Public Policy Debates Press Release

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Argumentation Maps Used in Public Policy Debates
Help to Clarify National Missile Defense Policy

Seattle--April 2001-The innovative methodology pioneered by the author of the MacroVU, Inc. Mapping Great Debates series has been applied to the recent discussions about public policy. The new project has grown out of work done over the past 5 years at Stanford University to develop a robust methodology for depicting visually the structure and detail of debates in various fields. The first product of that project was a series of seven argumentation maps on the Turing debate entitled Mapping Great Debates: Can Computers Think?.

Horn, who is a visiting scholar at Stanford, described the goals of the project: "Our project has been designing and developing highly visual "cognitive maps" that facilitate the management and navigation through major public policy issues. These maps have benefits for policy analysts and decision makers similar to those of geographic maps. They provide patterned abstractions of policy landscapes that permit the decision makers and their advisors to consider which roads to take within the wider policy context. Like the hundreds of different projections of maps (e.g. polar or Mercator), they provide different ways of viewing issues and their backgrounds. They enable policy makers to drill down to the appropriate level of detail. In short they provide an invaluable information management tool. These maps can be displayed both on paper and on web browsers."

The new project is called "New Maps For Public Policy." In describing the project, Robert E. Horn, project director, said, "Effective policy making depends on our ability to manage information. Policy analysts and decision makers face continuous information overload, conflicting ethical values, increased political pressures and widely differing potential outcomes. They, as well as the public in some cases, need to be able to easily and quickly navigate through levels of detail, see patterns, notice claims, rebuttals and counterrebuttals, weigh evidence, consider uncertainty, evaluate risk, assess unknowns, determine options, consider scenarios, set strategy, and monitor consequences."

The first and most immediate goal of the project is developing prototypes that will have wide applicability to many policy issues. "We are both developing a tool and a way of thinking about policy," said Horn. " At the same time we are also deeply involved in mapping specific policy issues. Among them are the debates about how to implement and regulate genetically modified crops and food and security issues such as national missile defense."

The basic idea of the argumentation maps is to provide an easy-to-navigate diagrammatic format for tracing the intellectual history and current status of the debates. It is intended for students, researchers, and scholars from all of these disciplines to be able to keep up with the rapidly evolving field. The focus of the debates shows how new concepts, methods, and viewpoints can arise from careful critique of colleagues' ideas. "Nobody can keep up with so many different fields," Horn explained "That is why we have developed this form of portraying important debates."

The first product of the project is "Can Computers Think?", a set of seven large, colorful diagrams, measuring 3 x 4 feet each and with text and graphics showing both the topical and chronological organization of the debate. Horn's maps display arguments beginning with Alan Turing's 1950 claim that computers would be capable of thinking and move through over 800 individual claims, rebuttals, and counterrebuttals. Each map plots an average of 100 major claims, representing the nearly 400 cognitive scientists, philosophers, AI researchers, and mathematicians who have weighed into the argument in a significant way.

Visually, the maps are groundbreaking. Several hundred icons and illustrations and about 60 photographs help the reader navigate, providing easy landmarks and crystal-clear visual representation of the arguments. A small handbook contains a complete bibliography, an author index, an introduction to the new mapmaking methodology, an in-depth exploration of the cartographic metaphor, a discussion of eleven major criteria for argument selection, and frequently asked questions.

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