Analysing environmental opinion using highly customisable visualisation tools to understand citizens' attitudes and...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Policy Analysis
• Public Opinion Research
• Data Visualization

Background:

• Analyzing public opinion on environmental policies is vital but challenging due to complex datasets.
• Existing solutions for public opinion analysis can overwhelm users with excessive information, hindering decision-making.
• Service design methodologies offer a user-centered approach to developing effective data visualization tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present Op-e-nion, a novel visualization tool designed for analyzing public opinion on environmental issues.
• To support administrations and public institutions in understanding and acting upon public environmental attitudes.
• To identify key metrics and barriers affecting citizen engagement in environmental actions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized service design methodologies to create a user-focused visualization tool.
• Involved interdisciplinary experts to identify essential metrics and user needs.
• Incorporated non-state actors in the evaluation phase to ensure tool relevance and sustainability.

Main Results:

• The Op-e-nion tool helps identify socio-demographic groups with low engagement in environmental policies.
• Experts found the tool effective for defining targeted campaigns and policies to promote citizen action.
• The tool simplifies interaction with multi-categorical data, prioritizing relevant information for users.

Conclusions:

• User-centered visualization tools are essential for effective environmental policy development.
• Involving diverse stakeholders, including non-state actors, enhances the utility and sustainability of data analysis tools.
• Op-e-nion demonstrates the potential of tailored visualization solutions to bridge the gap between public opinion data and policy action.