1. Development status
From now on, the user name displayed in the simulation can be freely chosen. This way the anonymity can be guaranteed.
Another new feature is the possibility to enter and change your personal financial situation. This is also encrypted and cannot be seen by others.
Furthermore, you can provide more detailed information about your heating technology.
Some exciting developments are still in the works. You can look forward to a new design of the user interface. There will also be the option to select the individual living situation (House, Old building flat, New building flat).
In the future, the effects of climate change will also be visible in the graphical representation.
The SCIARA application is constantly growing. In order to guarantee our quality standards, we have carried out an extensive analysis of the programme code, the architecture and the tools used with external experts.
The result of the analysis certifies that our quality is very good. Only a few structural measures were recommended. In the future, we will continue to carry out regular quality checks to ensure that we are always at the cutting edge of technology.
2. Scientific survey as part of DBU project
As already reported in the last newsletter, a first explorative, qualitative study was conducted as part of the scientific accompanying research in the DBU project (Alexandra Hüttel and Jobst Heitzig, PIK and Keith Smith, ETH Zurich).
The study focused on the following questions:
- What potential does SCIARA have in the middle of society?
- What expectations do people have of a time travel journey into the climate future as offered by SCIARA?
To answer these questions, 23 personal, guided interviews were conducted in a larger German city. In the process, less climate-conscious people were also specifically interviewed.
We took away the following insights from this study:
- Knowledge about climate impacts is partly fragmentary in society. Even younger people expect that climate change will only affect future generations.
- Nevertheless, people with low climate awareness also seemed open to the SCIARA idea.
- Consequently, SCIARA may have great potential to close knowledge gaps in society on the topic of climate change and to promote climate awareness.
By revealing the expectations of a climate time travel on the part of the interviewees, we were able to gain ideas for the future development of SCIARA .
3. Simulation run in Russia
In cooperation with the German Embassy in Moscow, the German-Russian Chamber of Foreign Trade organised another SCIARA simulation, this time at the German School in Moscow. The SCIARA team was connected via video call while the 30 students took part in the climate time travel in the assembly hall.
They were very interested and had a lively discussion with each other and with the Permanent Representative of the German Embassy Beate Grzeski about the role of personal and governmental responsibility in climate protection.
We look forward to many more such events to build climate crisis awareness!
More climate time travels are also taking place in Germany. Another simulation run with our community took place this week. Thank you for your interest!
We were also able to conduct a Climate Time Journey with employees of the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, which took place as part of the internal sustainability campaign.
4. Thinkathon – Humanity in times of climate change
News from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research (PIK): From 3-5th of December 2021, you can take part in the online event ‘Thinkathon’ on the topic ‘Humanity in Times of Climate Change’. This will be held with in cooperation with the Institute of Cognitive Science and the Institute for Environmental Systems Research at the University of Osnabrück.
This is an experiment focusing on the interaction of humans and nature with the exciting question of how both influence each other.
Everyone is welcome to participate, no prior knowledge is required for this format. For more information and to register, please visit the following website: climate-thinkathon.com
5. Reinforcement of the SCIARA team
We are very pleased to announce a new addition to the SCIARA team. We welcome Susanne Arpe, who will support us in the area of finance and controlling, and Lennart Grigoleit as our second working student.
Welcome to our team!