Tools to think with? Towards understanding the use of computer-based support tools in policy relevant research B.S. McIntosh a, * , R.A.F. Seaton b , P. Jeffrey a a School of Water Sciences, Cranfield University, College Road, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK b Seaton Associates Ltd., 9 Park Road, Stevington, Bedfordshire MK43 7QD, UK Received 22 October 2005; received in revised form 17 November 2005; accepted 15 December 2005 Available online 20 March 2006 Abstract As environmental science has broadened to address policy concerns, there has been an effort to transfer the perceived benefits of formal modelling to these new areas through the creation of computer-based support tools. However, a number of poorly addressed issues pose barriers to the uptake of such tools. These issues are discussed to argue that the current support tool research agenda is too focussed on hard, technical concerns and that greater emphasis needs to be given to soft, contextual aspects of design and use. To counter these deficiencies we propose a framework for research based upon the concepts of innovation and receptivity. Three different sources of innovation relevant to support tools and end-user receptivity are identified. We contend that new technologies and new techniques for manipulating them have to be translated into the pre-existing knowledge and working practices of user communities before they can be effectively employed. To illustrate the proposed framework, the paper explores the impact of one innovation source on receptivity within the context of a research project developing and ap- plying support tool technology. The need to better understand the dimensions of innovation and how they relate to the processes that determine user receptivity to support tools is emphasised. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Support tools; Models; Research process; Innovation; Receptivity; Policy-relevant research; Integrated assessment and modelling 1. Introduction Given the pressure to better integrate human and environ- mental issues (Costanza, 2003), environmental science is no longer concerned simply with the ‘‘natural’’ or the physical. It is now concerned with integrating these phenomena with so- cial, economic, infrastructure and governance structures and processes to address policy-relevant questions and issues (Lemon, 1999; Parker et al., 2002; Oxley et al., 2004). The po- tential of model-based methods for tackling management and policy problems is well-established with the concept of the de- cision support system (Sage, 1991) and this potential has been recognised within the policy-relevant environmental research community (Parker et al., 2002; Van Daalen et al., 2002; Jakeman and Letcher, 2003). The apparent success of formal models as epistemological devices in physical environmental science combined with pressures to perform research in a cost-effective and productive way has given rise to a need to facilitate the use of models within the research community (Argent, 2004; Oxley et al., 2004). As a result research effort has been devoted over the past decade to developing various computer-based support technol- ogies such as ‘‘integrated assessment models’’, ‘‘modelling frameworks’’, ‘‘modelling systems’’, ‘‘environmental decision support systems’’ and output analysis systems such as GIS and dynamic GIS (Rizzoli and Young, 1997; Argent, 2004). We shall collectively term such technologies computer-based ‘‘support tools’’ for the purposes of this paper regardless of whether they are designed to support research by reducing model development redundancy, to support scientific research by providing models or information systems or to directly sup- port policy and planning organisations through providing * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 1234 750111; fax: þ44 1234 751671. E-mail address: b.mcintosh@cranfield.ac.uk (B.S. McIntosh). 1364-8152/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2005.12.015 Environmental Modelling & Software 22 (2007) 640e648 www.elsevier.com/locate/envsoft