Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons English Theses & Dissertations English Fall 12-2020 Climate Change Games as Boundary Objects: Fostering Dialogic Communication within Stakeholder Engagement Megan L. McKittrick Old Dominion University, mmckittr@odu.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.edu/english_etds Part of the Climate Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation McKittrick, Megan L. "Climate Change Games as Boundary Objects: Fostering Dialogic Communication within Stakeholder Engagement" (2020). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, English, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/1y23-xh37 https://digitalcommons.edu/english_etds/111 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the English at ODU Digital Commons.
It has been accepted for inclusion in English Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@odu. CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES AS BOUNDARY OBJECTS: FOSTERING DIALOGIC COMMUNICATION WITHIN STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT by Megan L. May 2005, California State University, Fresno M.
May 2008, Old Dominion University A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ENGLISH OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY December 2020 Approved by: Daniel Richards (Director) Kevin Moberly (Member) Marc Ouellette (Member) Ryan Moeller (Member) ABSTRACT CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES AS BOUNDARY OBJECTS: FOSTERING DIALOGIC COMMUNICATION WITHIN STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT Megan L. McKittrick Old Dominion University, 2020 Director: Dr. Daniel Richards Rising waters and the increasing devastation of flood events make coastal resilience a significant issue in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, particularly in the city of Norfolk. Enhancing resilience requires ongoing stakeholder engagement designed to invite dialogue while encouraging cross-jurisdictional collaboration and comprehensive problem-solving.
Climate change games have been employed to support these endeavors. This dissertation provides a response to the following research questions: 1) What is the origin of the climate change game genre? 2) Why are key stakeholders in coastal resilience using climate change games? And 3) how do these games operate for these key stakeholders? To answer these questions, I focused on two games used in resilience-related stakeholder engagement workshops in 2018 in Coastal Virginia: the Multi-hazard Tournament (MHT) and the Game of Floods. I conducted semi- structured observational field notes and survey research, including interview and questionnaires, followed by thematic analysis according to notions of Susan Leigh Star and James Griesemer’s (1989) boundary objects. Designed for a wide range of contexts, including public outreach, education, training, and stakeholder engagement, I found that the CC game genre emerges from (and is a manifestation of) a number of related traditions: technical communication, urban planning, modeling and simulation, and game studies—fields that are, themselves, intertwined with a broad array of disciplines.
These games are complex and idiosyncratic; while no one disciplinary tradition can adequately explain their work, the notion of boundary objects can. These games are boundary objects (a manifestation of a range of disciplinary traditions), and they operate as boundary objects for these key stakeholders (encouraging dialogic communication among diverse audiences). I merge multidisciplinary scholarship with data from survey research to generate a rhetorical boundary work heuristic that articulates the goals of these games: foster boundary work for varied audiences within intense design periods using charrette and game design strategies. I analyze the MHT and the Game of Floods according to this heuristic, demonstrating that, while both games work toward these goals, more could be done to enhance their boundary work, and I close with key takeaways for practitioners to use as they continue developing and employing CC games.
iv Copyright, 2020, by Megan L. McKittrick, All Rights Reserved. v This dissertation is dedicated to my mother, Melody Edwards, who embodies resilience. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’m grateful for the many people who have contributed to this dissertation.
I want to extend my sincere gratitude to my committee—Dr. Kevin Moberly, Dr. Ryan Moeller, and Dr. Marc Ouellette—for their time, their insights, and their feedback as they pointed me toward clarity.
I especially want to recognize my chair, Dr. Daniel Richards, for generously giving his time and patiently responding to my many questions as he guided this project through several iterations. I want to express my appreciation for my interview participants for generously granting me access to their work and to Dr. Michelle Covi for putting me in touch with this professional community.
Special acknowledgment goes to the County of Marin, California, which created the Game of Floods, and to the Urban Sustainability Directors Network for the 2018 iteration, supporting the Federal Emergency Management Association and its work with local governments. I wish to thank the USDN for granting permission to use images of the 2018 iteration of the Game of Floods in this dissertation, and FEMA for their permission to use data from their post-test questionnaire. I also want to thank the Silver Jackets team of the U. Army Corps of Engineers, creators of the Multi-hazard Tournament, for their permission to use images in this dissertation, as well as their permission to use the data from their post-test questionnaire.
I would also like to thank Dr. David Metzger and the Old Dominion University Patricia & Douglas Perry Honors College for giving me the opportunity to teach themed courses related to my dissertation. Doing so afforded me the opportunity to see this topic from new angles through iterative course design and the bright, inquisitive students who engaged with this material. I particularly want to acknowledge Madison Perry for her work with me during an vii Honors Independent Study.
Our conversations were enlightening and productive, and it was a privilege to learn along with her. I am grateful for my fellow students in Old Dominion University’s PhD in English program, as well: Dr. Matthew Beale for our countless discussions, Dr. Suzanne Sink for our annual work sessions, Dr.
Jessica Saxon for her help with formatting, and Dr. Megan Mize for organizing supportive dissertation boot camps both in person and online, as well as the many others I have had the joy of working with in this program. There are too many to name here, but my peers have all been, and continue to be, a source of endless motivation. So many have played such an important role in this work, and I am grateful to them all for driving me toward successful completion.
My family, without whom none of this would be possible, deserves special recognition. I want to thank my husband, Jimmy McKittrick, for his endless support and encouragement, and I am indebted to my parents, Melody and Douglas Edwards, as well as my sister, Katie Reaves, my in-laws, Pam and Jim McKittrick, and Jimmy again for caring for my children while I wrote. I am especially grateful for Nolan and Hannah, my beloved children, for helping me keep my work in perspective and to my parents for always modeling hard work and determination. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for encouraging me to finish my homework all those years.
