"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Connecting the people
In my continued commentary to the first comic, I now will move to this: How do we connect with people who are resourceful in areas we are not?
How do we connect the people with capital, with those in need of capital but who have ideas.
How do we connect people with first-hand knowledge of a situation with those who are interested in the situation, but who might be remotely situated from the area, and who don't have access to local agents.
Connecting the people, connecting the dots. That's what this is about. All of this. This game, the process for the next 10 weeks. The time is now.
Here are a few principles worth thinking about when you want to get in touch with people:
* Research. Yes, learning requires some work. The trick is to convince our mind that this work is not work, but fun. A challenge. Research is best done within a small community, it could just be you and a friend who are interested in things like combating poverty in Kenya or helping some of the victims in Haiti. But, whether you are alone or with others, research is useful if you want to learn more from a specific resource person.
* Don't simply repeat questions that have already been answered. If you have general questions, such as "How can I learn more about your work?" or "How can I support your cause", then I am sure those questions have been asked before. Don't simply ask the questions because you want the attention of the resourceful person. Or, you can do it, but then be aware that this is mostly a social mannerism, small talk which warms up the discussion before you can dive down into the real meat of things. This leads me to the next one:
* Don't be afraid. Just because someone is a famous person, famous for what they have done perhaps, interesting books they have written, etc - this does not mean that you as a citizen should be afraid of approaching them.
Let's take an example, and I will use my own experience here:
Yesterday morning, March 3rd, I was on twitter, checking out messages from the 1k+ people I follow there. Someone retweeted a message which caught my attention, and then I read this tweet:
1700 members approved so far... if you are waiting for your membership, it will be ready within the hour!
I checked out the profile of the person tweeting, and I read some of the tweets from the last days. I then decided to send a @ to avantgame a.k.a. Jane McGonigal. Not because I expected a response, but it was one way of confirming "Your project is on my radar, I will get involved".
I then took a closer look at Jane's bio line on twitter:
I make games, I play games. Play my latest game: www.urgentevoke.com or read my latest economy of engagement research here: http://www.iftf.org/node/2306
I can remember leaping with joy internally. Because: Here is a person also interested in how games can be used for social change. Here is a person who has created a website I can join. Here is a person who has a project that I can join myself, and the real bonus is: The project is launching now!
I then skimmed through the research report, aptly named "Engagement economy". I signed up for this site, checked out the features, did my missions, and started reading blog entries by others and giving some comments here and there. This was yesterday.
I went to bed at 3 AM last night, after half an hour of quiet meditation, asking myself questions like: "Where have I put my engagement the last years?" and "How can I allow myself to be inspired by others, and in return inspire others. Encourage others?"
So, I have done some research, and I am still in that process. I haven't really put any questions forward to Jane, although I have a ton of questions, but I know that we have time. I also remember another principle which I will share with you:
* Don't go to the source immediately. If you are interested in the work of someone, then don't immediately aim to have a direct contact with the source, but work yourself in through the layers. Read what that person has written, read interviews others have done with that person (In my case, I read for instance this Wired interview with Jane). Why is this important? Because the source/the person who inspires you is probably very busy. They are contacted all the time by hundreds, if not thousands of people, all demanding attention, all having some question.
So:
How do we get in touch with them?
The question here was: How do we get in touch with them? Well, in the comic the premise was that "they" is some organization which is not really working in the limelight, at the center of attention. But they are behind the scene, working hard and efficiently. The governor is wondering how to ask them for help.
What is really interesting about this site is the concept of EVOKE. Clearly, this has all been thought about a lot, it is not just another gimmick. And still, EVOKE requires the active participation of us, the agents. The players.
We need to improve our skills, our coordination and our communication. Just like a hard-core (or casual) guild of MMORPGs like World of Warcraft might have to improve their coordination during the hard-modes of a boss encounter, we agents in this different game need to create teams, and work on that team-play.
Helping each other to be better at contacting other agents of change is one such crucial skill.
... to be continued
Views: 10
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Comment by Claude Raines on March 4, 2010 at 3:09pm
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"Don't simply repeat questions"
You couldn't be more right about this. Nothing is more ignorant than to concede to stagnation for no good reason.
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Comment by Amos Meeks on March 6, 2010 at 5:14pm
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Good post. I think that in the context of EVOKE itself, it is important to remember that the leader boards are not just to show off how good you are at playing this "game", they are a great way to find and connect with people who may have the skills you need.
Say you have a business idea, but don't have the entrepreneurial skills to follow up. Take a look at the leader board and message the couple people with top entrepreneurship skills with your idea. Involve and connect to other people, and make a team!
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Comment by Raymond M. Kristiansen on March 6, 2010 at 5:24pm
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@Amos: of course, thats another aspect of it which is important. Actually it says so on the leader boards itself! :D but yeah, a good reminder.
@Claude: Sorry about the late reply: Stagnation is very common. Stagnation is like bad weather, sometimes, you cant stop it.
You cant stop people behaving like zombies, just following the current meme, the current attention-grabber.
Me, I have always been interested in for instance "the news from two days ago". Not the current news, not the news from yesterday, but the one from two days ago.
In the 2 "days", the news has gone through a cycle which is very common, and the question then becomes: What becomes of this news now?
Related to questions, people just like attention. It's a very human need, like we need physical nutrition for our body. To see attention as a "bad" thing to crave is silly in my opinion. We need, however, to have a natural relationship with it.
People who like to ask questions need to learn how to ask Better questions :) They will still get the attention they want, but overall, everyone who are in the process, will maybe learn More from that process.
My nick-name here on EVOKE should actually be "DLTQ" - Don't Lose the Question. It's the handle I use on other social networks, as well as on my blog dltq.org (currently down)
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