Interacting with statistics — report from a workshop at CHI 99

Suppose you are moving to a new city. You might reasonably want to know if you should worry about crime. Or whether the local schools are good. Whether the drinking water is clean. And whether the job prospects are encouraging. In each of these cases the relevant information exists in one or more statistical data bases (SDBs). Whether a typical information seeker can find the information, however, is another question.