My Institute for the Future colleagues Jason Tester and Rachel Hatch have launched a new alternate reality game in collaboration with United Cerebral Palsy and AARP. Titled Ruby's Bequest, it's all about the future of caring in the United States. Ruby's Bequest takes place in the fictional 2011 community of Deepwell where folks are sharing their stories, solutions, and worries about how to best care for each other, in sickness and health. Participants have already contributed nearly 200 personal stories and advice about how we can work together to build better structures for caring, from elder care to health care systems to community involvement. Please check it out!
Set in the fictional town of Deepwell, Ruby’s Bequest begins with news of a sizeable bequest from Ruby Wood to strengthen the ecosystem of caring in the community. Charged with improving the town’s caring infrastructure the residents of Deepwell have created the online forum at www.rubysbequest.org to solicit the whole community and beyond to participate and achieve this mission. Participants are invited to share their own experiences on caring and care giving by logging on, creating a profile and contributing text, photos, videos, and other personal narrative. Subject matter provided in the fictional narrative will include things like “caring from a distance,” “tough conversations,” “making the system work (better!) and so on. These subjects are intended to spark further discussion and debate among the community at large about other aspects of caring.
“The caring infrastructure as we know it is changing fast. Federal and local services that we once relied upon–from adult day care to Medicare and Social Security–are quickly eroding,” said Jason Tester, IFTF researcher and lead developer of Ruby’s Bequest. “This means that more of the burden of caring will fall to individuals and communities in the near and long term. A key charter of the Institute is to encourage broader and deeper examination of our future now so that the public can help shape it and be better prepared to face it.”
