ABSTRACT
As we strive to understand the social-behavioral implications of advanced information technologies, it can be said that studying the use of GIS is as important as developing the technology itself. Unfortunately, anecdotal evidence about the substantive uses of GIS, although good for sharing experiences and telling stories, has not been sufficient to understand the complexity of how GIS technology is intertwined with social, economic,
power and similar structures. Without systematic knowledge of group use of GIS based on social-behavioral research, poor technology designs are likely to be reproduced again and again having (sometimes unintended) social implications for efficiency, effectiveness and equity in group settings (Pickles 1995, 1997). Without a systematic approach to researching GIS use, stories and experiences are difficult to integrate, hence we are less likely to accrue a “knowledge about use”, although knowledge accrual is the basis of all science, including geographic information science and a subfield to which we contribute called participatory geographic information science.
