Software for scientists facing wicked problems lessons from the VISTAS project

Cushing, Judith Bayard; Winters, Kirsten M.; Lach, Denise

doi:10.1145/2757401.2757433

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Given the fine spatial scale (5-m) required to understand these transfers and associated chemical transformations in complex urban watersheds, VELMA has also been enhanced to track daily transfer of simulated contaminant(s), then record those daily results as a spatial ASCII grid file. To visualize these detailed results data, VISTAS software was implemented to produce spatially distributed, daily VELMA visualizations (Cushing et al, 2015).…”

Section: Model Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Watershed analysis of urban stormwater contaminant 6PPD-Quinone hotspots and stream concentrations using a process-based ecohydrological model

Halama,

McKane,

Barnhart

et al. 2024

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) are highly sensitive to 6PPD-Quinone (6PPD-Q). Details of the hydrological and biogeochemical processes controlling spatial and temporal dynamics of 6PPD-Q fate and transport from points of deposition to receiving waters (e.g., streams, estuaries) are poorly understood. To understand the fate and transport of 6PPD and mechanisms leading to salmon mortality Visualizing Ecosystem Land Management Assessments (VELMA), an ecohydrological model developed by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was enhanced to better understand and inform stormwater management planning by municipal, state, and federal partners seeking to reduce stormwater contaminant loads in urban streams draining to the Puget Sound National Estuary. This work focuses on the 5.5 km2 Longfellow Creek upper watershed (Seattle, Washington, United States), which has long exhibited high rates of acute urban runoff mortality syndrome in coho salmon. We present VELMA model results to elucidate these processes for the Longfellow Creek watershed across multiple scales–from 5-m grid cells to the entire watershed. Our results highlight hydrological and biogeochemical controls on 6PPD-Q flow paths, and hotspots within the watershed and its stormwater infrastructure, that ultimately impact contaminant transport to Longfellow Creek and Puget Sound. Simulated daily average 6PPD-Q and available observed 6PPD-Q peak in-stream grab sample concentrations (ng/L) corresponds within plus or minus 10 ng/L. Most importantly, VELMA’s high-resolution spatial and temporal analysis of 6PPD-Q hotspots provides a tool for prioritizing the locations, amounts, and types of green infrastructure that can most effectively reduce 6PPD-Q stream concentrations to levels protective of coho salmon and other aquatic species.

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Section: Model Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Watershed analysis of urban stormwater contaminant 6PPD-Quinone hotspots and stream concentrations using a process-based ecohydrological model

Halama,

McKane,

Barnhart

et al. 2024

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…There are a number of works among the surveyed papers that touch upon the issue of wicked problems in e-government literature . In Cushing et al (2015), the visualization of scientific presentations is positioned as a wicked problem, which software developers should be aware of to deliver enhanced results. In Edzén (2014), there are some suggestions to improve the tabletop exercises (i.e.…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

On addressing privacy in disseminating judicial data: towards a methodology

Bargh

Choenni

Meijer

2017

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Purpose Information dissemination has become a means of transparency for governments to enable the visions of e-government and smart government, and eventually gain, among others, the trust of various stakeholders such as citizens and enterprises. Information dissemination, on the other hand, may increase the chance of privacy breaches, which can undermine those stakeholders’ trust and thus the objectives of transparency. Moreover, fear of potential privacy breaches compels information disseminators to share minimum or no information. The purpose of this study is to address these contending issues of information disseminations, i.e. privacy versus transparency, when disseminating judicial information to gain (public) trust. Specifically, the main research questions are: What is the nature of the aforementioned “privacy–transparency” problem and how can we approach and address this class of problems? Design/methodology/approach To address these questions, the authors have carried out an explorative case study by reconsidering and analyzing a number of information dissemination cases within their research center for the past 10 years, reflecting upon the whole design research process, consulting peers through publishing a preliminary version of this contribution and embedding the work in an in-depth literature study on research methodologies, wicked problems and e-government topics. Findings The authors show that preserving privacy while disseminating information for transparency purposes is a typical wicked problem, propose an innovative designerly model called transitional action design research (TADR) to address the class of such wicked problems and describe three artifacts which are designed, intervened and evaluated according to the TADR model in a judicial research organization. Originality/value Classifying the privacy transparency problem in the judicial settings as wicked is new, the proposed designerly model is innovative and the realized artifacts are deployed and still operational in a real setting.

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“…He will offer observations from the software engineer perspective on challenges and opportunities of implementing the tools and information resources needed for his work creating software for scientists facing wicked problems [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging researchers and decision makers to develop usable climate information

Lach

Cushing

2015

Proceedings of the 16th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research

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In this plenary panel, speakers from academia and government present their past efforts to engage researchers and decision makers in determining and delivering information needed for climate change action.The primary goal of the panel presentations and discussion is to envision new ways for decision makers, scientists and information technology developers to work together to define and carry out public policy. After moderators present some background about the role of science in approaching wicked problems that face governments and society, scientists and decision makers who have worked together on these issues, as well as software developers engaged in delivering the desired information technology, will present their experiences with ongoing projects. The panel session concludes with questions and comments from the audience, and discussion among panel members.

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Software for scientists facing wicked problems lessons from the VISTAS project

Cited by 5 publications

References 25 publications

Watershed analysis of urban stormwater contaminant 6PPD-Quinone hotspots and stream concentrations using a process-based ecohydrological model

Watershed analysis of urban stormwater contaminant 6PPD-Quinone hotspots and stream concentrations using a process-based ecohydrological model

On addressing privacy in disseminating judicial data: towards a methodology

Engaging researchers and decision makers to develop usable climate information

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