About PAUSE

Background

The ITS Program Assessment and Evaluation program has formed the Program Assessment User Session Experts group (PAUSE). The mission of PAUSE is to ensure the practical relevance and accessibility of ITS resources to those whose decisions impact the deployment of transportation systems. Such decision makers include elected and appointed officials as well as engineering and public safety professionals.

PAUSE group membership will include experts from across the United Sates. Through PAUSE, these experts will provide an on-going assessment of ITS materials and resources that document the benefits, costs, and best implementation practices associated with ITS. PAUSE experts will provide feedback on ITS knowledge resource development, validate the need for particular ITS resources, improve information collection and dissemination, and act as a pulse representing the national transportation enterprise.

Meeting Paradigm

Each PAUSE review will consist of up to three rounds of meetings. PAUSE members will be expected to attend one meeting in each round.

Components of a PAUSE Review

Each meeting will be approximately 120 minutes in duration. Once signed-up for a meeting, members should expect to spend about 30 minutes of preparation prior to each meeting and 30 minutes on follow-up.

PAUSE Meeting Framework

Example PAUSE Session Topic

An example of a past evaluation similar to what would be conducted for a PAUSE meeting was the evaluation of using ITS videos for the ITS Lessons Learned website. Two types of videos were analyzed, a lesson category video on procurement and a lessons learned video. Via teleconference and a Breeze meeting, the evaluators were asked to watch each of the short-length videos, take two on-line surveys, and participate in a discussion of the videos. Based on the experts' evaluations, it was concluded that the use of videos would not be pursued for the ITS Lessons Learned website in the near future.