Social and Policy Contexts for Environmental Modeling Courtland L. Smith Department of Anthropology iEMSs W6: Developing tools to support management and policy July 12, 2006 July 12, 2006

NETS: Northwest Educational Trawler Simulation Some of my modeling experiences & lessons

Social and Policy Context Model design  For whom  Interacting with Making models social  Social networks  Values, beliefs, frames  Complex systems & disciplines Possible pathways forward

End-users are persons, groups, or entities who might be informed or gain knowledge from modeling tools. Stakeholders are people affected by the policies adopted or plans created to resolve a particular environmental management action or issue. Clients have a financial interest in the modeling or software development. End-users, Stakeholders, Clients

PropertyMeaning Reactive Responds to environment Autonomous Controls own actions Goal-oriented More than responsive to environment Temporally continuous Agent behavior continuous Communicative Communicates with other agents Mobile Can transport self to other locations Flexible Actions not scripted Learning Changes based on experience Character Believable personality or emotions Adapted from Benenson and Torrens (2004:156) Agent Properties

PropertyMeaning Reactive Responds to environment Autonomous Controls own actions Social Interacts with other actors Goal-oriented More than responsive to environment Temporally continuous Agent behavior continuous Communicative Communicates with other agents Mobile Can transport self to other locations Flexible Actions not scripted Learning Changes based on experience Character Believable personality or emotions Adapted from Benenson and Torrens (2004:156) Agent Properties

People collaborate & work in groups

West Eugene Wetlands Project 1200 acres, 13 Years $40 million, 25 funding sources Many partners, including Eugene, Lane County, BLM, TNC, USACE, EPA, USFW, DSL, DEQ Projects require networking & partnerships:

Most human actions involve social networks Ames Creek Project communications network

The Goal? Source: Scott’s Fertilizer Company (

Judgment Day Watchful, judgmental neighbors  “Most of my neighbors do an extremely poor job, that guy over there only comes out twice a year!”  “People have been getting better, but most of them have a long way to go.”  Perfect yard = no criticism From Nielson 2003

Also: frames, mental maps, beliefs

Sources of Information

Schematic of Milbrath’s findings representing the US public’s position on the DSP-NEP continuum. DSP is dominant social paradigm, NEP is new ecological paradigm. From Kempton et al. 1995:200

Schematic of Kempton’s findings representing the US public’s position on the DSP-NEP continuum. DSP is dominant social paradigm, NEP is new ecological paradigm From Kempton et al. 1995:201

Values Theory Theory of Mind Value orientations Normative behaviors Actions Normative goals Intentions Behaviors

ENV ATTITUDES: New environmental paradigm score for representative sample of Oregon and Washington residents (n=3022 respondents) ENV ACTION: Frequency histogram of ALLVOTES yes (n=1516 ITUs) SurveyBehavior

Scale of Spatially-explicit values variance among 15,000 actors

Conclusions & Pathways Forward Organize model and DIST development and design to incorporate people knowledgeable of social processes Three interconnected pathways 1.Make modeling teams more interdisciplinary

Social Process Diagram

Conclusions & Pathways Forward Organize model and DIST development and design to incorporate people knowledgeable of social processes Three interconnected pathways 1.Make modeling teams more interdisciplinary 2.Bring in end-users, stakeholders & clients early and often

Experiential learning works best for young and especially mature learners

Conclusions & Pathways Forward Organize model and DIST development and design to incorporate people knowledgeable of social processes Three interconnected pathways 1.Make modeling teams more interdisciplinary 2.Bring in end-users, stakeholders & clients early and often 3.Build problem- focused tools

Questions? Clarifications? Comments? Rebuttals? Elaborations? Time for discussion? Thank you for your attention.