Why I Will Continue To EVOKE

I just started a new job this January after graduating in December. I work in a social science lab conducting research on climate change adaptation and resilience in Africa. Our research is participatory, i.e. we work with communities to research themselves on projects they’re interested in, and with the new project I was hired for, anticipatory. Basically, this summer I’ll be helping out with scenario building exercises in rural African communities to help folks prepare for future change. The scenarios will incorporate local changes (ecological and social) that residents have noticed and more local climate change predictions. Some of the outcomes the focus groups will generate with scenarios will be unwanted, others desirable. The point is to help folks figure out how to prepare for the bad changes and bring about desired changes. I’ll also be doing some activities designed to develop indigenous knowledge in the communities through participatory environmental monitoring. I’m not telling you all this to brag. I’m telling you, so you get a sense of who I am and why I EVOKE.

So my supervisor calls me into her office and tells me about this EVOKE thing. She asks me to participate and learn about EVOKE and see if there is anything we could use in our work in Africa and the US. Alchemy called 3 March 2010. And the rest, as they say, is history.

One of the project’s goals in our research lab is to develop final products like games and scenario building exercises that provide people a space to explore new possibilities and ideas in a low risk environment. In EVOKE, we’re not going to starve if we make a mistake. Unlike a farmer who might try a new crop only to have it fail because of drought or flood or a poor market demand. Ultimately, we’d like to develop some sort of game or activity that helps people build adaptive capacity and resilience for climate change. Climate change will affect food and water supply, energy, population, biodiversity,… everything. Even if we manage to reduce atmospheric contributions, the momentum that is building now is going to impact all facets of life on Earth before it slows and reverses, and we are just not preparing fast enough.

So I started playing to learn how EVOKE worked and what the game's advantages and disadvantages were. But along the way I met a wh*** lot of folks that really were interested in changing things up, improving living conditions for people they have never met and people they know well. We’re building a shadow network to use the correct resilience framework term. Shadow networks are informal, fast-moving and work outside the official institutions like governments to instigate change. That made even the most cynical part of me warm and fuzzy. So I will keep “playing” because of the amazing people I have been privileged to meet here in EVOKE. I hope that we keep working when the EVOKE ends.

I will also keep “playing” because of all the cool information and ideas people are sharing. I don’t have time to keep up with everything. And in the past 2 years, I’ve been dissertating so I ate, breathed and slept only my own research. Having a resource like EVOKE, the research librarians that are offering their time and skills (thanks!), and the folks who have set up wikis to store everything in perpetuity is one of the bestest, coolest things.

Lastly, I believe the missions and quests Alchemy and the EVOKE crew provide are good at helping us focus our ideas about who we are, where we see ourselves in 10 years, and what we might do to get from now to 2020. It is a very enjoyable scenario building, adaptive capacity building and resilience building process they are putting us through. I can peer into others lives through their blogs, photos and videos and maybe see something to spark my own ideas. I can think about what makes my heart beat faster
and would give me a new vision to shoot for. I can connect with others who I can help and who can help me as we all stumble along our journeys. So thank you everyone.

I will continue to “play” although at this point I am going to challenge myself to direct my focus more towards producing evidence directly connected to what I do in real life – so I’m not double working. If you stumble across my posts, comments are greatly appreciated but don’t worry about awarding points. It doesn’t matter. I was and never will be a gamer. In return, I’ll keep reading your evidence and commenting too.