Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the UN have become central to the vision and mission of national institutions, corporate enterprises, and governments (Kates, Parris, & Leiserowitz, 2005). Although many SDGs has social issues at their core, unfortunately individuals and families are neglected in main stream sustainability discussions. However, individuals and families are the basic unit of society and their sustainability is as important as the organization, industry, and country level sustainability. The key of sustainable transformation of individual and family is balancing the various life dimensions, such as health, wealth, career, family, social relationships, and personal development. It is well understood that these life dimensions are interrelated. However, existing systems do not support sustainable transformation, nor do they allow individuals and families to examine interrelationships and impacts between life dimensions. Modelling holistic interrelationships between life dimensions can educate people to make sustainable decisions and ultimately transform their lives. Modelling and simulation can transform us by describing our current life situations, explaining how life dimensions impact each other, and predicting how our lives can be changed (Rouse & Morris, 1986). One critical challenge is to provide personalized, persuasive education that leads to transformation. To address this challenge, we propose the “measure-model-entertain-transform” approach as illustrated below. We believe that we cannot manage what we don’t measure, and we cannot understand and transform what we don’t model. Hence, measuring individuals and families on various life dimensions and modelling their interactions are at the heart of the approach. Even if we measure and model if we cannot persuade individuals to change and adapt through entertainment, education will be of no avail nor will transformation occur. Thus, we propose serious games and gamification as the third and critical step leading to education and transformation. We have implemented 4 proof of concept prototypes that support each step of the approach and are in the process of validating them.

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Individual and Family Sustainability: The Measure-Model-Entertain-Transform Approach

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the UN have become central to the vision and mission of national institutions, corporate enterprises, and governments (Kates, Parris, & Leiserowitz, 2005). Although many SDGs has social issues at their core, unfortunately individuals and families are neglected in main stream sustainability discussions. However, individuals and families are the basic unit of society and their sustainability is as important as the organization, industry, and country level sustainability. The key of sustainable transformation of individual and family is balancing the various life dimensions, such as health, wealth, career, family, social relationships, and personal development. It is well understood that these life dimensions are interrelated. However, existing systems do not support sustainable transformation, nor do they allow individuals and families to examine interrelationships and impacts between life dimensions. Modelling holistic interrelationships between life dimensions can educate people to make sustainable decisions and ultimately transform their lives. Modelling and simulation can transform us by describing our current life situations, explaining how life dimensions impact each other, and predicting how our lives can be changed (Rouse & Morris, 1986). One critical challenge is to provide personalized, persuasive education that leads to transformation. To address this challenge, we propose the “measure-model-entertain-transform” approach as illustrated below. We believe that we cannot manage what we don’t measure, and we cannot understand and transform what we don’t model. Hence, measuring individuals and families on various life dimensions and modelling their interactions are at the heart of the approach. Even if we measure and model if we cannot persuade individuals to change and adapt through entertainment, education will be of no avail nor will transformation occur. Thus, we propose serious games and gamification as the third and critical step leading to education and transformation. We have implemented 4 proof of concept prototypes that support each step of the approach and are in the process of validating them.