I finally finished! viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES. x LIST OF FIGURES. INQUIRING AFTER THE ORIGIN, PURPOSE, AND USES OF CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES IN COASTAL VIRGINIA. 5 WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE GAME GENRE?.
6 WHY ARE KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN COASTAL RESILIENCE USING CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES?. 20 HOW DO THESE GAMES OPERATE FOR THESE KEY STAKEHOLDERS?. THE ORIGIN AND NATURE OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE GAME GENRE: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 35 AN (INCOMPLETE) INTERDISCIPLINARY ORIGIN STORY.
36 CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES AS RHETORICAL BOUNDARY OBJECTS. 39 THE COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS THAT SPURRED THE USE OF CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES. 43 SOLVING COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS WITH CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES. MULTIDISCIPLINARY METHODS AND METHODOLOGY FOR GRAPPLING WITH THE COMPLEXITY OF CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES.
87 STORYTELLING AS METHODOLOGY. 91 METHODS FOR DATA COLLECTION. 92 METHODS FOR DATA ANALYSIS. A HEURISTIC FOR ASSESSING THE RHETORICAL BOUNDARY WORK OF CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES.
104 CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES REFLECT COMMON GOALS OF TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION AND GAME DESIGN. 107 GAMES OPERATE AS BOUNDARY OBJECTS. 124 ix Chapter Page A HEURISTIC FOR ASSESSING THE RHETORICAL BOUNDARY WORK OF CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES. APPLYING THE RHETORICAL BOUNDARY WORK HEURISTIC TO THE MULTI-HAZARD TOURNAMENT AND THE GAME OF FLOODS.
144 FOSTER BOUNDARY WORK. 147 FOSTER BOUNDARY WORK FOR A VARIED AUDIENCE. 168 FOSTER BOUNDARY WORK FOR A VARIED AUDIENCE WITHIN AN INTENSE DESIGN PERIOD. 173 FOSTER BOUNDARY WORK FOR A VARIED AUDIENCE WITHIN AN INTENSE PERIOD USING CHARRETTE AND GAME DESIGN STRATEGIES.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR PRACTITIONERS WHO USE CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES. 191 A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 192 AN ABRIDGED REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 195 A LIST OF EXISTING CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES.
195 A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONDITIONS THAT FOSTER COLLABORATION AND DECISION-MAKING. 199 ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS. MULTI-HAZARD TOURNAMENT QUESTIONNAIRE. PERMISSION TO USE IMAGES FROM THE USDN ITERATION OF THE GAME OF FLOODS.
PERMISSION TO USE POST-TEST QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE GAME OF FLOODS. PERMISSION TO USE IMAGES OF THE MULTI-HAZARD TOURNAMENT. PERMISSION TO USE POST-TEST QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE MULTI-HAZARD TOURNAMENT. AN ABRIDGED REVIEW OF LITERATURE.
235 x LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. State and federal agencies and research institutions represented at the Hampton Multi-hazard Tournament in 2018. State and federal agencies and research institutions represented at the Chesapeake Game of Floods event in 2018. Distribution of interview participants, their role, and their involvement with each game.
Interviewees’ comparisons between the Multi-hazard Tournament and/or the Game of Floods and presentational speaking. The Rhetorical Boundary Work Heuristic as a comparative chart for assessing the Multi-hazard Tournament and the Game of Floods. Key quotations from final reflective discussions in the Multi-hazard Tournament. Expressions of playful distress among players of the Multi-hazard Tournament.
Key quotations expressing an interest in a collective knowledge base. A list of current computer games in the climate change game genre. A list of current tabletop games in the climate change game genre. 198 xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.
Room setup for the Hampton Multi-hazard Tournament in 2018. Room setup for the Chesapeake Game of Floods event in 2018. A list of adaptive solutions from the Game of Floods Participant Workbook developed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. A list of non-structural solutions from the Game of Floods Participant Workbook developed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network.
The game board for the 2018 Game of Floods developed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. Satellite images of regions in Coastal Virginia used in the Hampton Multi-hazard Tournament in 2018. The Rhetorical Boundary Work Heuristic. The purpose of CC games designed for stakeholder engagement contexts.
The Asset Inventory page from the Game of Floods Participant Workbook developed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. An example of a budget card from the Game of Floods developed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. The Vulnerability Assessment page from the Game of Floods Participant Workbook developed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. The audience of CC games designed for stakeholder engagement contexts.
169 xii Figure Page 13. An example of a role card from the Game of Floods developed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network. The context for CC games designed for stakeholder engagement contexts. Structural measures listed in the Playbook for the Hampton Multi-hazard Tournament in 2018.
Non-structural measures listed in the Playbook for the Hampton Multi-hazard Tournament in 2018. The Decision Support Tool, an Excel program used in the Hampton Multi-hazard Tournament in 2018. The strategies for CC games designed for stakeholder engagement contexts. 182 1 CHAPTER I INQUIRING AFTER THE ORIGIN, PURPOSE, AND USES OF CLIMATE CHANGE GAMES IN COASTAL VIRGINIA In 2005, I moved from California’s Central Valley to Coastal Virginia, and I began the PhD in English program at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2012.
No two regions are alike, but it quickly became apparent that one significant difference involved the regions’ relationship to water.