Gamify

Looks but Doesn't Feel Like Spring:
Light on the Allan Gardens Greenhouse, -5 degrees C, 5:30 p.m. April 4 2016 

I watched this past week a video of so-called "disruptive" technologies - videos of autonomous cars, drones, sensors and other nifty doodads, all of which threaten to make either a new Utopia or Dark Future, depending in which side of the business case you're on.

The doodad that gave me the title for this blog (pronounced, I imagine, as game-i-fie) was an app that people can load on their phones and then just drive around. The app uses the sensor and GPS technology inside the phone to send information to the city (Winnipeg and Toronto among them) about how bumpy your ride is. The bigger the bump, the more likely there's a pot hole. The more drivers that sense that bump, it's even more likely there's a hole.  The app places these sensed bumps on a map of the city and *presto* the city knows where to dispatch crews to fix potholes. 

This is what I mean by which side of the business case you're on. Rest his soul, Rob Ford would be out of work for sure.

But I haven't gotten to the gamify part yet. In Boston, phones with the app display a simplified graphic showing the vehicle and surrounding streets. When the car hits a bump, a cartoon exclamation point pops up on the screen. I assume this is for the amusement of any passenger in the vehicle and not by any means the driver whose attention is firmly fixed on the road. 

I've often felt this week as if I were in a game, cartoon exclamation points crowding the screen, as I've gone from bump to bump on the impossibly short road to deliver the government's agenda on climate change.  

I wish there were an app for that.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen