Press

Forest knowledge platform Waldwissen.net wins an award

Illustration: zdrei.com

The platform waldwissen.net has been given an award for its successful relaunch and the benefits it offers to the public.

The information and communication platform waldwissen.net has been providing sound, research-backed answers to all sorts of questions concerning the forest for 15 years now. The FVA has been one of its publishers from the beginning. To mark the anniversary, the site has been given a new look, for which it has now been awarded the Best of Swiss Web Award.

"With more than a quarter of a million users per month, waldwissen.net is not only a very successful platform, but also one of the central points of contact for any knowledge to do with the forest - making it all the better and and all the more important that it is now even more accessible and user-friendly. The award gives us official recognition for these qualities - which we are particularly pleased about!" says Prof. Dr Ulrich Schraml, Director of the Forest Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg (FVA).

Because technical development does not stop at the edge of the forest, the platform was given a complete makeover in 2020. The site’s appearance on tablets and smartphones has been optimised, the search and filter functions have been improved, and a modern app has been integrated - to name just a few of the improvements.

More than 3000 specialist articles migrated

The Swiss-based agency zdrei.com and the waldwissen.net editorial team have migrated around 3,000 scientific articles and half a million data records from an outdated system into a modern, state-of-the-art TYPO3 application.

Users benefit from new filter functions, enabling them to find the content they are looking for more quickly. The site’s fresh new design showcases the collated forest knowledge in a contemporary format, making it even more accessible to users.

The bronze medal awarded for "Public Value" at the Best of Swiss Web Award 2021 is wonderful recognition for this challenging relaunch. Best of Swiss Web rewards outstanding work on the internet. The jury’s decision is an acknowledgement of the successful implementation of the new website design.

Background

The aim of waldwissen.net is to make current research results available to forest stakeholders and all those interested in forests, and to facilitate contacts with experts.

waldwissen.net is a joint project of four research institutions: the Forest Research Institute of Baden-Württemberg (FVA), the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry (LWF), the Austrian Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW), and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), as well as other partner institutes.

Warenkorb schließen