The Effectiveness of Visualizations in Communicating Natural Resource Issues

Many parts of the United States and the world currently are, or will soon be, facing significant water resource issues. Although scientists and environmental engineers have discovered and invented solutions to many of these water related issues, members of the general public and policy makers generally do not understand the complexities of the problem or the solutions enough to make informed decisions. One way scientists explain these complex systems is through the use of visualizations, such as schematics, maps, and profiles. Visualizations allow us to represent many pieces of information at once with a structured spatial arrangement and may provide context or cues for the observer. There are many different types of images one may choose from when explaining an environmental issue. However, the effectiveness of  different types of images at aiding the general public in decision making is not well understood. This research provides insights into the way non-scientists interact with different images when faced with a water resource management issue. Over 40 participants from the general public, with no scientific background, were presented with a simplified scenario involving a water resource trade. The participants then role-played through the scenario using one of four possible images.  This research utilizes state of the art technologies such as interactive whiteboards and eye-tracking equipment to probe the decision-making strategies used by participants when utilizing different images such as maps, profiles, schematics, or text. These rigorous methods can be transferred to any scenario or decision support framework in order to assess the usability of visualizations for different stakeholders or audiences. The within-subject and cross-subject analyses of participant reasoning provide a number of guidelines and suggestions for environmental scientists to use in order to create effective tools for communication.