The design of GSS-enabled interventions: A Habermasian perspective

This article frames GSS-enabled interventions as electronically supported discourses, designed and evaluated against a gold standard of ideal speech in a perfect communication environment. The objectives are, firstly, to develop a model of GSS-enabled interventions based on Habermas' theory of communicative action, and secondly, to apply the model as a problem-structuring device to the conceptual problem of designing the strategic evaluation of a comprehensive urban plan. The model, known as the VC ( validity claims) Model, provides separate evaluative criteria for personal, social and technical aspects. The criteria for successful GSS-enabled interventions may be summarized as "personal commitment ( validated by personal truthfulness or sincerity), to a social consensus ( validated by rightness), for informed action ( validated by objective truth)". Detailed criteria ( viz., goal, strategy, procedure, issues, problems) are developed for each type of validity claim and matched to the technologies available. The result is a detailed brief illustrating the design of a GSS-enabled strategic urban planning intervention, including a sample agenda for the GSS-supported meeting and the GSS tools that will be employed.