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Thin Grey Lines: Confrontations With Risk on Colorado's Front Range

Authors:

Leysia PalenAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 2042 - 2053

https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025983

Published: 02 May 2017 Publication History

Abstract

This paper reports on two years of ethnographic observation of the science and politics of flood risk in Colorado, as well as design research that examines citizen interaction with expert knowledge about flooding in the region. We argue that the 100-year floodplain standard that inform maps produced by the USA Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)'s National Floodplain Insurance Program (NFIP) represent a problematic form of discursive closure of scientific understanding of flood hazard. We show that in order to meet the requirements of the NFIP, this standard acts as a closure that conveys a certainty that the underlying science does not warrant and foreshortens dialogue on disaster risk and public understanding of flood hazard. Engaging with literature in science and technology studies and human-centered computing, we investigate design opportunities for resisting closure and supporting public formation through encounters with the uncertainty and complexities of risk information.

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Cited By

Preston AMa K(2023)Communicating Uncertainty and Risk in Air Quality MapsIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2022.317144329:9(3746-3757)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2022.3171443
Soden RChilton LMiles SBicksler RVillanueva KBica M(2022)Insights and Opportunities for HCI Research into Hurricane Risk CommunicationCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3502101(1-13)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502101
Cooper CSharma SNicholas RKeller K(2022)Toward More Actionable Flood‐Risk InformationEarth's Future10.1029/2022EF00309310:11Online publication date: 16-Nov-2022
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF003093
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Thin Grey Lines: Confrontations With Risk on Colorado's Front Range
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 2017

7138 pages

ISBN:9781450346559

DOI:10.1145/3025453

General Chairs:
Gloria Mark
University of California Irvine
,
Susan Fussell
Cornell University
,
Program Chairs:
Cliff Lampe
University of Michigan
,
m.c. schraefel
University of Southampton
,
Juan Pablo Hourcade
University of Iowa
,
Caroline Appert
Université Paris-Sud
,
Daniel Wigdor
University of Toronto

Copyright © 2017 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 02 May 2017

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CHI '17: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 6 - 11, 2017

Colorado, Denver, USA

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CHI '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 600 of 2,400 submissions, 25%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Preston AMa K(2023)Communicating Uncertainty and Risk in Air Quality MapsIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2022.317144329:9(3746-3757)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2022.3171443
Soden RChilton LMiles SBicksler RVillanueva KBica M(2022)Insights and Opportunities for HCI Research into Hurricane Risk CommunicationCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3502101(1-13)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502101
Cooper CSharma SNicholas RKeller K(2022)Toward More Actionable Flood‐Risk InformationEarth's Future10.1029/2022EF00309310:11Online publication date: 16-Nov-2022
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF003093
Zarekarizi MRoop-Eckart KSharma SKeller K(2021)The FLOod Probability Interpolation Tool (FLOPIT): A Simple Tool to Improve Spatial Flood Probability Quantification and CommunicationWater10.3390/w1305066613:5(666)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2021
https://doi.org/10.3390/w13050666
Soden ROwen E(2021)Dilemmas in Mutual Aid: Lessons for Crisis Informatics from an Emergent Community Response to the PandemicProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34798625:CSCW2(1-19)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2021
https://doi.org/10.1145/3479862
Soden RLallemant DHamel PBarns K(2021)Becoming InterdisciplinaryProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34492425:CSCW1(1-27)Online publication date: 13-Apr-2021
https://doi.org/10.1145/3449242
Lea DPralle S(2021)To appeal and amend: Changes to recently updated Flood Insurance Rate MapsRisk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy10.1002/rhc3.1222213:1(28-47)Online publication date: 5-May-2021
https://doi.org/10.1002/rhc3.12222
Goodrich KBasolo VFeldman DMatthew RSchubert JLuke AEguiarte ABoudreau DSerrano KReyes AContreras SHouston DCheung WAghaKouchak ASanders B(2020)Addressing Pluvial Flash Flooding through Community-Based Collaborative Research in Tijuana, MexicoWater10.3390/w1205125712:5(1257)Online publication date: 28-Apr-2020
https://doi.org/10.3390/w12051257
Soden RDevendorf LWong RChilton LLight AAkama YBernhaupt RMueller FVerweij DAndres JMcGrenere JCockburn AAvellino IGoguey ABjørn PZhao SSamson BKocielnik R(2020)Embracing Uncertainty in HCIExtended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3334480.3375177(1-8)Online publication date: 25-Apr-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3334480.3375177
Sanders BSchubert JGoodrich KHouston DFeldman DBasolo VLuke ABoudreau DKarlin BCheung WContreras SReyes AEguiarte ASerrano KAllaire MMoftakhari HAghaKouchak AMatthew R(2020)Collaborative Modeling With Fine‐Resolution Data Enhances Flood Awareness, Minimizes Differences in Flood Perception, and Produces Actionable Flood MapsEarth's Future10.1029/2019EF0013918:1Online publication date: 15-Jan-2020
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EF001391
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