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Visualizing Sustainability - SXSW 2008
This panel may spark excitement around ways to visualize information to inspire change. You have to allow people to play with the data in meaningful ways so that they can see their impact. You also have to focus on the progress they are making, and not just the projections. Sometimes the projections are scary and make it difficult for individuals to see how they can inspire change.How can we visualize the city of the future and create more interactive steps that lead to sustainability? How can we use technical simulations and games to build understanding of the resource-balanced world? What's the connection between an emerging Global Sustainable Society and video games?
Jon Lebkowsky Principal , Social Web Strategies
Dawn Danby Aylanto
Jamais Cascio World-Builder-in-Chief, Open the Future
Joel Greenberg Writer, podaddies.com
Pliny Fisk Co-Director , CMPBSWhen Visualizing different kinds of systems a weather map is a good example. Maps have changed a lot over the past 5 years. There are many new sophisticated toold for data visualization. A weather map from 5 years ago was simple. But a map from the 1950s was mind boggling simple. All data is digital now and can be represented as data. Sustainability is a data issue.
As a consumer, it is important to do your ecological impact. This data will give you something to work with.
We don't have a lot of time to solve global warming issues. Any data that can help us visualize and understand our impact will help. When looking at data that displays carbon cycles, pollen or how birds patterns are changing, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Many times the data show us the impact, but not how to be sustainable.
Environmentalists need to think about how can we pull information threads to show things that don't freak people out. You need to have personal feedback when you are interacting with things so that you know what your impact is.
When driving a car, we generally optimize the experience for speed and time, not fuel efficiency, so when people get a new Prius, they are bummed cause they are not getting more than 35 miles per gallon.
If you keep your car maintained and drive an appropriate speed, you will see results. The car does its best to provide feedback.
You can use video games and demos to create items and see the impact.
It can help you determine the best way to plan things. Using the games and simulations as tools for change. We are changing the language that we use when we talk about the tools.
Look at consumption of items in each phase. Am I using more water than my neighbor?
Discovery Channel has released EarthLive - interactive version of the globe with erosion of deserts and info about what scientists are doing.
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