Interactive use of simulation models for collaborative knowledge construction: the case of flood policy decision-making

There is an increasing use of interactive flood simulation models in work sessions with practitioners, which is supposed to be more effective than feeding static model results from conventional simulation models into the decision-making process. These interactive simulation models rely on fast and flexible computation algorithms and realistic visualizations and are therefore accessible for practitioners during work sessions, allowing demand-driven flood simulations together with domain experts. In this research we investigated what is actually the influence of applying interactive models on the decision-making process in a work session when compared to the use of static maps and animations prepared in advance of the work session. We tested the applicability, acceptance and the actual influence on the knowledge construction process in various case studies in flood policy decision-making. We conclude that focusing on collaborative knowledge construction is a helpful perspective for assessing the influence of an interactive use of models on the decision-making process in work sessions. Our results reveal how model outputs become integrated in the knowledge construction process of practitioners in flood policy decision-making settings. We present an assessment method that promises to be usable for future evaluations of the influence of interactive models in a larger number of experimental settings and in real-world situations.