Software to Communicate Global Models

Abstract

Global simulation models can be powerful tools (1) to develop academics’ knowledge of the global socio-politico-environmental world and (2) to analyze possible policies. However, they require considerable knowledge about their workings and the types of questions they are designed to answer before one can use them. Hence it is useful for communication among academics, analysis, and education in schools and universities to develop descriptions of the models and accessible computerized versions of the models. This paper presents new tools for an interactive, adaptive, and user-friendly genre for presenting and using complex simulation models. This way to communicate simulation models has hitherto not been possible nor emphasized. The software should not only include the models, but also document them and guide people through a learning process. These issues apply to all kinds of simulation modeling, but illustrations in this paper come from global social and environmental models.