientists, university/work affiliation may be solicited. The PRA statement explains that submissions will be kept anonymous.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

No questions of a sensitive nature will be asked.

12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information. (add rows as necessary)

For wage costs: use www.bls.gov/oes , then click on OES Data in the left-hand column, then National to find Occupational Employment Wage Rates for the current year. Find the appropriate Occupational Title of the Respondent completing the Information Collection and use the Mean hourly wage.

Information Collection	Type of Respondent (Occupational Title)	# of Respondents (a)	Annual # of Responses / Respondent (b)	Total # of Annual Responses (c) = (a) x (b)	Burden Hrs / Response (d)	Total Annual Burden Hrs (e) = (c) x (d)	Mean Hourly Wage Rate (for Type of Respondent) (f)	Total Annual Wage Burden Costs (g) = (e) x (f)
Sailing Contact Information (NEW)	Scientist	1000	1	1000	0.166 Hr	167	$36.62	$6,078.92
Okeanos Explorer Participation Assessment	Scientist	10001	1	1000	0.166 Hr	167	$36.62	$6,078.92
EX Collaboration Tools Feedback (NEW)	Scientist	1000	1	1000	0.166 Hr	167	$36.62	$6,078.92
Citizen Science Bookmarking	Individual	1000	1	1000	0.166 Hr	167	$24.98	$4,146.68
Totals				4000		668		$22,383.44

¹ 3,000 unique respondents: Respondents completing the Sailing Contact Information are the same respondents who will complete the Okeanos Explorer Participation Assessments.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in Question 12 above). (add rows as necessary)

Respondents will not incur any costs associated with this collection of information.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government. (add rows/information as necessary)

Federal employee staff time (for a level 02 employee) to compile quarterly results from all collections costs is expected to total 16 hours each year, for an estimated $500 cost burden each year.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.

The following tables show the changes and in the number of respondents, responses, time estimates, labor costs, and miscellaneous costs; and explains the reasons for these changes.

Information Collection	Respondents		Responses		Burden Hours		Reason for change or adjustment
	Current Renewal / Revision	Previous Renewal / Revision	Current Renewal / Revision	Previous Renewal / Revision	Current Renewal / Revision	Previous Renewal / Revision
Sailing Contact Information (NEW)	1000	0	1000	0	166	0	New Requirement
Okeanos Explorer Participation Assessment	1000	1600	1000	1600	166	400	Number of respondents was decreased to reflect participation and response time was decreased from 15 min to 10 min to more accurately reflect burden.
EX Collaboration Tools Feedback (NEW)	1000	0	1000	0	166	0	New Requirement
Citizen Science Bookmarking	1000	1000	1000	1000	166	250	Response time was changed from 15 minutes/response to 10 minutes/response to be more accurate.
Total for Collection	4000	2600	4000	2600	664	650

¹ 3,000 unique respondents: Respondents completing the Sailing Contact Information are the same respondents who will complete the Okeanos Explorer Participation Assessments.

Information Collection	Labor Costs		Miscellaneous Costs		Reason for change or adjustment
	Current	Previous	Current	Previous
Sailing Contact Information (NEW)	$6,078.92	0	0	0	New Requirement
Okeanos Explorer Participation Assessment	$6,078.92	Not calculated	0	0	Labor costs calculated using BLS Occupational Employment Data; not calculated during the last renewal.
EX Collaboration Tools Feedback (NEW)	$6,078.92	0	0	0	New Requirement
Citizen Science Bookmarking	$4,146.68	Not calculated	0	0	Labor costs calculated using BLS Occupational Employment Data; not calculated during the last renewal.
Total for Collection	$22,383.44	0	0	0

16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and publication.

Collections will not be published.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.

The expiration date for OMB approval of this information collection will be displayed on all forms.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.

There are no exceptions for compliance with provisions in the certification statement.

Part B

This collection does not employ the use of statistical methods.

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