Learn10 What urgent challenge should EVOKE tackle next?

There are seven continents, hundreds of nations, thousands of cultures of humanity living on our interdependent Earth. One central concept, upheld by the U.N. and other governing bodies, by nations and individuals, is that there are “universal” human rights.

That is, every human being is entitled to safe, secure and sustainable life. The issues involved, as explored in EVOKE 1, include: food, water, energy, environment, even habitat/living space.

Beyond this, are social justice concepts such as equality (gender, cultural, racial, educational, religious, etc), freedom (access to, use of, communication/exchange of, information, resources, assets), and the alluded-to “pursuit of happiness.” The right to not only survive, but to thrive.

Balanced with these is one central ecological reality. Out of about 25million or so species, all are Earthlings. One is human. Ethical priorities must move beyond concepts of safety, security, sustainability and social justice, to concepts of inclusive/ecocentric ethics, which value diversity of ecosystems and cultures, and are grounded in an awareness of the relative position of human kind within the ecosystems of the Earth.

What if we could create a baccalaureate-style EVOKE, which would invite the participation of, and begin to forge, the social innovators and guardians of the future? What if an EVOKE SCHOOL Program could be offered, aimed specifically at educators, administrators, community leaders and parents of school-aged (K – 12?) children – and at those school aged children as well? Mission parameters could be tailored for grade/ability levels, and the invaluable technological, networking, innovation and sustainability skills could be introduced, tested, innovated, within the crucible of developing minds and the learning centers wherein those minds are most intensively trained.

As an add-on, the EVOKE SCHOOL Program could work within/alongside some of the curriculum and teacher-training programs at the University level, where educators obtaining their teaching accreditations/certifications, and educators obtaining in-service and continuing-ed training could remain informed and current in the urgent challenges facing our interdependent world, and of some of the best pathways, innovations and innovators working to solve these problems.

[possible ally: Derek Lomas – Playpower Foundation (launched in 2008 learning games for Bottom-of-the Pyramid children around the world //utilizing ultra-low-cost computers… www.playpower.org )]

EVOKE has, tacitly or actively, joined the fight for “net neutrality” – the fight to preserve the meritocratic access to high-speed communications, business and innovations platform of the internet. Perhaps a more active stance can be taken, and EVOKE can search for funding to distribute the means of access, computers, or hand-held devices, even mobile phones to groups of players/communities around the world where EVOKE could be helpful, and is currently inaccessible.

[possible ally or exemplar: Nigel Waller – Movirtu (launched in 2008 to provide access to basic mobile phone services for people earning less than two dollars a day. www.movirtu.com )]

As in Season 1, EVOKE Season 2 should encourage participants from around the world, to identify, define, explore, and create inter-dependent solutions for the ongoing challenges and social problems faced on our interdependent planet: issues facing humankind, and issues facing our ecosystems as a wh***.

Black swan events, which occurred with some regularity even during the playing of EVOKE 1 (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, massive oil leaks, hugely non-proportional stock/monetary exchanges, etc), could be written into (or utilized real-time if feasible) the assignments of EVOKE Season 2, utilizing with greater (and perhaps ongoing) detail tools such as the umbrella Ushahidi network, individual darksites, and team-networking projects, if possible.

A lexicon of the best currency/alternate currency system posts could be utilized and referenced from EVOKE 1 to provide an existing framework for further exploration and innovation in EVOKE 2.

A group of side rooms to EVOKE could greatly enhance the learning and exchange within the EVOKE environment. Perhaps:

Evoke Game Room (s), organized by topic/skill;

Evoke Chat Room(s) organized by topic/skill and by new/returning agent and possible additional parameters (similar to Agent Gabriel Martin’s site?),;

EVOKE detention room (?) for agents whom the Ning platform or moderators might otherwise ban—so that their contributions might still be active, accessible (perhaps through a series of access chambers with appropriate content labels?) and pertinent, even if moved to a side area, to increase transparency and lessen perceptions of censorship within the internet/EVOKE platforms;

EVOKE Hero Center, where (instead of or in addition to EVOKE 1’s hero-of-week blog?) trend-setting or leading agents might be given the opportunity to lead a weekly interactive-chat session, or to offer mentoring for a specific time period (not to overburden productive Agents as they work through the Evoke challenges themselves) to agents who are interested in a particular project, field, skill or tech-platform…

EVOKE Proving Ground, where Agents can post real-life, real-time application of their innovations, projects and efforts, in addition to regular photo- blog- or video- postings. Organized by skill, interest, or other typology, these could become an additional learning tool/asset for the evoke network, with more accessibility/visibility.

Enhanced access to, utilization of EVOKE Wikipedia and other side-sites.

Perhaps a cadre of EVOKE Season 1 Alumni (and so forth, in subsequent seasons) could be added to the roster of available mentors, and more mentoring could be provided. If necessary, the mentoring platforms could also be delineated by skill, interest, and other typologies.

Projects which could conceivably take longer, such as Indigenous Knowledge, could be introduced sooner, and have a longer-available completion time as a result.

In concord with the Baccalaureate EVOKE (K – 12) program proposed above, perhaps EVOKE could transform into a multi-tiered ARG/life-challenges innovation training medium, and reiterations of EVOKE 1 could be offered every season, with new Agents playing through the first assignments, and returning Agents undertaking new, and/or increasingly complex assignments for EVOKE 2, 3, 4, and so forth. As sufficient EVOKE resources (human, informational, technological, platform capabilities) are compiled, the development / evolution of EVOKE could become self-guiding, with core principles, action principles, and evocation practices informing a new category of EVOKE “indigenous knowledge,” traditions, best practices, and innovations, with possible cross-purposing to specific model inquiries communities (worldwide?) might have, and submit to the EVOKE platform for a “talent search” of real-application solutions.