Supporting Citizens’ Political Decision-Making Using Information Visualisation

Individual decision-making is a complex process. If carried out by individual citizens in the context of politically relevant decisions, serious consequences at all levels of a society might occur. That is why these decisions need to be made with care and preferably on a broad set of information to reflect citizens’ true preferences. However, due to limited attention, citizens often consider only salient aspects in their decision-making. To mitigate unwanted consequences following therefrom, citizens are in dire need of decision-support. We address this need by developing an Information Systems (IS) tool. Being based on information visualisation, our tool supports citizens by providing instant feedback. To ensure a meaningful engagement, the IS tool is designed according to gamification principles. A first instantiation in the context of renewable energy acceptance in Germany yields three key findings: First, we find indications that young, urban, and environmentally aware citizens are willing to accept a high percentage of renewable wind energy. Second, we find that the tool influences citizens’ decision-making. Third, we find citizens to update, however not completely turn over their preferred level of renewable wind energy after interaction with the tool. This holds true across different cross-sections of the population.