Discussion of the netprov Destination Wedding 2070 as collective imagined climate data

1. Cultured Data Symposium
digitalyogurt.net | #digitalyogurt | Day2 - Bread and Salt

7. Data Dramatization:
bringing data to life
through #netprov
Cultured Data Symposium
UC, San Diego
February 7-8, 2020
Mark C. Marino, PhD
Professor (Teaching)
Writing Program
Dir. Humanities and Critical Code Studies Lab
University of Southern California
Mark C. Marino, PhD, MFA
Provisional Provost
Full Digressor
UnderAcademy College
@markcmarino

8. Destination Weddings
A marital union held in an “exotic” location in order to
create a socially acceptable context for excluding
unwanted family members from the happy event.

9. Goal of DW70
To help enlist the imagination of collaborating humans
in the communication of climate data created by
software models.
[In the context of healing play…since envisioning
climate change can produce debilitating trauma.]

13. netprov
1. Online collaborative improv or Networked
Collaborative Writing
2. The voluntary healing of necessary
relationships through play
3. A net full of works imagining an unforeseen
scenario
n.v., net*prov | net-prov
Etymology: portmanteau of network and improv
net -> network -> net Olde English &
weorc, worc —> work, i.e., (someone else’s) labor or effort
prov -> improv -> improv -> improvisation —> "not, opposite of"
+ provisus “foreseen,” Latin

15. Collaborators
Mark C. Marino (http://markcmarino.com) is
a writer and scholar of electronic literature
living in Los Angeles. He recently taught How
to Write and Read Fake News for
UnderAcademy College (https://
medium.com/the-fake-news-reader/). He also
teaches writing at the University of Southern
California where he Directs the Humanities and
Critical Code Studies Lab (http://
haccslab.com). His recent work includes Mrs.
Wobbles and the Tangerine House (http://
markcmarino.com/mrsw/), a collection of
interactive stories he is writing with his
children. His book Critical Code Studies is
forthcoming from MIT Press (2020). Mark is the
Director of Communication of the Electronic
Literature Organization (http://eliterature.org).
Rob Wittig plays at the crossroads of literature,
graphic design and digital culture. He co-founded
the legendary IN.S.OMNIA electronic bulletin
board with the Surrealist-style literary and art
group Invisible Seattle. From this came a
Fulbright grant to study the writing and graphic
design of electronic literature with philosopher
Jacques Derrida in Paris. Rob’s book based on that
work, Invisible Rendezvous, was published
Wesleyan University Press. He then embarked on
a series of illustrated and designed email and web
fictions. Rob has worked in major publishing and
graphic design firms in Chicago, leading R&D
teams. He is currently developing high-design,
collaborative fiction in a form called netprov,
networked improv narrative. Rob teaches graphic
design and writing at the University of Minnesota
Duluth.

16. Collaborators
❖ Samara Hayley Steele, MFA, is a PhD student in
Cultural Studies and a Graduate Research Fellow
with the ModLab, the Humanities Game Lab at UC
Davis. She has been a practitioner, gamerunner, and
maker of interactive narrative media since 2002, and
is a co-creator of Thermophiles in Love (2016), a
five-gender dating game featured in the gallery of
the 30th Annual Conference of the Society for
Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA). Her most
recent project is Sivad, a place-based analog RPG
campaign that takes place in a mysterious world
connected to Davis through quantum entanglement.
Steele is also a Staff Economist with the California
Economists Collective, a group working to leverage
the University of California’s power towards
community wealth building strategies, supporting
indigenous communities, democratic workplaces,
and ecological harm reduction. Steele is a former
foster kid, and she holds an MFA in Creative
Writing from Portland State University.
Dargan Frierson is an Associate Professor of
Atmospheric Sciences and the head of the
EarthGames group at the University of Washington.
Frierson studies how climate change can alter big,
climatic features, like storm tracks, tropical rain
bands, or deserts. He uses different types of models
to investigate these features’ fundamental
dynamics. Frierson and his colleagues recently
published a video game for smart phones called
Climate Quest that follows a narrative arc of
collective action: people of various backgrounds
come together to help mitigate the worst of the
climate crisis. Additionally, Frierson and his
colleagues are the creators of Infrared Escape, an
arcade-style cellphone game that puts you in the
perspective of a beam of infrared light attempting to
escape an increasingly carbon-filled atmosphere.

