IIc: Representational Validity of Computer Visualizations for Environmental Value Assessments

在美国，在过去的30年里，重大的环境管理决策需要公众的参与。要求公众参与的理由对于公共机构在公共土地上的行动最为明显，但环境状况必然会影响每个人，因此我们都是每一项环境管理决策的利益相关者。人们对环境变化后果的看法很重要，而且往往是法律要求的。但环境管理的后果往往是复杂的，往往只是在遥远的未来才能实现，而且总是有些不确定。那么，公众如何有意义地参与环境管理决策过程呢？如何传达未来环境的其他状态？公众如何确定和表达他们对这些替代办法的偏好？已经开发和尝试了许多不同的“公众参与”方法，并取得了不同程度的成功，从张贴通知和发布冗长的环境影响声明，到举行公开会议，再到实施复杂的冲突解决进程。每种方法都有优缺点，都有其合理的作用。最重要的公众参与方法之一是正式的价值观评估--对相关公众偏好的系统调查。环境价值评估通常通过分配数字评级或排名或作出选择，向表明其偏好的具有代表性的公众样本提供管理替代方案，包括过程和预期结果。要使这一进程有意义，评估中表达的价值和偏好必须与实际实现所代表的替代环境条件时所产生的价值观和偏好一致--环境价值评估的结果必须是有效的。影响环境价值评估有效性的最基本因素之一是备选方案表述的准确性和完整性。也就是说，用来描述相关环境条件的文字、数字、地图和/或图片必须允许参与者正确地理解有争议的替代方案，并确定这些条件如何影响他们所评价的事物。环境可视化技术发展非常迅速，从粗制滥造的示意图到卡通般的图像，再到摄影真实感再到“虚拟现实”。这些陈述可以非常有效地通过交互式计算机网络分发给世界各地的观众，为公众提供前所未有的参与机会。但这些陈述对公众对环境替代方案的理解和评估的影响尚不清楚。这项研究将使环境管理人员和评估专家了解计算机可视化的优势和局限性，并有助于确保公众对环境决策的投入是有效的。

During the last thirty years in the United States, significant environmental management decisions have required the participation of the public. The justification for requiring public input is most clear for actions by public agencies on public lands, but the condition of the environment necessarily affects everyone so we are all stakeholders in every environmental management decision. People's opinions about the consequences of environmental changes are important, and they are often legally required. But the consequences of environmental management are often complex, they are frequently only to be realized far into the future, and they are always somewhat uncertain. How, then, is the public to be meaningfully engaged in the environmental management decision process? How are alternative future states of the environment to be communicated? How can the public determine and express their preferences for these alternatives?Many different "public participation" methods have been developed and tried with varying levels of success, ranging from the posting of notices and the publication of lengthy environmental impact statements to holding open meetings to implementing elaborate conflict resolution processes. Every method has advantages and disadvantages, and all have a legitimate role. One of the most important public participation methods is a formal values assessment--a systematic survey of relevant public preferences. Environmental values assessments typically present management alternatives, including processes and expected outcomes, to representative samples of the public who indicate their preferences, usually by assigning numerical ratings or rankings or by making choices. For this process to be meaningful, it is critical that the values and preferences expressed in the assessment are consistent with the values and preferences that would be elicited if the alternative environmental conditions represented were actually realized--the results of environmental values assessments must be valid. Among the most basic factors affecting the validity of environmental values assessments is the accuracy and completeness of the representation of alternatives. That is, the words, numbers, maps and/or pictures used to describe relevant environmental conditions must allow participants to correctly understand the alternatives at issue, and to ascertain how those conditions affect things that they value.The proposed study investigates the validity of computer visualizations as a means for representing alternative environmental conditions in formal value assessments. Environmental visualization technology has advanced very rapidly, from crude schematics to cartoon-like images to photographic realism to "virtual reality." These representations can very efficiently be distributed to audiences world-wide over interactive computer networks, providing unprecedented opportunities for public participation. But the effects of these representations on public understanding and evaluations of environmental alternatives is not known. This study will inform environmental managers and assessment specialists of the advantages and limitations of computer visualizations, and help to insure that public input to environmental decisions is valid.