This is the Presentation delivered at ISDE 2013 in Kuching to raise awareness of the value of a gamification approach to engaging the public in active participation on environmental sustainab
The whole of life and almost every human activity can be regarded as a game or can be turned into a game.
Every parent has used gamification to achieve an outcome e.g. Pretending that the mouth is a tunnel and the food on a spoon is a train.
Emerging immersive technologies, especially interfaces and sensors provide the means to transform spectators into players by making the game more accessible to everyone.
Floodsim was developed by Playgen and funded by UK Govt and Aviva – it was played by over 100k people and Climate Change is a BBC game developed by Red Redemption
When it comes to Digital Earth ad the Environment, the main challenge is to engage citizens in positive actions.
To illustrate how this is possible, I use an example from another domain where Society faces a growing problem – how to engage citizen in positive action to change behaviour. This is a picture of the presenter at the end of May 2013, weighing 106.7 kg – within the obese range
A chance look at a BBC website introduced me to the Jawbone UP bracelet with the technology to measure my physical activity and sleep patterns and track and measure many factors that influence my health and weight. It provided me with the tools and controls I needed to gamify my weight.
I used the device and its iPad applications to explore how I could lose weight and the result was a reduction of 15Kg in 10 weeks
This was possible because I not only had the motivation, I had the information in a form I could use to experiment and change behaviours – it gave me control
Sensors and visualisation technologies have matured a long way since the barometer which used to hang in the hallway at home.
Through the “Internet of Things” we now have the tools to visualise real world data at a granular level relevant to citizens
What is needed now is the vision and will to adopt gamification strategies that use these technologies to engage citizens and multi-sector partners in win-win relationships that sustain our future
If I am any example, the results can be very impressive
The answer lies in our hands and key policy makers need to set the vision and strategy
Finally, an example of how a UK company, Playmob is using crowd funding social network games to raise funds for global projects, engage citizens and track results on a map.