The inability to create persuasive information displays may be a barrier to full participation in decision-making activities. For example, the neighborhood activists in the city where our university is located are at a disadvantage in city-planning meetings because, unlike the other meeting participants, they cannot use software such as geographic information systems (GIS) to present data effectively to support their arguments. In this project, we focus on the barriers to the use of GIS by users who, like the neighborhood activists, have no technical background. We are taking a participatory design approach to the design of a new kind of GIS interface based on programming by demonstration. The artifact presented here is a paper prototype used during the design of query language symbols for the new inter-face. Our goal is to enable nontechnical users to create persuasive information displays on maps, and thus participate in decision-making sessions on a more equal footing.
