Climate Stories Project by CSP
Please find below the
Finalist Evaluation
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I think this proposal has much improved since the first round, and while the impacts aren't directly reducing carbon emissions, the impact this project is already having on people and their perceptions and attitudes toward climate change are important. Changing people's attitudes is a first step to changing behavior. In addition to the audio stories, it would be great if this project had a video component, and also used these stories in a podcast format which could help to raise the visibility of these stories and the project in general.Similar to the Climaure proposal, the installations could help increase public awareness of climate impacts and how to prepare.
The project is simple in design but would allow people to connect in powerful ways around story and personal experience.
Semi-Finalist Evaluation
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Your team could partner with another CoLab proposal which envisions an Augmented Reality exhibit to raise awareness of local climate-change experiences. They provide the AR experience, and you provide the educational and artistic forum that surrounds that. In order to change public attitudes, we need to tell the stories of people around the world for whom climate change is a present-day reality.” Good idea. Can you collect stories almost in real time, to capture the urgency of a Harvey, Irma, or Maria survivor, for instance? (A previous CoLab winner called ClimateX might be helpful here; and/or you could be helpful to them! See https://climatex.mit.edu/)) What are your plans for improving the user experience at climatestoriesproject.org ? Suggestions: 1) include a searchable story database. 2) allow users to upload their own stories for vetting by your team because not all the stories will be good and you might like to work with the contributors to get the best rendition of their powerful experience to share. 3) easy Instagram and Twitter sharing should be turned on (in addition to Facebook, which appearsto be in place). 4) the map could be a ton more interesting http://www.climatestoriesproject.org/climate-stories-map.html Great idea to have educational workshops that train students and teachers to collect stories. You might partner with existing outreach organizations, such as the Climate Reality Leadership Corps; and Boston’s Climate Ready Boston group. (https://www.climaterealityproject.org/ and https://www.boston.gov/departments/environment/climate-ready-boston-leaders-program) To provide immediate and urgent interest, why not bring in hurricane survivors to your school training settings. Having someone who’s almost lost her home to a hurricane, or someone who’s been on the ground as a first responder or as part of a relief effort would be hugely impactful. Why not select a country? USA seems to be the likely one! “Participants become directly engaged with climate change as a present-day reality, rather than as only an abstract scientific concept.” I love this idea as a grassroots mechanism for busting through the political divide on climate change. “This shift in perspective is vital in promoting widespread societal participation in addressing climate change, without which climate change will remain an environmental issue of primary relevance only to activists and climate scientists.“ Costs/Challenges need specificity here, i.e. dollar amounts.
Simple and compelling vision, with strong ability to scale. I like the use of existing platforms including soundcloud and google mapping tools. I would like to see more creativity around scaling the marketing and outreach component using paid social media marketing. The budget is the weakest aspect of this proposal with no clear sense of total estimated costs or cost per unit impact.
 Jason Davis Nov 5, 2017 10:43  | Proposal creator Dear CoLab judges: I have incorporated your suggestions to improve and deepen the scope of Climate Stories Project. I continue to improve CSP's offerings, and look forward to sharing the stories of current climate event (i.e. hurricane) survivors in partnership with CoLab and non-CoLab projects such as CREW, ClimateX, and Climate Reality Leadership Corps. I plan to better integrate CSP into social media platforms including Twitter and Instagram, and I am planning to improve the interactive map with the use of a tool such as ESRI Story Maps. With the help of interns and volunteers, stories will be tagged and made searchable by geographic region and themes. I have created a more specific budget, which details my plans to develop a mobile app with which members of the public and participants in educational workshops can easily record interviews and submit them to Climate Stories Project to be moderated and shared (similar to the Storycorps app). I have created a more detailed timeline which projects the project outcomes farther into the future. I have also made more specific references to cited works in the text, and I have outlined CSP's current collaboration with Climate Reality Project Canada and their Community Climate Hubs program. After reviewing other proposals, I began to wonder if CSP better fits as a "Practice" rather than a "Project," but I decided to keep it as a Project as the work is primarily situated within one organization. I hope these comments help to clarify your further evaluation of Climate Stories Project. Thank you for your consideration! Jason |