19. THE SCIENCE BEHIND THIS NETPROV
The data for this data dramatization netprov has been brought
to you by EarthGames and was based on simulations from the
CanESM5 model under SSP585, a high emissions scenario that
represents substantial increases in fossil fuel use in the coming
decades. Climate model data is usually presented in terms of
averages, but each simulation creates weather across the globe.
The forecasts from each city are adapted from particular
Saturdays in 2070. The maps show the model data across the
globe for max/min temperature, precipitation and humidity,
and city forecasts are taken from the nearest gridbox or from a
heuristic downscaling approach.

22. Delhi Wedding
❖ Disturbing First Sibling of Reagan (S1A) Nixon Veiksmīgs
Night time is the only time I can breathe in this fortress of hell, and yet I am so drained, I don't even think I can move. When
you stand in one place for so long, you become invisible, but you also become all seeing.
I saw when dad arrived in his rickshaw, showed up at the bar, wheedled free drinks from the bartender.
I saw a woman I can only guess was Rory's mother bang through the entrance with so much clatter, every eye was on her. So
fitting. A hot mess. Ha ha.
I saw Reagan sweep in and out (with a bottle of vodka).
I saw Jasmine arrive (and leave with some random man) and give the once over to every warm blooded creature in the place.
All except me. But perhaps I am cold blooded.
I am like the bead of sweat on the glass.
I am like the still dank air.
I am like the leaf insect.
I am part of this family, and yet my presence is negligible.
I am like O-zone.
And one day, I won't be.

23. Mar del plata
Vengeful Best Friend of Avery: Zoey Chabot
The power went out at the hotel because of huge storm that hit. It was raining so hard that the beach was
completely flooded. Everybody was ushered over to some creepy tower instead. It was tricky getting over
there, but I paid about five bellhops to follow me around with umbrellas and hold my train so the dress didn't
get wet.
Javier del Torro, 30, vengeful Latin ex-lover of Avery
The next day was the wedding. There was a huge storm that caused a power outage. The strangest thing was
that Avery was walking down the aisle with a bathrobe.
To make matters worse, the power for the entire city shut off and chaos ensued. As I was running back to the
ceremony before people noticed my absence, an earthquake hit, knocking me off my feet.
Flighty Aunt of Avery- Cindy Lee
I found a nice man last night that has a large boat, I think he might have been the DJ, or maybe he's The
Backstreet Boys cover artist in the hotel lounge-- not entirely sure. He is using it to escape the looming tsunami
and plans to sail to Australia. A vacation at my favorite spot AND escaping doom, how could I not? Not to
mention this boat is fannnncy.

24. Key Biscayne
Disinherited Second Friend of A (F2A) (Flash)
Overall I think I was saved by the hurricane interfering with the wedding. Everyone
was too preoccupied worrying about the hurricane affecting the wedding, nobody
got too upset about me crashing it. I’m also glad I was able to make amends with Fay,
and was given the opportunity to spend time with her again. I don’t know if we will
ever get back together, but progress was made between us. As much as I wanted to
try and get back within Fay’s family business, I figured now was not the time to
approach her Grandfather. He was probably upset enough I was even there on top of
the hurricane. I will most likely cut my losses and find a different career path. I did
discover a new hidden talent of mine constructing make-shift floatation devices.
I think this trip allowed me to mature as an adult and look at my life in a different
perspective. It also made me aware of our ever growing issue of climate change.

25. The Goal
The Goal of Destination Wedding 2070
To enlist communities of humans in the communication
of climate gate data, drawing on imagination and a
deep understanding of emotion, as performed through
improvised characters in fictional scenarios